John MacDonald: One stadium, one ticket price

Even though I live in Christchurch and pay rates in Christchurch, you’re not going to hear me saying that I should pay less to get into the new One NZ Stadium when it opens next year.

But I bet there’ll be no shortage of Christchurch people thinking that’s a brilliant idea, but I don’t.

It’s something that the council-owned company that will run the stadium says could happen. People who live in Christchurch city could pay less than people from anywhere else.

The reason being —or the theory being— that those of us who live in the Christchurch city area have put money into the stadium through our rates and maybe that could or should be recognised by charging us Christchurch lot less for tickets.

On average, every Christchurch city ratepayer pays $144 a year to go towards the cost of building the stadium. All up —at this stage— the cost to build it is $683 million, and it’s expected to be open by April next year.

There’s already a precedent for locals paying less with the hot pools at New Brighton. Locals get cheapie deals there. And locals in Hurunui pay less to get into the hot pools in Hanmer Springs.

But I don’t think we should go down that track with the stadium. One reason being that we will all benefit once the thing is up-and-running. The money coming into town will be brilliant, which is enough of a pay-off for me. The forecasts say it’ll put $21 million into the local economy every year.

That’s enough of a return for my investment. I don’t want cheaper tickets, as well.

What’s more, it would be extremely hypocritical of people who are anti-stadium and have been banging-on for years that it’s just a nice-to-have and their rates money shouldn’t be going into it, to put their hand out for cheaper tickets.

The reason the levy for out-of-towners is being talked about is because it’s the promoters and the people behind the concerts and the sporting matches who set the ticket prices. So the stadium operator couldn’t give Christchurch people a discount because they don’t set the prices, but they could put an out-of-towner levy on tickets bought by people outside Christchurch city.

Which would, effectively, mean Christchurch locals paying less and people elsewhere paying more. But I don’t think that would be fair. Because what about people living right on the doorstep of Christchurch city?

How fair would it be to make people in Selwyn and Waimakariri, for example, pay more? It wouldn’t be fair at all.

Because what we would be doing is punishing them because Christchurch City Council couldn’t get its act together on the stadium funding in the first place. It didn’t even bother —right at the outset— to try and negotiate a deal where those areas did have some skin in the game, where they did make some sort of financial contribution towards the stadium.

It would also be punishing people in Selwyn and Waimakariri for their councils not being proactive. For not picking up the phone and calling Christchurch and saying they wanted to do some of the heavy lifting.

Fifty percent of people in Selwyn travel into Christchurch every day for work and school. And I’ve said all along that people in Selwyn and people in Waimakariri should be contributing to the stadium through their rates.

But that horse has bolted. The people who could have made that happen —the councils— didn’t. And so I’m not going to turn around now and say that us Christchurch locals should get preferential treatment.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now, even though I live in christ Church, and even
though I pay rates in Christchurch, you're not going to
hear me saying today that I should pay less to
get into the new Christchurch Stadium when it opens. But
I bet there'll be no shortage of christ Church people
thinking that's a brilliant idea, But I don't. It is
something that the council owned company that will run run

(00:36):
the stadium says could happen. People who live in christ
Church City could pay less than people from anywhere else,
the reason being, or the theory being, that those of
us who live in the christ Church City area have
put money into the stadium through our rates and maybe
that could or should be recognized by charging us Christchurch

(00:58):
a lot less for tickets to get in the concerts
and sports matches and that sort of thing. So a
couple of numbers. On average, every Church City ratepayer pays
one hundred and forty four dollars a year to go
towards the cost of building the stadium, and all up
at this stage the cost is going to be six
hundred and eighty three million, although we will see exactly

(01:20):
how fixed that fixed price contract to build the thing
really is. But that's the cost of the stage and
it's expected to be opened by April next year. Now,
there is already a precedent for locals paying less with
the hot pools at New Brighton. Locals get cheapy deals there,
and locals in Herdanui pay less to get into the

(01:41):
hot pools in Handle Springs, I seem to recall. But
I don't think we should go down that track with
the stadium, one reason being that we will all benefit anyway.
Once the thing is up and running, the money coming
into town will be brilliant, Which is that's enough of
a payoff for me. The forecasts say it's going to

(02:04):
put twenty one million bucks into the local economy every year,
twenty one million dollars every year, and that is enough
of a return for my investment, for my rates investment.
I don't want cheaper tickets on top of that. No, thanks.
What's more, it would be extremely hypercritical of people who

(02:25):
are anti stadium and who have been banging on for
years that it's just nice to have that their rates
shouldn't be going into the stadium. It would be extremely
hypocritical of them to turn around and it's because they
live in christ Church put their hand out and take
advantage of cheaper tickets just because they live here. The
hypocrisy would be quite something. Now, the reason the levy

(02:47):
for out of town is is being talked about is
because it's the promoters and the people behind the concerts
and the sports matches who set the ticket prices. So
Venues Aututahi, which is the council outfit which is going
to run the stadium. They couldn't give christ Church people
a discount because they don't set the prices. But what
they could do is they could put on an out

(03:08):
of town at levy on tickets brought by people outside
Christchurch City, which would effectively mean christ Church locals paying
less and people from elsewhere paying more. But that would
not be fair. I don't think that would be fair
because what about people living right on the doorstep of
Christchurch City. How fair would it be to make people
in Selwyn and why makeer Eri for example, pay more?

(03:32):
Wouldn't be fair at all because what we would be
doing is punishing them making them pay more. Because the
Christchurch City Council couldn't get its act together on the
stadium funding in the first place. It didn't even bother
right at the outset to try and negotiate a deal
where those areas did have some skin in the game,

(03:52):
where they did make some sort of financial contribution towards
the stadium. So it would be punishing people and Selwyn
and why Maakeeri for christ Church not getting its act together,
And it would be punishing people in Selwyn, and why
Maccari and hither and he possibly too for their counsels
not being proactive either. They're not picking up the barer
and calling christ Church and saying, hey, we know this

(04:13):
thing that's going to be beneficial for all of us,
so we want to do our but count us in.
We're going to be part of the action. Because remember
fifty percent of people in Selwyn travel into christ Church
every day for work in school. And I've said all
along that people and Selwyn and people and why Magareri
should be contributing through their rates. But that horse has bolted.

(04:35):
Got to accept that the people who could have made
that happen, the councils, they didn't. So I'm not going
to turn around now and say that us christ Church
locals should get preferential treatment over our neighbors in s
wy Maccareri heard anui everywhere, which is why I'm not
in favor of christ Church people paying less to get

(04:57):
into the stadium and everyone else paying more to get
into the gate.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
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or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.