UPDATED POST June 10, 2012 at 7:10 pm
A response at ODT Online.
Ahem
Submitted by farsighted on Sat, 09/06/2012 – 5:58pm.
There have been 18 major events since the stadium opened in August 2011. So it’s not “weekend in, weekend out”; on average it’s less than one a fortnight.
For the grand opening: around 650 (no hire fee); North Otago game: about 7500 (hire fee written off as bad debt to ORFU); Canterbury game: 14067 (hire fee written off); RWC: 4 games, attendance 30700, 25687, 20117, 28027 (no hire fee paid due to arrangement with RWC2011, cost to city $400K); Phoenix game 1: 15000; Phoenix game 2: 4628; Otago United games: 3 games at around 250 per game; Elton John: 35500 (no hire fee paid); Super Rugby: 5 games, attendance 22500, 17670, 18417, 18207, 14967.
Total attendance: 234337; Average attendance: 15240; Total cost of opening: 5 events at $30K, 13 events at $100K = $1.45M; Hire fees paid: 7 events out of 18; Total written off: $800K; Total cost to the city: $2.25M or $10/person (operating cost only).
These figures are useful to project what needs to happen for DVML to break even. They need to do that on approximately 300K visitors, 26 events per year. One event per fortnight is $2.8 million in operating costs, plus DVML’s $2M or so administration costs and the $5M or so they need to pay DVL, so they need revenue of about $30-$50 per visitor. At the moment, the average ticket price is around $20/person (student tickets sell at around $12 each), or a shortfall of $4M, which squares with the reported figures.
Plus one: Big Night In – around 20,000 visitors (zero income); in addition to the $100K opening costs, DCC paid [$70K] for the event to take place.
(ODT Link)
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SPREADSHEET
Supplied. Entries verifiable from public sources. It may be possible in most cases to report the ticket prices for sales via Ticket Direct website for past events.
stadium-event-attendance1 (21.5 KB)
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
dundeeboy’s got quite excited about his 0.83 stat. At least on one fact he got it right about the Stadium Councillors not bothering to listen. I can’t help wonder who he’s getting his prompting from but had to laugh when he referred to the Big Night In as an example of support. Thanks there must go to stadium Cr Syd Brown who gave $50K of public funds to ODT owner Allied Press to host their party. The Smith brothers are worth over $50M.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/212382/webb-ellis-cup-coming-south#comment-30977
$100 a ticket is a very realistic figure. That would potentially generate the required revenue. It is a competitive price too. Farry and chums harped on about building world class venues. Well you have to take the rough with the smooth. Just go and have a look at how much it costs to see the games of some of the world’s major sporting teams. That’s how much tickets here should be.
Yep, dundeeboy has obviously gone plain bonkers on his 0.83% stat. If he were right Dunedin wouldn’t have a problem. It’d be hard to get seats at $100 ticket – just like at a Man Utd game.
Eds – can you put farsighted’s post up as table please? It would have taken the poster significant time to compile that information and would be appreciated to have the numbers lined up. I’m a little surprised the Editor of ODT Online did not include a comment thanking him or her for providing that information to the newspaper. It just saved them a lot of time and money for all that investigative work they must be compiling in the background.
{See updated post -Eds}
Because of Cull, now the Rugby Corporate Bludgers do not have to come up with a tight business plan, so sir, they just mosey over to their dear puppetman at the DCC, hold out their hand and Cull hands over the ratefunds. Nice and simple. The Secret Seven on council are OK with it, and they hold the majority on council. Business is going to plan for them methinks.
Exactly, they’re addicted to ratepayer funding. Until they’re given a little tough love, they’re not going to learn how to work through the problem and just keep coming back, expecting more and more each time – all while stealing your silver so it can be hocked off cheap somewhere else… oh wait, mixing up the Professional Rugby bludgers and Stadium Councillors and Stakeholders in that one. Oh no, wait, it’s the same thing… Dammit. Might need some council brainwashing from Dr Bidrose.
