Govt seeks MotoGP economic benefit report, months after securing event
Documents reveal the state government is advertising for consultants to assess SA holding the 2027 MotoGP – despite the Premier already lauding its expected monetary boon.
The South Australian government is advertising for a contractor to provide economic benefit reports for both the bp Adelaide Grand Final and the 2027 MotoGP, documents seen by InDaily show.
According to the ‘Request for Quote’ document, the state is seeking a contractor to prepare a MotoGP economic benefit analysis delivered in two phases: a one-off pre-event economic forecast to estimate the likely economic benefit to the state and a post-event economic impact assessment.
This is despite Premier Peter Malinauskas having already said the MotoGP and bp Adelaide Grand Final are expected to deliver an economic return of more than $200 million per year.
It also comes more than seven months after the Premier announced the state had secured the MotoGP event from 2027, and committed close to $100 million to construct a new street circuit track in the Adelaide Park Lands.
The document said the economic analysis – first requested by the government on September 24 – would support “transparent reporting, future planning and investment decision-making” for the event that is also currently subject to a Federal Court case in which a mystery applicant is attempting to halt construction of the track.
SA Liberal Shadow Treasurer Ben Hood questioned what the pre-event analysis would achieve, given money was already committed to the $96 million construction of the track, that has sparked widespread protests over hundreds of eastern park lands trees marked for felling.
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“In the private sector, a cost-benefit analysis is usually conducted before a large sum of capital is committed,” Hood said.
“It seems the government was so keen for a good-news announcement before the election, it decided to postpone its due diligence.
“This is the equivalent of going into business without a business plan and taxpayers have a right to be very concerned.”
But SA Motor Sport Board chief executive Mark Warren told InDaily that the $200 million per year combined economic benefit estimate was “always a conservative figure and we expect the actual benefit to be much higher”.
“Last year’s bp Adelaide Grand Final delivered a record-breaking economic benefit of $100.7 million, and we know that MotoGP brings enormous value to every destination it races in,” Warren said.
“In 2025, global exposure combined with tourism and hospitality of MotoGP events delivered an average of €130m ($210m) in economic impact to local economies.
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“It is standard practice to procure Economic Benefit Reports for our events in order to show the detailed value they deliver to local economies. Obtaining a formal pre-event economic forecast through this tender will simply provide us with a baseline.”
Last week, InDaily revealed that the Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt and the international sporting body that owns MotoGP were named in the court challenge from a mystery Queenslander trying to stop works on the Adelaide park lands.
Applications for the new tender close on October 9 and the contract starts on November 2.
The government is expected to present a Cost-Benefit Analysis to the Public Works Committee, which reports to state parliament, and has announced that work on track construction would start in December this year.
A former department deputy chief has previously questioned the proposed economic benefits of MotoGP.
Andrew Milazzo – a former long-term public servant who served as deputy chief executive of the state’s transport department until his retirement in 2024 – claimed the state government double-counted proposed expenditure and did not count the cost of road congestion in a report he wrote personally.
But Milazzo, who was also chair of the association of Australian and New Zealand road transport and traffic authorities Austroads from 2012-2014, added that his 15-page report was just an “estimate” and based on publicly available information.
He hoped the report – ‘Is the MotoGP pain worth the gain?’ – would encourage the government to release further information about its economic impact.
A state government spokesperson previously said the report was “produced by known critics of the project, contains significant inaccuracies based upon false assumptions and should not be relied upon”.
“As just one of many examples, the report incorrectly assumes major arterial routes like Bartels Road and Wakefield Road will not reopen between events, in direct contradiction to the evidence provided by government officials,” he said.
“On this flawed analysis, the highly successful bp Adelaide Grand Final should not go ahead – with or without MotoGP.”
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