The Trusts Stadium reports on a great year

The Trusts Stadium reports on a great year

The Trusts Stadium is on a high having just reported to the Waitakere City Council’s Financial and operating Performance Committee some outstanding results for the year.

This comes just after hosting two capacity events; the Silver Ferns Test against South Africa and a sold out youth music and dance event “Bring It On” which attracted 5000 teenagers from wider Auckland.

The Stadium's annual report for the year says that the facility is having significant impact in terms of awareness, attendance, approval and perceived benefit to the community.

Mayor Bob Harvey says he is delighted with the results.

"We took a huge punt to build the finest facility of its kind in New Zealand. We did that for social benefits: To give our young people a place to go, where they could be involved in constructive activities like sport. We also built it to give major events a place to go and where we could showcase our city. Attracting those events gives our residents another reason for pride in their city and another choice for their recreation and leisure. And we also built something iconic, recognisable throughout New Zealand, that helps keep Waitakere on the tourist map," he says.

"We have exceeded even our own high expectations and that it is bringing events, investment and new types of culture to Waitakere that otherwise would have gone elsewhere,” he says.

"These are the real benefits of the stadium. The social benefits that will pay off year after year for as long as it stands there. But of course we can only afford to run it if it pays its way and so I want to congratulate the trust board on the financial results as well," says Mayor Harvey.

Trusts Stadium chief executive Simon Wickham says the recently produced 12 month business plan has confirmed the Waitakere City Stadium Trust’s original vision.

“As soon as the building began to be developed we imagined it would generate massive levels of community interest and levels of events,” says Wickham.

“We’ve had unprecedented levels of community patronage and approval,” he says.

Visits to the Trusts Stadium this year topped the annual target of 400,000 with a staggering 430,000 visitors this year.

Around 50% of those visits were community using the multi-use facility for court sports, indoor cricket, indoor athletic training and a variety of wider participation use.

The Stadium also excelled in attracting a large number of international, national and community events to the facility that far outweighed initial expectations.

“We have been overwhelmed by the level of interest in the facility for events and exhibitions” comments Wickham. The large majority of the remaining visits were attributed to the many sporting, community, religious and entertainment events the Stadium hosted during the year.

Independent research commissioned last year also showed that it’s not just a lot of people through the doors but also a lot of satisfaction from the community with this iconic facility the city now has.

The research conducted by UMR Research in a study commissioned by “The Trusts” West Auckland’s Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts showed:

95% of all people that had visited the Stadium rated the facilities as “excellent to good”.

92% of residents are aware of the Stadium.

83% of residents believe the stadium brings benefit to the West Auckland region.

“The results confirm that the vision of Waitakere City having a world-class facility widely used by the community was much more than a pipe dream” says Chairman of The Trusts Stadium, Ross Dallow.

“We are so pleased that the investment so many community minded organisations and individuals made towards the Stadium is paying excellent dividends. The West is fortunate to have a totally supportive licensing trust and council, without it we wouldn’t have our Stadium,” says Dallow.

Since opening, The Trusts Stadium has hosted a wide range of events, functions, sporting contests and business meetings.

Recently these have included: Dean Lonergan Events Limited Fight For Life, the largest charity fundraising corporate event in the country, the multimedia fashion show Trash to Fashion, numerous test matches for basketball and netball and trade and convention events such as OZTalk and the health and lifestyle expo.

The Stadium was also host this year to the first ever World Grand prix K1 Kickboxing event in New Zealand that saw Waitakere City’s own Ray Sefo win on home soil against an international bevy of the World’s best fighters.

“The versatility of the building is its strength,” says Wickham.

“We regularly change from kids basketball to All Black trainings, to large scale events such as the David Tua International Boxing Heavyweight bout we hosted, and then back to local netball or a local business function all within the one facility”.

ENDS