Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium has been the go-to South Island venue for major sports and entertainment since the February 2011 earthquake. It severely damaged Lancaster Park, then known as AMI Stadium, leaving Christchurch without a major venue.
Te Kaha will have a 30,000 capacity for sports matches and 36,000 for concerts – the same number as Forsyth Barr.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich told The Star there were ongoing, closed door discussions about how the city can collaborate with Christchurch once Te Kaha opens. He would not answer further questions.
But a major promoter in Dunedin says there is a risk of international rugby matches and major concerts seeing Christchurch as the better option.
“Christchurch is going to be a massive thorn in our side,” said DKMC director Doug Kamo.
“There is going to be a long honeymoon once the new stadium Te Kaha is open.”
He cited the convention centre as an example of Christchurch “humming along”.
Kamo’s comments came as submissions closed last Sunday for the Dunedin City Council’s wide-ranging plan to encourage more events and festivals to come to the city.
Submissions on the plan have since reopened until January 20.
“For rugby, for instance, the rugby union wants to have regionality as their focus, so they’re not only going to go to Christchurch,” he said.
Acting Christchurch mayor Pauline Cotter said it is “entirely sensible” for the two cities to work together rather than engage in bidding wars for events.
“Event organisers could easily start doing deals behind your back. It would be really good to be on the same team.”
Radich said Christchurch and Dunedin working collaboratively to secure events would be beneficial for both cities.
The two venues marketing as a team would be more attractive to international events, he said.
ChristchurchNZ chief executive Ali Adams said the agency is not preparing for bidding wars over events with Dunedin.
“This doesn’t result in the best outcome for our city or New Zealand. In fact, we aim to co-operatively work alongside other cities to attract the best events to our country.”
In his submission, Kamo said “a lot of thinking” was required to make sure major events still made it down south.
There is a real possibility for “events stagnation” if the Dunedin City Council and commercial events promoters were unable to work together, he said.
Last year, major events at Forsyth Barr included pop superstar Pink and the All Blacks v versus England test.
Pink was estimated to have brought in $16.6 million to Dunedin’s economy and visitors to the city for the All Blacks match were estimated to have spent $13.7m.
The All Blacks will meet France at Forsyth Barr in July.
The Dunedin City Council plan proposes to build the city’s reputation as a “great events destination” by providing a calendar of events that is “accessible, diverse and inclusive”.
– Additional reporting Matthew Littlewood
