Tony Cochrane

Tony Cochrane
AM
NationalityAustralian
OccupationBusinessman
TitleCo-Founder and Director of Cochrane Entertainment
Chairman of Gold Coast Suns
President of SX Global
Chair of Aus-X Open

Anthony John Cochrane AM is an Australian businessman, best known for event promotion and sports administration.

Cochrane was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours.[1]

Event promotion

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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.[2][3] 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.[4]

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.[3] He also collected ARIA's for Platinum albums.[5] He is the global Chairman of IWEFO, International World Exhibition and Festival Organization.[6] In 2012, Cochrane and his wife Thea founded International Events Consulting, best known for developing and touring Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit globally. The company entered administration in December 2020.[7] Cochrane remained a director of Cochrane Entertainment, a company he also co-founded.[7]

Sports administration

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In 1996, Cochrane and three other investors purchased the promotion rights for the Australian Touring Car Championship from IMG for $52,000.[8] 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.[8] In 2012, Cochrane retired from his role as executive chairman of V8 Supercars.[9] 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.[10]

In March 2014, Cochrane joined the board of the Gold Coast Suns Australian Football League club, and became chairman in March 2016.[11] In his time as chairman he maintained his reputation for being outspoken and uncompromising, particularly in his relationship with the media.[12] His blunt style has even seen him described as the Donald Trump of the AFL.[13] In 2021, SX Global, with Cochrane as president, became promoters of the new FIM Supercross World Championship.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Mr Anthony John Cochrane". It's An Honour. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  2. ^ White, Dominic (8 March 2014). "Stones set the ball rolling". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Superstar producer and entrepreneur Tony Cochrane to address 2016 Venue Industry Congress". Australian Leisure Management. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  4. ^ Phelps, James (22 September 2016). "V8 Supercars founder Tony Cochrane to quit as executive chairman". News.com.au. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  5. ^ "International Entertainment Consulting". IEC. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  6. ^ "International World Exhibition and Festival Organization". IWEFO. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  7. ^ a b Murray, Brett (26 December 2020). "Cochrane company goes into liquidation". Speedcafe. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (21 September 2012). "Tony Cochrane quits V8 Supercars chairman role". Speedcafe. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  10. ^ "Winterbottom wins Barry Sheene Medal award". Prime7. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Board Members". Gold Coast Suns. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ O'Brien, Connor (20 December 2021). "Cochrane company signs as Supercross World Championship promoter". Speedcafe. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
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