Tony Cochrane
Tony Cochrane | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Title | Director of International Events Consulting Chairman of Gold Coast Suns Director of Backstage Australia |
Tony Cochrane is an Australian businessman, best known for event promotion and sports administration.
Event promotion
Cochrane has been involved in event promotion since the 1970s, and has promoted or produced tours for several international and local artists, including The Rolling Stones, Sammy Davis Jr., Placido Domingo and The Main Event Tour featuring John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Anthony Warlow.[1][2] Cochrane once spent a week sleeping on Frank Sinatra's floor in order to convince him to return to tour Australia, despite previously vowing he never would.[3]
Cochrane's theatre credits include Grease: The Arena Spectacular and Australian productions of musicals including The Sound of Music, Annie and Hairspray, for which he and his fellow producers won a Tony award.[2]
Sports administration
In 1996, Cochrane and three other investors purchased the promotion rights for the Australian Touring Car Championship from IMG for $52,000.[4] In 1997, the series was renamed to V8 Supercars, and expanded to be valued at $330 million when a stake of the sport was sold to Archer Capital in 2011.[4] In 2012, Cochrane retired from his role as executive chairman of V8 Supercars.[5] Cochrane was added to the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2012, becoming the first person to be inducted having not raced in the championship.[6]
In March 2014, Cochrane joined the board of the Gold Coast Suns Australian Football League club, and became chairman in March 2016.[7] In his time as chairman he maintained his reputation for being outspoken and uncompromising, particularly in his relationship with the media.[8] His blunt style has even seen him described as the Donald Trump of the AFL.[9]
References
- ^ White, Dominic (8 March 2014). "Stones set the ball rolling". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ a b "Superstar producer and entrepreneur Tony Cochrane to address 2016 Venue Industry Congress". Australian Leisure Management. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ Phelps, James (22 September 2016). "V8 Supercars founder Tony Cochrane to quit as executive chairman". News.com.au. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ a b Phelps, James (18 May 2011). "V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane reveals series was purchased for just $52,000 in 1996". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (21 September 2012). "Tony Cochrane quits V8 Supercars chairman role". Speedcafe. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ "Winterbottom wins Barry Sheene Medal award". Prime7. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ "Board Members". Gold Coast Suns. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ Otto, Tyson (30 November 2016). "Gold Coast Suns chairman Tony Cochrane makes run at biggest windbag in football title". News.com.au. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
- ^ Robinson, Mark (28 February 2017). "Gold Coast scores big win luring Mark Evans from the AFL, writes Mark Robinson". Herald Sun. Retrieved 1 March 2017.