Much of the derision heaped on the stadium development has been down to the so called ‘build and they will come’ syndrome. This apparently is a bad thing, to build wonderful facilities and actively plan for events to be held there.
We have seen where this has been a huge success, possibly none more visible than the world class rowing facilities near Tiwzel in the Mackenzie Country.
Now comes the wonderful news that Invercargill has won the right to host the 2012 world junior track cycling championships at the ILT Velodrome track built in Invercargill in 2005. Sure there were nay-sayers when the Velodrome was being built (these people seem to pervade all cities in this country), but there was also a heck of a lot of support for the facility. This facility was built with locals in mind, however it was always the intention to get big international competitions to the Velodrome.
While there are those in the wider Dunedin community who heap scorn on the stadium, it has been mooted time and time again, yes indeed if you build it, they (NEW events) will come. Well of course they aren’t guaranteed to come, but holding the likes of FIFA’s U20 Football World Cup (the 3rd or 4th largest sporting event in the world depending on what sources you use) in NZ across the 4 major new stadia is a heck of a lot more realistic possibility than would be if we had Athletic Park, Lancaster Park, Eden Park and Carisbrook.
There are too many examples globally of this phenomenon occurring to name here, but we need not look any further than Invercargill’s wonderful facilities. No it’s not a done deal that these things will come to the country/city, but as proven by Velodrome, if you don’t have the facilities you most certainly can’t aim to host them (well not in the car park at the Southland District Council offices anyway).
What if? Dunedin... 