This headline in the NZ Business News caught our attention this week:
A warning Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium is in a financially unsustainable position
A brief article follows, referencing the Otago Daily Times story outlining the options under consideration by Dunedin City Councillors in their ongoing quest to manage their stadium debt.
At Our Place, we keep an eye on developments in Dunedin as its stadium is one of those most often touted by Mac Point stadium proponents and cult members as a fine example for Hobart – a small city punching above its weight on the world scene since its new roofed stadium was built (in the face of “blockers”).
In November 2025 we posted a Tasmanian Times article that canvassed the lessons those charged with voting on the proposed Mac Point stadium might learn from Dunedin. The author, Liam Gash, traced the history of the Forsyth Barr Stadium noting that, in the lead up to the vote on its future, with the city council already in for $45 million on the project, protest meetings were held and “… a survey conducted by two academics from the University of Otago found that 71.7% of respondents were opposed to public money funding the stadium.”
The article noted the profound impacts on Dunedin City Council, including cutbacks in services and rate increases, quoting a former mayor:
“Our community got the stadium, but we all paid a far stiffer price than we’d been led to believe.”
Forsyth Barr Stadium was opened in 2011, finished just in time for the Rugby World Cup that year. The decision to construct it was taken in the face of compelling arguments that Dunedin’s existing stadium, Carisbrook, could be modernised and brought up to 21st century standards for a fraction of the cost of the proposed new roofed stadium.
Initially, the stadium attracted a number of top international concerts and artists but, some ten years later, major events had declined, leaving the Dunedin stadium idle for much of the time.
The (paywalled) Otago Daily Times (ODT) has run many articles over the years since the completion of the Forsyth Barr Stadium that tell the sorry tale of the price paid by the good folk of Dunedin for their council’s decision to proceed with the build in the face of overwhelming public opposition and expert advice.
On 1 July 2021, the ODT reported that a dividend from the Dunedin City Council’s group of companies was unlikely for the next three financial years. Forsyth Barr Stadium owner Dunedin Stadium Property Ltd was expected to make a net loss after tax of more than $5 million in each of those three years.
A 2 December 2022 ODT piece advised that the Dunedin City Holdings Group had recorded a $3.5 million loss, slumping from a $22.4 million profit the previous year. As part of the group, Dunedin Stadium Property Ltd contributed a $7 million loss.
On 4 July 2025, the ODT’s coverage of that week’s meeting of the Dunedin City Council included the advice given to Council by the chair of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, Tim Loan, then working with consultants to
“… develop a long-term model for the stadium, including at the end of its lifetime which was estimated to be 2060.”
He outlined the problem as:
“We’re wanting to ensure that, at that point in time, the level of debt that council has is not in excess of the value of the land and working through what would be required in terms of debt repayment between now and then.” And he outlined the answer to the problem as “… further equity injection from the council to reduce the debt to what we believe is a reasonable level at the end of the asset’s life.” And: “We don’t know what that injection is as yet.”
On 28 February 2026, the ODT gave its front page to a story of possible 10.5% rate increases for the citizens of Dunedin, with servicing of the Forsyth Barr Stadium debt a significant contribution factor. Council staff identified the need to make additional payments towards the debt. A report prepared for Councillors noted that, only 15 years after construction, “… the stadium had reached a point in its life cycle where operating and capital expenditure requirements were increasing. The current financial model is unsustainable, and additional debt is needed to cover ongoing operating and capital costs.”
This week’s (2 March 2026, Stadium debt set to surge: funds urged) ODT article sets out the highly unpalatable options in front of Dunedin’s Councillors. Council staff have advised that the option to keep equity funding at status quo is not one to be considered as that could see debt balloon from $85 million to almost $200 million by 2060, “… clearly unsustainable.”
