The Mainland Challenge marching championships will be held at Carisbrook at the weekend. But a covered indoor stadium is needed to stage future New Zealand championships.
Marching Otago's secretary Glenys Cowie told the Otago Daily Times that the venue for major marching events in the city used to be the Dunedin Stadium.
But this has been turned into the Dunedin Ice Stadium and is no longer available. The Lion Arena at the Edgar Stadium is not big enough to hold marching.
If the new indoor stadium is built at Awatea St it will be the venue for the next national championships in Dunedin.
The New Zealand championships will be held at an outdoor venue at Blenheim in March. But the weather is more reliable in that part of the country.
This year's New Zealand championships was held at the new indoor venue in Palmerston North.
Thirty-eight teams will be competing at the South Island regional championships. It is the second largest marching event in the country. Each team has between 10 and 15 girls.
There is a big representation from Otago with four teams entered from Onyx, two from Balclutha and one from Mgathi.
The championship starts at Carisbrook at 1pm today and continues tomorrow from 9am to 3pm.
