Reflecting on the busy events programme at Dunedin’s stadium, it’s all on! Did the nomination come from Queenstown Lakes, home of the two ‘sirs’. Or the project manager. The mystery continues.
—
### ODT Online Wed, 4 Apr 2012
Stadium finalist in ‘venue of the year’ awards
By Chris Morris
The rave reviews and acrimony that comes with Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium could soon be capped by a new accolade – the title of world’s best venue. The roofed stadium has been named as one of five finalists vying for the “venue of the year” award at this year’s stadium industry awards, TheStadiumBusiness Awards 2012, to be announced in Italy next month.
Read more
—
Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
Just goes to show how worthless such an industry award can be when our little stadium – illegitimately conceived, and born, as a truly ‘bastard stadium’ – is selected as a finalist.
Do they have a gong for ‘the biggest dud stadium venue’ for the year?
Built of plastic, on plastic. How great thou art, Stadium.
Peter, it is the biggest dud stadium, if you use Air NZ’s abbreviation
Wins “least used venue” hands down
Speaking of ‘venue use’, received word this afternoon that AV supply for DVML venues has gone to LX Central, an Australian company with a one-man outlet in Queenstown.
“It was going to be so good for the Dunedin economy” and I recall the good keen tradies who wouldn’t hear a word against it, they were all going to get so much work from it!
That ‘one man’ or that ‘one-company’ will need to hire some-one or more to handle all venues here… ? (er, when the stadium comes fully up to speed, along with Town Hall, Edgar Centre, etc)(at which point we’ll all stay home – with the flatscreen – having exhausted our discretionary ‘going out’ monies)
Elizabeth – I bet a certain strong supporter of the stadium who has been certainly vocal in recent times about how it can be used will be spitting blood over that announcement regarding LX Central. Dear oh dear.
There’s always Julian Price, the cockie from North Otago (letter to the editor, ODT 3.4.12) who wants to graze his hoggets in the stadium. Grass growing in the absence of events will become all the rage.
Or. They can hold a conference at the stadium for ALL the Dunedin taxi firms to decide a better way to serve punters needing a ride to the stadium and back. Huge business, taxi conferences. In the absence of any transportation planning at the stadium. Christchurch resident Karen Cain’s totally justified angry letter to the editor same day as Julian’s got me thinking!
Oh, look, it’s Queenstown benefitting from our city’s rate dollars… Queenstown, Queenstown. Hmm… oh, wait, isn’t there a stakeholder or two living there? Or am I thinking of those stakeholders inclined to move there after gutting Dunedin of its assets? Good place to get in a bit of golf after a hard day’s rorting.
Exile to Queenstown isn’t far enough away for disappearing acts. Let it be known.
Just a thought. If the stadium is voted ‘World’s Best Stadium’ maybe we could do some ‘creative’ advertising based on this ‘accolade’ and sell the bloody thing. Then we still have a stadium, for the punters, and the rest of us can celebrate.
We were sold the stadium on lies. Let them resell it to show they just didn’t fluke it!
Why does DVML have a ‘preferred’ taxi company to service the stadium? Suspicious. Seems stupid when there is obviously more than enough demand to meet those who want a taxi to and from the stadium….especially when it rains.
### ODT Online Thu, 12 Apr 2012
Taxis have trouble with stadium access
By Vaughan Elder
There has been a “frustrating” lack of progress in the way traffic is managed at Forsyth Barr Stadium, and traffic was “bumper to bumper” after the Highlanders versus Stormers game on Saturday, Dunedin Taxis director Murray Alcock says.
Read more
—
More comments on taxi services to stadium at this (long) thread
[traffic management issues]
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/204452/team-effort-stadium-show-requires-really-big-cast
Just reading through the list of “finalists”, my money goes on the manufacturers of the EFTE roof cladding as being the stadium nominators. They have both of their recently completed stadia listed, as well as their own product. There’s a coincidence. Remember that anyone can nominate anyone. DCC nominated their own Wall Street Mall for “Building of the Year” a few years back.
