Wakatipu Sports Users Group (WSUG) spokesman Craig Ferguson said the district's growing number of sportspersons meant the community had "moved beyond" having seasons fractured by conferences and other non-sporting fixtures at Lakes Leisure's Events Centre.
An example was the Trenz tourism conference being held in Queenstown later this month.
Areas to be used for marquees for the event will mean yet another clash with sports groups.
He said since being initially accommodating when the Events Centre opened in 1997, the district's sports community had become frustrated.
"The community has moved past continually being 'bumped' and councillors need to be aware that that frustration exists - the long-term vision and finance for green spaces and community facilities needs to be retained." Mr Ferguson's call comes as the Queenstown Lakes District Council plans to cut more than $700,000 from both active and passive recreation capital expenditure in the next financial year as outlined in its draft annual plan 2011-12.
Although Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden and Cr Cath Gilmour supported WSUG, he said other councillors had not come "knocking at the door".
"As a longtime local, and from speaking to people, the clash is starting to frustrate and it's getting worse ... we're a sport and recreation community and at various times of the year teams are disrupted by non-sports events at the Events Centre - it's important that money for expansion is kept aside; it's important that seasons can run from A to B," he said.
Ultimately, the community would have to decide if it wanted a rates rise to support a sport-only events centre, Ms van Uden said.
"It's a balancing act between generating income outside of rates and increasing the rates portion of funding, and Lakes Leisure are trying to manage that the best they can."
Unlike infrastructure, which needed to be "ready to go", it was not financially prudent to borrow money for parks and reserves, which "you've got a little bit more flexibility with", Ms van Uden said. There were provisions for extensions to the Events Centre and more sports fields in the council's 10-year Long Term Council Community Plan, and the ongoing relevance of issues raised by the WSUG would be focused on in next year's review of the plan, she said.
The council was "working through the process" of the Master Facility Plan, which addresses sport and leisure over the coming two decades and will go out for public consultation, Ms van Uden said.
