Flooded greens at North East Valley and Taieri forced the Bowls New Zealand event organisers to use the stadium.
``If we didn't have the indoor green we would have been stuck'' Bowls New Zealand president Michael Spring said.
``We wouldn't have been able to complete the pairs without the stadium.''
The stadium was also used for section play in the triples yesterday.
``It's a magnificent facility to have. I'd heard about the stadium but to come down here and walk around the stadium was magic.''
Bowls Dunedin Umpires Association secretary Michael Ayres was duty umpire at the stadium on Sunday.
``Having the indoor facility enabled us to continue the tournament when the rain made outdoor greens unplayable,'' he said.
The bowlers from other parts of the country have also booked flights home.
``Dunedin is very lucky to have this facility and we saw the value of the indoor stadium today.''
When the stadium was officially opened in 1995 it cost $2.2 million and the estimated cost to build it today would be more than $6 million.
The stadium was the vision of the late Pat O'Dea, a retired judge, who returned to his home town in the early 1990s and made a big impact on the sport in Dunedin.
O'Dea had visited indoor bowls stadiums in Britain when he lived overseas and thought Dunedin was an ideal spot to have an indoor facility.
It was the first indoor bowls stadium built in New Zealand and has kept Dunedin at the forefront of the Professional Bowls Association and brought regular top bowls to the city each winter.
