Any bidding war might hurt them both, new Dunedin Venues chief executive Paul Doorn said.
"The worst-case scenario is that we both stick our heads in the sand and just go head-to-head," he said.
There was already feedback about it being quite expensive to bring acts to the South Island.
Te Kaha in Christchurch is due to be completed in April 2026 and there have been fears Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium might then struggle to compete.
Mr Doorn’s comments came after Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich reportedly said there had been ongoing, closed-door discussions about how the two cities could collaborate once Te Kaha opened.
Mr Doorn, who started in his role late last year, confirmed he had contacted counterparts in Christchurch.
An introductory meeting was planned for later this month, he said.
"We’re open to all sorts of conversations," he said.
"In today’s modern world, we’ve got to explore all options.
"You need flexibility, you need to be able to pivot, you need to be able to be smart about what you do and how you do it.
"You’d be crazy not to start to have a conversation around ‘what might that look like’ and I guess it can take many different forms."
Mr Radich said he did not want promoters to be able to play the two cities off against each other to their detriment.
Mr Radich said any such conversation needed a starting point.
"It’s far too early for us to have a policy and a whole set of protocols and a whole big plan of how it’s going to work.
"We’re just discussing core principles.
"There have been conversations, and there will be more."
Dunedin Venues also has a new chairman, Lee Piper, who said the agency was open to partnering with other groups to bring in content and reduce costs.
Dunedin had in the past worked with Auckland to attract concerts, including Pink.
"So where it makes sense to be a win-win, then yeah, 100% we would look at it," Mr Piper said.
"We’re really confident about our facility and our ability to bring content to Dunedin, but we just need to work out what that looks like and what that strategy is going to be."
Te Kaha is to be run by Venues Ōtautahi and Christchurch also has an economic development agency, ChristchurchNZ.
"We work collaboratively on all content we attract to the city and steer away from aggressive bidding, especially against other New Zealand cities," ChristchurchNZ head of major events Karena Finnie said.