I seem to remember the DCC gave the ODT $70k, not $50k, for their Birthday Bash.
Imagine where some of that dedicated $5 million will go, put aside for DCC’s new communications and marketing unit, with Bidrose at the helm, more filthy lucre for the kilted ones, aka GOB’s. It’s a stiff breeze.
Peter, you are correct. It was $70,000 stadium councillor Syd Brown gave to Allied Press for its Big Night In.
I notice farsighted made a similar mistake to mine at ODT Online except the ODT accepted that number even though it moderates posts before release. It does seem to have an inconsistent approach to dropping/editing comments at times, especially certain topics.
The ODT’s take on the above matter, comments (moderated by ODT) and an Editor’s response are available on this page: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/169440/stadium-concert-auditions-begin.
The formation of the Communications Department was a reckless decision. They are placing a very expensive sticky plastic over the symptoms instead instead of curing the disease of corruption at Dunedin City Council. This situation will only be exasperated by a multi-million dollar budget trying to play down that corruption.
Of course this council is not immune to the Black Ops Budget. They gave a non-elected representative of council almost unrestricted access to millions of ratepayers funds with little or no financial accountability.
And we all know what was borne out of that unholy relationship. Maybe the next thing on the job-creation list is Stadium Inspectors – instant fines for saying unnice things about their Stadium.
See Updated Post – with spreadsheet for stadium event attendance.
Rugby: South take honours in interisland game
http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/212658/rugby-south-take-honours-interisland-game
Crowd: 7427 (slightly above expectations)
Big Night In
Submitted by farsighted on Sun, 10/06/2012 – 10:34am.
…I forgot that one. Around 20,000 visitors that night. Zero income. Oh, and in addition to the $100K opening costs, the city paid [$70K] so that the event could take place…
Full comment
There has been an increase of “visions” and all round silliness out of this council in recent weeks. Something to do with unearthing that black sludge near council chambers or this department playing silly buggers? With a billion dollars of debt (I reckon it is anyway) and what must be a near impossible task of managing that debt, you have got to wonder what this council is really up to though. That ship’s boiler must be about to explode.
Morally, and politically, it was pretty dumb for the ODT to screw the ratepayers for a DCC contribution to their birthday party. Everyone knows the owners of the ODT are very, very wealthy men. It is a measure of the arrogance shown to the citizens and readers of the ODT and the close relationship the paper has with the rugby councillors in particular.
They not only got $70k, but hired the venue for free. Disgusting.
I’m looking forward to Allied Press either being sold or taken over by another paper in due course.
Allied Press/ODT would’ve put in more than the DCC’s share.
Agreed Peter. It may have been in its interests to promote the stadium when the advertising was calling it private-funded, but the Otago Rugby Times should have changed its position when it was turning public-funded. That continued position was not in the best interests of its readers nor the community. I hold the ORT partly responsible for the stakeholder rort and abysmal financial management which has left Dunedin in such a dire straight.
If the debt continues to compound this city is at risk of becoming a town; and that newspaper, losing subscriptions and corporate advertising, is at risk of losing its Daily status and becoming a Community in the same frame.
There is a deep mistrust for Stadium Councillor Syd Brown in this community. Mayor Dave Cull must remove this stadium councillor from the finance committee, or he risks continued association with him and that will count at the next election.
Dunedin must be protected from intergenerational debt and asset sales and lately that hasn’t looked like a major concern to both parties.
The $70,000 was immoral and neither party should have gone there.
On the ORT site old bones Mackoy is sad that we are not smiling and paying the money for his beloved albatross, must be channelling Cull. Tough for Bones. If we say and do nothing the stakeholders and stadium councillors will take more out of this city, They are not done yet, we still have very valuable assets they want. Bones is eithera a mental dullard or making a buck somehow off the stadium.
