With the same inevitability that your own house or car will need more maintenance money spent on it the older it gets, Forsyth Barr Stadium is beginning to show its age through rising operating and capital costs.
That doesn’t mean it has become a white elephant for the city. Far from it. The stadium remains of significant strategic benefit for the local community and for the South more widely.
However, Dunedin city councillors have been reminded this week that the stadium is financially unsustainable unless more money can be found to support it.
In case they have forgotten, a report to councillors says attracting events "delivers substantial economic and cultural benefits, enhances community engagement, supports local businesses and provides a wide range of recreational and entertainment opportunities".
It also says upgrades are necessary and extra debt will need to be taken on to cover rising costs.
Keeping a lid on extra borrowing and debt repayment is also crucial to ensure the level of lending stays below the expected fair value of the stadium’s land at the end of its economic life of 50 years, in 2060. By that time, the land would be worth $51m, according to modelling.
There were other assumptions too, that the turf would be replaced in 2031-32 and the roof would last at least another 40 years.
There are two options put before councillors. The first recommends extra funding of $1.25m to Dunedin Stadium Property in 2026-27 and then the same amount again the following year, followed by annual $2.5m disbursements. Option two would pay out $2.25m extra each year from 2026-27, which would raise less money in the longer term and not allow room to deal with unexpected costs.
The recommended option is the first, making the estimated debt $37m by 2060 rather than the second option’s $49m by then.
While any stadium will chew through money on one side of the ledger, the secret is to make sure the other column is bringing in more than is going out.
Former Stop the Stadium vice-president Victor Billot is among those watching with alarm what is unfolding at Forsyth Barr Stadium. This week he reiterated his past views that the financial burden on Dunedin ratepayers of the stadium did not square up and it was "clearly unsustainable".
The reality is we have the stadium and we have to make it pay its way, rather than view the ratepayers’ pockets as bottomless.
We either go all out to find headline acts or events and make deals with them which are irresistible, or accept that a regular stream of smaller events is the best way to keep the stadium do more than just tick over.
Lazy, crazy days of summer
Five "warm" days of summer in Dunedin this season? Luxury!
The latest weather news puts us in mind of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch from the pre-Monty Python At Last The 1948 Show — though in this case, there is unlikely to be anyone competing to try to outdo such a poor achievement.
The memory can be short and fickle, however. November and December had several very warm days between 30°C and 31°C, and there were two consecutive days in January which reached 24.6°C and 25.0°C.
But it was a definitely a summer of two halves. And if you picked the wrong half to have your holiday or to paint the house, then we understand your frustration. The average temperature for the season was down significantly, to 15°C.
It’s not all gloom and doom though. The weekend’s cold snap is over and this week is looking much warmer, potentially becoming very warm. And March is often a lovely, settled month around the South.
With 27°C predicted for Friday, we might be crowing about one "warm" day in autumn before you know it.
