Melbourne and Olympic city London take the top awards for ultimate sports cities

Melbourne has come a close second only to the 2012 Olympics host city London in the prestigious World's Ultimate Sport Cities Awards.

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu welcomed the recognition, based on industry rankings from SportBusiness International, stating "Melbourne topped the rankings for the World's Best Sport Venues and the World's Best Major Events Strategy, and was named the Best Sports City in the 'large' category for cities with a population of between four and six million people."

Presented at the 2012 Sport Accord International Convention in Quebec, London, host of this year's Olympic Games, finished just 10 points ahead of Melbourne in the overall category.

Premier Baillieu added "major sporting events deliver significant economic benefits for Victoria, and major events generate jobs in the events industry as well as our hotels, restaurants, retail businesses and tourist attractions.

"Importantly major events showcase our great State to the world and that generates tourism and business investment.

"The Victorian Coalition Government is strengthening Victoria's competitive edge, we have successfully secured new major events and we are investing in our sporting venues to attract more major events and to continue to deliver an outstanding spectator experience."

The Victorian Government has provided new funding to maintain and upgrade Victorian world's best sports venues with planning starting on Stage 2 of the Melbourne Park redevelopment to ensure the Australian Open remains in Melbourne, the completion of Lakeside Stadium as a world class track and field venue and ongoing support for the operation of the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and the State Hockey and Netball Centre.

The Government has also been delivering upgrades at the MCG and Stage 1 of the Melbourne Park redevelopment.

The biennial SportsBusiness Ultimate Sports City Awards recognise the achievements of cities around the world in a number of areas relating to the cities' capacity to support sporting events.

The Awards are assessed by a panel of industry judges convened by SportsBusiness International using a range of criteria including: the number of annual sports events held; major events held or won between 2008 and 2016; numbers of federations hosted; the calibre of events for which bids are currently being made; facilities/venues; transport; accommodation; government support; security; legacy; public sports interest; quality of life; marketing; and the use of social media.

The Top 10 rankings for Ultimate Sports City

1. London - 491 points
2. Melbourne - 481
3. Sydney - 421
4. New York - 406
5. Manchester - 398
6. Singapore - 393
7. Berlin - 370
8. Copenhagen - 353
9. Glasgow - 344
10. Paris - 337.

Premier Baillieu's comments were made in advance of Melbourne hosting Game One of the 2012 State of Origin Series between Queensland and New South Wales at the Etihad Stadium last night.

Singapore sixth place in the awards sees the island nation recognised as Asia's ultimate sports city.

24th May 2012 - SINGAPORE NAMED ASIA’S ULTIMATE SPORTS CITY

4th October 2011 - VICTORIA’S NEW HOME OF ATHLETICS UP AND RUNNING

1st November 2010 - MELBOURNE: AUSTRALIA’S MOST LIVEABLE CITY 

2nd April 2008 - MELBOURNE RETAINS ULTIMATE SPORTS CITY TITLE