The stadium councillors have the majority on council (7), they rule it and Cull bows to them; not one of them (Hudson, Noone, Weatheral etc) dared breathe their connection to the stadium on the run up to the last election and the ORT did not reveal this either (still does not) and the three individuals who did make their connection with the stadium loud and clear were removed from council: Chin, Walls and Guest. As long as they are allowed to keep their dirty little secret quiet, they will stay ensconced around that council table. Don’t look to the media to hold them accountable, much too hard for them, easier to cosy up to stakeholders, and one of them is a stakeholder himself and a very very wealthy one as Peter has said.
Amanda, added to the 7 stadium councillors… there is Greater Dunedin (the “let’s make it work” councillors) who were possibly assisted by Julian for not one, but two local body elections. Thus, the total number expands – for removal in 2013.
Apart from the South players – just one man happy, the Mayor of Dunedin. Or so he says, or winces. We like the fact RNZ News was all over this one!
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### ODT Online Mon, 11 Jun 2012
North-South match pleases mayor
By Nigel Benson
The Dunedin City Council finally managed to enjoy a game of rugby yesterday. A crowd of 7427 attended the North Island v South Island match at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, realising a potential windfall of up to $25,000 for the DCC. The match was pulled out of mothballs by the New Zealand Rugby Union as part of a recovery package for the debt-ridden Otago Rugby Football Union.
Read more
Crowd: 7427
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### ODT Online Mon, 11 Jun 2012
Rugby: South prevails in entertaining game
By Hayden Meikle
An utter waste of time. A betrayal of a special part of New Zealand’s rugby heritage. Well, boo-sucks to all those who turned minor scepticism over the hastily revived interisland game into near-hysterical condemnation. This needed to be appreciated for what it was: a fairly entertaining afternoon of rugby featuring a decent sprinkling of talent from parts North and South. Nothing more, nothing less.
Read more
ODT Slideshow: Rugby: North v South…
OMG. Thread closed.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/212382/webb-ellis-cup-coming-south#comment-31034
Just when there was enormous fun to be had. Look for other ORT Online threads, people!
“SYMBOLIC” – Mayor Cull has a splendid way with words.
(‘s’ words applied to Dave might be subdued or snooty, based on the audio track)
For our listening pleasure. The ORFU bailout package is going really well for DCC. Yup.
More about the northVsouth event, er profits…well OK, ten(s of ??) thousand dollars when two hundred thousand was envisaged. Hmmm.
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### rnz.co.nz Monday 11 June 2012
Morning Report with Geoff Robinson & Simon Mercep
07:56 North-South rugby likely to raise only tens of thousands
The first North versus South rugby match in the professional era looks likely to raise only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of dollars expected. (3′38″)
Audio | Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3 | Embed
I have another stadium story:
Today I went to Unipol gym. On previous occasions I had parked along with many students in an area marked “Gate A”. This time I was stopped by a security guard and told I could not park there. Why not I asked? The answer given was “students had been polluting it.” Polluting it? I questioned. I know students can be hedonistic young morons but there aren’t even any trees to play possum in a car park. The guard moderated his reply. Apparently there had only be a “thin skim of seal” put on the parking area – it would crumble if 150+ students were to park their cars there every day.
Apparently the parking area is owned by DCC. Or DVL, DVML, ORFU….. I’m not sure which. Perhaps it is not surprising there is only a thin skim on it. The fact that ratepayers are paying some guy to stand out in the cold and turn students away from empty tarmac is bemusing. I wonder what agency employs him. The fact that the tarmac is too thin to take continuous traffic is also bemusing. This seems to be another area of the stadium project that is failure by design.
But students should be free to take their packed lunches to the stadium to eat there. Malcolm said so.
Apparently it is OK to park there on weekends, as the area alongside Gate A was full both days.
You should have gone round to the Wilsons public parking operation on Minerva St. It’s $1/hour. Oh wait, no it isn’t.
