The council said today engineers had recommended demolishing the stand and the city's convention centre.
Both venues appear to be the latest casualties of the devastating February 22 earthquake.
Further evaluations still needed to be carried out at the stadium, the town hall and the convention centre, councillor Sue Wells said.
The engineers said the convention centre and Hadlee Stand had suffered severe damage and should be demolished.
However, final decisions on the future of those facilities would not be made until assessments had been completed, peer reviewed and the outcomes agreed with insurers.
Those decisions were likely to be still some months away.
In the meantime the council was still working with the Canterbury Rugby Football Union on finding an alternative home for rugby in Christchurch.
"At this stage we can confirm that the stadium will not be available for the 2012 season and we will continue working with everyone involved," Ms Wells said.
