Written by Mark Teeple, Vice President of Festivals & Events at Discover Halifax
Events are often placed in major cities for their symbolic scale, yet many disappear into the environments hosting them. Rights holders create stronger commercial and experiential outcomes when events command local attention and reshape the city around them, rather than compete with the cultural gravity of larger places.
The industry often mistakes large cities for large stages.
Rights holders have become highly sophisticated at measuring venue capacity, hotel inventory, transport infrastructure, and broadcast capability, while spending far less time considering how an event will exist within the place hosting it once competition ends.
Some events arrive in major centres with flawless delivery and strong attendance, only to disappear into the scale of the city around them. While producing one of North America’s largest technology conferences in Toronto, I had to remind the team that despite 25,000 attendees, and millions in production, we were not even the biggest event on our block that weekend. Outside the venue, little changed. The city barely registered our presence.
The events that endure—and break through—behave differently. The host city does not simply accommodate the event; it orients around it, as the event spills into restaurants, public spaces, and everyday conversation. That’s how the right event, in the right place, can command a disproportionate share of attention.
That dynamic is easier to achieve when an event is not competing with the cultural gravity of a global city. For many major events, once technical requirements are met, the advantages of big cities diminish quickly. In those environments, scale becomes dilution.
When SailGP came to Halifax in 2024, there were real questions about whether the city was big enough or iconic enough. By race week, the event had spilled well beyond the harbourfront. Fans in team gear recognized one another downtown, merchandise sales surpassed every other stop on the circuit, and race day filled rooftops, patios, and public spaces despite heavy wind and fog. Halifax finished the season as SailGP’s highest-rated fan experience. Not because it is globally iconic, but because for that week it was unavoidable.
For rights holders, that kind of city-wide presence concentrates value: sponsors gain greater visibility, broadcasters capture atmosphere rather than isolated competition, and the event becomes more memorable because it is experienced across an entire place, not just within a venue.
Cities and hosts often chase symbolic scale. But many events would be stronger commercially and experientially if they focused less on prestige and more on places where the event itself can command attention.
The industry has invested heavily in measuring whether a city can hold an event. It is far less clear how it measures significance.
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