Amag car dealer joins main sponsors of national Swiss-wrestling tournament

The organisers of the National Swiss-Wrestling and Alpine Festival (Esaf), to be held in the canton in the summer of 2019, announced earlier this week that the Amag car dealership would be joining other major companies, namely the Zuger Kantonalbank, the V-Zug household appliance manufacturing company, the Mobiliar insurance company, the Feldschlösschen brewery and specialist vehicle manufacturer, Aebi, in their sponsorship of the event, which is to be held in the canton from 23-25 August in 2019.
 
It was on Wednesday of this week that the chairman of the organising committee of Esaf, Heinz Tännler, who is also a member of the Zug cantonal government, signed a contract with the CEO of the Amag company, Morten Hannesbo.
 
While the Amag company will be responsible for providing transport at the event, it has also promised a sum of money to help with its financing, though the precise amount was not disclosed.
 
As recently reported, the Amag company plans to move its administrative headquarters to Cham. Once complete in 2019, some 1,000 staff will be employed there.
 
Of course, it is not every day that a Dane, as Hannesbo is, signs a contract involving considerable sponsorship of a Swiss-wrestling tournament. “But when such an opportunity arises,” he said, “one does not say no.” The CEO disclosed that discussions had been going on with the organisers of Esaf for some time, for four years in fact, when Amag began to consider where to locate its administrative headquarters. Both Hannesbo and Tännler, who is also the cantonal director of finance, agreed that the sponsorship was a “win-win” situation. The move of the car company’s administrative headquarters is considered very much a long-term commitment to the canton. It was mentioned, for example, that the car park with space for 470 vehicles planned for the Cham premises was costing CHF 22 million alone.
 
Tännler took the opportunity to mention that, with Amag now on board, the organisers had found two-thirds of the CHF 17 million cost of Esaf. The next target was to ensure 80% of it was assured by the end of this year. It was hoped the city of Zug and the canton would also make a contribution, so that all finance matters would be signed and sealed by the end of 2018, enabling the organisers to concentrate more on the event itself from the beginning of 2019.  Policing and litter collection are two other points which still need addressing.
 
One other target the organisers have set is to have 80% of all visitors make their way to the arena by public transport, to which end talks are under way with the SBB.