Good job there weren’t too many people coming to the North-South game. The car park wouldn’t have stood for it.
I guess no-one would be surprised to find it actually cost the ratepayer money. That seems to be the way anything to do with ORFU works. Let’s see if it raises even a dollar.
To quote that memorable phrase from the anals (sic) of the stadium saga, the ten thousand is ‘a piss in the bucket’.
Bonkers how the ODT online headline is the nice positive spin, “North-South match pleases mayor”……but since it has become truly apparent just how shit it was ….. it falls off the front page.
Will the NZ government please rescue us from the DCC?!
You have to give the Rugby Times credit for trying to put a positive spin on their North vs South stories. Trying being the keyword there. At least it makes them quite funny to read. Note ticketing crowded everyone into one area… for the fan’s enjoyment, of course (ie., organisers knew the numbers would be a joke from the start).
A bit of extra rugby trivia: The ORT has published over 20 rugby articles today. That’s quite an effort from the team.
Amanda, do you think this is the “softening up” in the Otago Stadium Times we’ve been expecting to start any time soon or a genuine story about the financial state of this corrupt (and reckless) council?
I see Stadium Councillor Syd Brown’s magic words are in there to increase debt but the part all rent and ratepayers of this city must fear is the third option to “increase rates”. Because when that “something’s got to give somewhere” it will be this as it is the one power this council really has.
And it won’t be 12%. Think between 30-300% – it’s happened elsewhere in New Zealand for less debt than Dunedin.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/213158/audit-nz-warns-risks-debt-stadium
Today’s letter from Ian Taylor got basically the same non answer as his last one from the new ORFU chair this time. I bet he’s not all that happy, probably still feels stiffed by the good ‘ol boys
This is why the media not holding the stadium councillors accountable is so worrying. Now these individuals feel safe to get Dunedin people to pay for their fiscal negligence, no consequences for them, with a slack lazy media we can not expect them to remind voters that the councillors who want to increase our rates are the same ones who put the city into massive unsustainable debt. Hudson and mates feel safe and sure that they will return to council with this media asleep at the wheel.
Green Island Stadium demolished ….
Build it and they SHALL come! An aggrieved letter-writer, John Hodge of St Clair, in today’s ODT print edition letters to the editor asks,
“Could somebody please explain why there are no top acts playing at our fantastic stadium in the near future? Does the man in charge of music know that some of the world’s top acts are playing at Byron Bay, Australia, next Easter, and we haven’t secured any. Christchurch have Santana and Steve Miller. Wow. They would have filled our stadium.”
Guy Hedderwick replies but does not put forward any realistic solution to the problem of acts – their promoters – choosing for their own reasons not to come here. I have a suggestion. With the wind-down of NZ presence in Afghanistan, highly trained cunning personnel who can handle high-risk activity, potentially enter the job market. Another dip into the public purse could secure an elite squad focused on live capture of musicians.
Once they have experienced our “fantastic stadium” they will be eager to return voluntarily on future tours, and will spread the word among fellow performers. Within a very short time this investment will pay off for a change: we will have more concerts than any other city in Australasia. Just as St Malfar prophesied,
Aaaaagh.
Was quietly minding my own business thinking Xmas present buying to do (haven’t started yet), so I was glancing through my CRT Supplier Directory… when I came to this really strange entry under “Entertainment” at Dunedin (page D16):
“Carisbrook Stadium Trust
PO Box 5045, Moray Place
03 477 4000
No rebate” [to CRT shareholders]
As people will realise, that’s the DCC’s PO Box and phone number. What the.
Simple answer, John Hodge. The word is out. The stadium, as a venue, is crap for concerts.
Oh dear, seems like despite reports that the conjoined twins were successfully separated the operation was not completed, possibly because the smaller twin relies on the other for its blood supply.
Is Guy still working there ? He seems to have been mising in action for months now.
Maybe Guy found himself inadvertently locked in Farry’s CST file room at the stadium, forgotten about.