Canned: The Nitro Circus Live event.
NITRO Circus Live promoters say they don’t know why a planned show in Ballarat — which would have brought nearly $1 million into the city — has been knocked back.
Promoter Michael Porra said yesterday the decision to cancel a planned appearance in March next year could still be reversed in the next few days.
He has called for a petition to get the live motorcycle tour event to Ballarat.
“We’re pretty upset about it and we feel sorry for the people in the area,” Mr Porra said.
“There’s no real reason for this not to be happening.”
The show was originally planned for Eureka Stadium, but it was cancelled because the March 2013 date was at the start of the VFL season.
City Oval lighting restrictions were then blamed for that venue also being knocked back.
But Mr Porra said he had been told the City Oval couldn’t be used due to lease arrangements with its user groups.
However, Ballarat Regional Tourism’s David McMahon said no club or association was to blame.
“There are several unfortunate reasons why we couldn’t make it work,” Mr McMahon said. “It’s nothing to do with any individual club or association.”
Mr Porra said a daytime performance could have been held if the lights curfew was an issue, but Mr McMahon said this was categorically incorrect.
Mr Porra said concerns about damaging the grounds were also unfounded, as the tour used purpose-built flooring to go over turf.
“We’ve played over 100 shows and we’ve never once had a problem,” he said
“International games have been played within seven days of us using the ground.”
However, Mr McMahon said extensive research of grounds previously used had shown this to be incorrect.
Mr Porra said the Nitro Circus Live Facebook page and the company’s email had been flooded with complaints from upset Ballarat fans.
“This is a really, really big show and I’m almost certain we will never come back to regional Victoria.”