Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes believes the city is poised to land more "national and international" events on the back of a growing track record of hosting major sports competitions.
The city's reputation, and economy, will gain a significant boost in coming weeks as it plays hosts to a series of professional contests.
The World Surf League's Newcastle Cup, the Tim Tszyu and Dennis Hogan fight, home matches for the Knights and Jets, an Asia-Pacific sailing event and a rugby sevens tournament. The next few weeks has it all.
"Newcastle has a reputation now as an events city. People are realising that and bringing international events like the Tim Tszyu fight and the WSL to Newcastle," Cr Nelmes said on Friday at Bar Beach, where some of the men and women involved in the sports fiesta gathered to promote their respective events and the city at-large.
"My vision for this city has always been we should be able to attract a Commonwealth Games ... and world masters events. We're always open to opportunities."
Tim Tszyu said he mainly brought his boxing match to town in recognition of the support his father Kostya received fighting here on seven occasions in the 1990s, but he also wanted to experience the Hunter's "crazy" sports fans himself as he works towards a world-title shot.
"I didn't want to fight in a city," he said. "I wanted to fight in an area where there aren't big fights and hasn't been in a long time.
"I think Newcastle deserves a big fight on that world calibre stage as well."
More than 5000 spectators are expected at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night. The fight will also be broadcast nationally via pay-per-view channel Main Event.
Newcastle Tourism Industry Group chair Kent Warren said other cities "would be jealous" of the number of events on in town over this period, which also includes Newcastle Food Month.
He said the WSL's Newcastle Cup, which essentially replaced the city's lower-tiered Surfest, would reach a far greater audience both nationally and globally.
"The exposure the event will give Newcastle long term is huge," he said. "The social reach these guys have got is phenomenal."
The average global broadcast audience of a WSL championship tour event is 10 million globally across various viewing platforms.
Further, and perhaps more importantly in today's digital age, the combined social media following of the WSL and its contracted athletes is more than 50 million.
Mr Warren said despite being a one-off event, the Newcastle Cup would potentially have greater impact than the Newcastle 500.
"You think back to the first Supercars, and people either loved or hated it, but in terms of the exposure - you can't really deny the exposure it gave Newcastle," he said. "[The WSL] will bring people to town, visiting friends and relatives, but this a long-term play. This could be huge."
Mr Warren acknowledged the surfing would not produce foot traffic akin to Supercars, but said businesses could benefit if they embraced the contest, which is free to stream via the WSL's website and broadcast by Channel 7 and Fox Sports.
Knights star Lachlan Fitzgibbon said it was an "exciting time" for the city.
"Growing up here being a local boy we haven't seen too many big events - we get one every blue moon, but with Tim bringing a fight here and the surfing... hopefully they can come back," he said.
The Knights match against the Wests Tigers on Sunday will begin the run of major sports events.
"If people show it in their venues, that could bring everyone out in town. They've only got 2700 tickets because of COVID, so it's not necessarily going to bring people to the event itself, but to town it certainly could."
