By David Di Somma
To ask Cantabrians if they want a brand-spanking new stadium is like asking kids if they want more cake or if a teenager wants a new iPhone.
Many Cantabrians have stadium envy when it comes to Dunedin – and how the Forsyth Barr facility provides rugby fans and concert goers with a top class entertainment experience.
The discussion has come about through a new survey tellingly commissioned by the Canterbury Rugby Union that shows overwhelming support for a modern outdoor events facility, complete with retractable roof.
There were 770 respondents.
Key findings of the research:
The ideal venue: Analysis of the importance people placed on different venue attributes revealed that the ideal venue for most people would be a mixed-use facility with a retractable roof and at least 35,000 seats. There was no clear consensus on location.
Many though will argue what people 'want' is largely irrelevant, it is about what the city 'needs'.
A new stadium is expensive, really expensive. Some figures being bandied about have the total price tag at over $400m and maybe even half a billion dollars. That, according to some reports, would equate to $14,000 a seat.
The Canterbury Rugby Union wants it for obvious reasons. It is hard to make money out of the current temporary stadium in Addington, where the capacity is limited and the rugby watching experience is often less than pleasant.
Essentially it wants to make the move from state housing to a plush new pad.
It also seems there will be no marque All Blacks Tests in Christchurch until it gets a new stadium. Does this really matter?
How they would love an indoor stadium like Forsyth Barr when you are guaranteed to have a pristine playing surface with no variables of rain and wind.
But what does the community really want?
Should the priority be this or should it be on a top quality indoor stadium for netball, basketball and volleyball, and/or an Olympic-sized swimming pool?
The survey doesn't mention costings specifically though it does address the issue, sort of.
How do you pay for this?
The respondents were never directly asked – for instance – if they would be happy for a new stadium to be built if it meant the delay and/or cancellation of other initiatives like social housing, or improvements to roading, or the fast tracking of new precincts in the CBD.
And that seems to be the key. Is a new flash sports stadium such a priority for Christchurch at a time when the re-build seems to have so far to go?
The temporary stadium has a shelf life we're told to 2022.
Canterbury Rugby would love to bounce from one stadium to another but when this sort of money is involved the future road will be anything but clear cut.
Newshub.
