Dunedin's proposed Awatea St Stadium is a waste of money because most people watch sport on television, an Otago Regional Council panel was told in Alexandra yesterday.
Central Otago residents voiced submissions on the council's draft annual plan for 2008-09 to the panel of Crs Doug Brown, David Shepherd, Duncan Butcher, Michael Deaker, and Stephen Cairns.
Alexandra resident John Douglas said most people in Central Otago were old, watched sport on television at night, and could not afford to travel to Dunedin, let alone stay the night in expensive accommodation.
Another Alexandra resident, Jolyon Manning, said money for the proposed stadium could be better spent on necessary amenities such as improving Otago's transportation, health sector and environmental condition.
Mr Manning said the stadium was nothing but a gift to rugby enthusiasts and a testimony to Dunedin City Council and ORC senior executives' unbridled enthusiasm for sport.
"There is a degree of intimidation towards those of us who have a lesser interest in football, which today increasingly is a predominantly television-dictated spectator sport rather than a healthy participant sporting activity shared by many," he said.
In concluding his submission, Mr Manning called the proposed stadium a "grandiose" modern-day version of the Roman Colosseum.