Haha, thanks Phil – your logic and suspicions always surpass !!
Never mind grass for hoggets. Try the other grass and make some real money.
Knew you’d say that, Mr Oaten.
I wonder if Little Malc put in the nomination. A pity there isn’t another category for ‘Best Visionary’.
Two categories: best visionary with and without psychoactive substances, psychosis or personality disorder?
A reminder: DVML is on the hook for ALL COSTS associated with this match.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/6709206/North-versus-South-game-could-become-fiasco
This should be another nail in the coffin for bailing out the perennially incompetent ORFU. This rescue package is already falling apart. As it should. Like any other business they need to merge to achieve efficiencies and remain solvent. In this case, with other southern unions. Merging some of the ORFU’s former responsibilities into council controlled DVML is dodgy… to put it mildly.
Graham’s talk about ORFU’S board members being allowed to re-apply for their jobs on a new ORFU has to be gunned down by the council if its conditions for rescue are to have any credibility. At the same time the council needs to look closely at those in DVML who have got jobs there via the ORFU. The last thing we need is to recycle the incompetent.
A review needs to be done on DVML’S costs. When does David Davies and his senior crew face an independent job performance review?
863 staff per event? That $100K cost for opening looks about right.
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/204452/team-effort-stadium-show-requires-really-big-cast
Traffic management around the stadium before, during and after big matches continues to be a problem as stadium staff try to maintain pedestrian safety while catering for vehicular traffic.
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/204452/team-effort-stadium-show-requires-really-big-cast
Crowd: 15,000
http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/highlanders/204546/rugby-highlanders-suffer-first-loss-new-stadium
I’m sure they’ll fool 10,000+ into buying tickets for the North/South match. And the students will turn up anywhere that they can be applauded for displays of drunken stupidity for a $5 ticket. It’s getting a bit desperate though. How close are they to wheeling out Jeff Wilson and Taine Randell ? Half a step ahead of Gary Sear and Steve Hotton I suspect. At least they’ll be free.
It’s interesting to read some of the feedback from stadium goers, and the responses from the stadium management. Anything that’s great, they love, and pat the poster on the back. Anything that is negative, they immediately publicly shift the blame on to the private contractors, or whomever was hiring the venue. Anyone but themselves as the venue operator. The noise is obviously an issue in the stadium. Right from the first event. So far it’s been Elton’s fault, ODT’s fault, NZRU’s fault, and currently it’s the Highlanders’ fault. At no point have the operators of the stadium acknowledged any responsibility for ensuring the enjoyment of spectators, nor offered any assistance is addressing the negative experiences that many people seem to be having at the venue. They seem completely unable, or unwilling, to grasp the significance of the consequences to them as venue operators. No-one is going to tell their friends “Don’t go to a Highlanders rugby match because the music is too loud”. What they are likely to say is “Don’t go to watch a football match at the stadium because the music is too loud”. Add into the mix that the Highlanders don’t have to abide by the conditions of the Resource Consent granted for the stadium, the stadium operator does. I don’t think that anyone is expecting a brand new stadium to function perfectly from Day One. But mud sticks unless it’s washed off while still wet.
No worries, folks.
Opinion page today, a piece by someone who knows the facts and would never tell a lie.
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/204609/stadium-trusts-negotiations-and-contracts-soundly-based • Malcolm Farry is chairman of the Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust.
Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/rugby/6717989/Other-options-for-new-stadium
‘Councillors decided to include an option to buy seven hectares elsewhere in the city for the stadium at an estimated cost of $105 million.’
You would think the government would spit up over that knowing what it knows about the Dunedin rort. But they won’t since this is clearly another set up to line the pockets of their group of stakeholders. Most of them well known to Christchurch residents too.
