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There are several crucial differences between Jersey Live and the Battle of Flowers/International Air Display:
Difference 1: A large proportion of Jersey Live's attendees are males in the 18-35 age group. This group is responsible for much of the alcohol-related violent crime in Jersey. Clearly, the potential for alcohol-related crime at Jersey Live is much greater than at the Battle or the Air Display, where the audience profile is broader, and alcohol is consumed in moderation (if at all) for significantly shorter periods of time. By an order of magnitude, Jersey Live requires a far greater police presence, because of the amount of alcohol involved and the duration of consumption. Indeed, it would be interesting to see the alcohol sales figures for Jersey Live.
Difference 2: The organisers of Jersey Live enjoy an apparently lucrative food and drinks monopoly within the festival site. Apart from 500ml of water, attendees are not allowed to take any food or drink into Jersey Live, where they stay for up to 10 hours. This monopoly must generate substantial profits. To my knowledge, the Battle and the Air Display do not restrict what attendees may consume (e.g. apacked lunch) nor do they have a monopoly on food/drink sales within their respective arenas. Therefore, the ability to pay for policing is clearly different when one contrasts the "for profit" events with the "not for profit" events. Since Jersey Live does not apparently publish audited accounts, there are issues of financial transparency to resolve in this regard, when it comes to assessing the ability to pay.
Difference 3: From a tourism point of view, how significant is Jersey Live? Most attendees appear to be local. If there is a tourist spend, I would argue that much of it goes into the pockets of the organisers of Jersey Live, via their food and drink monopoly. By contrast, Battle and the Air Display have a long history of attracting visitors for a week, who then spend their money in the wider economy.
Perhaps one idea might be for the States to levy an additional temporary alcohol duty at large- scale, enclosed, for-profit events, to help finance the policing? That way, those most responsible for the additional resource requirement would contribute to it most fairly.
Please also note: some may argue that Jersey Live takes pressure off policing in St Helier for a weekend. This overlooks the fact that there is little to no CCTV at the Royal Jersey showground, whereas CCTV is widespread in the streets and bars of St Helier. Policing Jersey Live is clearly different from policing St Helier. Additionally, the Jersey Live crowd can spill over into St Helier when Jersey Live finishes, meaning that both locations have to be policed until the small hours. So this argument, if made, does not really hold water.