The never-ending saga of the rights and wrongs around Forsyth Barr Stadium has popped up again with the new council coming to grips with the financial reality of what it costs sinking in.
Rearing its ugly head might be a more accurate term, as ratepayers face a seemingly endless spiral upwards at a time when money is tight for many. The blame game won’t fix anything but already ‘‘I told you so’’ can be heard: no surprises there.
A lot has changed since the days of protest against the stadium, when vitriol was thrown about by both sides of the argument for building a new stadium. I myself stood against it not because of financial concerns, but because I believed that an upgrade of Carisbrook made more sense. I based that belief on my experience as a regular attendee at games there.
When I arrived in Dunedin in 1999, I was truly impressed by the passion displayed and the atmosphere generated by Otago fans in those days. Standing on the terrace, even on the coldest days, was a heart-warming experience.
It truly was a House of Pain and its history and traditions were, I thought, worth preserving in a city that takes great pride in its heritage. When the decision was made to demolish it and build the new stadium I accepted that, and when I finally got to go there had to admit that it was a great venue to watch a game of rugby.
What didn’t happen for me was the feeling of camaraderie that enveloped Carisbrook. I never felt the need to go along after that and I think many more fans have drifted away over the years.
Therein lies the problem I think. We have a great rugby venue, but we no longer have the die-hard fans to fill it. Times have changed since 1999 and the crowds required to pay the bills are just not there.
We had a lucky break at the expense of Christchurch after the earthquake. We got acts that filled the house who would never have come if there was a venue available in Christchurch. With the completion of their new stadium Dunedin’s brief reign as a South Island concert centre is well and truly over.
There are other events that the stadium has proved to be an excellent venue for, the craft beer festival being a case in point.
But the bottom line is that we have a venue that needs a much bigger population base to support its upkeep. That is not going to happen any time soon and probably not within the stadium’s lifespan.
From here on though we have to pay the bills and it’s going to hurt.
We have a stadium the envy of many cities of our size and larger. We need to forget about past arguments and finger pointing. It’s there. We have it. Use it or lose it.
The days of the big four venues in Auckland, Wellington , Christchurch and Dunedin are in the past.
Hamilton and Tauranga have sped past us in population terms and are accelerating away at a steady rate. They are rightfully putting up their hands for the big games.
Auckland can easily put 60,000 bums on seats at Eden Park: that is twice what we can do. Revenue is what counts in today’s game and they hold all the aces there. The guys on the paddock are not just there for the love of the game any more, they are there to be paid and the costs are never going down.
What have we got then? On the positive side we have a great rugby venue which has provided 15 years of entertainment to our region so far, but that comes at a cost. It is not, I believe, a white elephant, but neither was it a good investment in the strictest sense.
It is a luxury but we all deserve some of that don’t we?
We should make the best of what we have. Whingeing about it is never going to change anything.
- Richard O’Mahony is a longtime correspondent to the ODT.