Dunedin City Council and Christchurch City Council had already shared common interests in diddling the ratepayers long before the quakes struck. So I guess they’re just getting back up to speed again on the next rort.
$105 million for 7 hectares of industrial land is EIGHT times the price of top-end in ChCh. Stop me if you have seen this rort before…
Perhaps the cost of the Stadium is estimated at $105m after insurance payout on AMI rather than the cost of land purchase…
The article is fairly clear on that point: “Councillors decided to include an option to buy seven hectares elsewhere in the city for the stadium at an estimated cost of $105 million.”
The lesson to be learnt from us for Christchurch people faced with a stadium rort on their own doorstep, it is this. Don’t believe that the issue can be decided fairly through ‘consultation’, reasoned arguments and an expectation of fair play by the promoters. If you don’t want such a folly, when the city has already suffered enough, go hard on the streets of Christchurch. Polite demonstrations and hall meetings are not enough. They can ultimately be ignored. The powers that be hate it when they can’t control the anger.
http://www.stadiumbusinessawards.com/shortlists2012/
Nominee Shortlists
Venue of the Year Award
• Amway Center, Orlando, Florida, USA
• Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand
• LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City, USA
• Mercedes-Benz Arena, Shanghai, China
• The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, UK
Architecture & Design Award
• Arup Associates, for the Qatar 2022 showcase stadium, Doha
• NÜSSLI Group, for Airberlin World, Dusseldorf
• Olgga for Stadium du Littoral
• Populous, for Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
• RKW, for PGE Arena, Gdansk
New Venue Award
• Coface Arena, Mainz, Germany
• Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, New Zealand
• Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy
• LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City, USA
• National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland
• Stadion Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
• The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, UK
• Ulker Sports Arena, Istanbul, Turkey
I wonder how many of those companies actually paid good money for their naming rights?
Forsyth Barr has received massive coverage, local, national and international. It was widely believed a figure between $3-$10M was at stake. It was reported as “millions” in the early days of the hype, recently Malcolm Farry said it was dollars and time, while comment elsewhere indicates some sort of monthly contribution. My guess? FA – at least, compared to the amount Dunedin City has been taken for by stakeholders.
Probably includes a bonus pat on the bum for Malcolm by Eion and a good old boy platitude “Great game, son.” when he exits Forsyth Barr building for his chaffeur driven car?
It is long overdue for the Forsyth Barr Stadium naming rights financial contribution to be made public. It is in the ratepayers’ best interests to know how much is being paid to reduce the stadium debt.mgr
Anonymous: a 2009 spreadsheet has an item called Sponsorship which is very likley to be FB’s naming rights. It is $5.95 million spread over 10 years. $723,000 is to be/has been paid this year, then $581,000 for the other years. I think it was to be one payment per year.
For that money they get to be associated with the worst business decision ever made by the DCC. If there was a world’s worst busines award, I think their FB Stadium would have a good chance: Investment $250 – $300 million, forecast average return – negative $20 million per year. By comparison, DCHL last year made $16.5 million, so each year the whole profit of DCHL will not be enough to pay for and operate their investment.
The $20m/yr includes interest but not principal repayments. For those councillors and CEOs who aren’t good at arithmetic: 40 years x $20 million is $800 million. Including the principal payments, that makes a total of about $1100 million. My guess is that it will take our hapless bunch of dimwit councillors a number of years before they understand what they have done and what needs to be done. Sadly, I am not convinced that the next bunch of councillors will be any smarter than the ones we have now.
Including a massive earthquake, I think that the biggest threat to our great city is the DCC. Something needs to change.
Something definitely needs to change, JimmyJones. How about savings by getting rid of all permanent staff except library workers – no worries, nearly all the “doing something useful” jobs like street cleaning have already been contracted out so few exceptions necessary – and contracting out to a call-centre help-desk in Mumbai, or Manila. Or Kabul, wouldn’t be many Tartan Bros in Kabul would there?