More than 1000 in ballot for 20-spot Christchurch stadium tour

Tuesday, 25 March 2025

In a matter of hours, hundreds of people put their name into a ballot for a coveted behind-the-scenes peek at Christchurch’s new One New Zealand stadium at Te Kaha.

Five days on, that number has risen to more than 1000.

About 20 spots are available for a May 4 tour inside of the covered stadium as part of the annual Open Christchurch architecture festival.

As of Tuesday, the festival said more than 1100 people had put their name into the stadium tour ballot.

The roofed stadium is due to open in April 2026 at a total cost of $683 million, of which $200m has come from central government. Ratepayers’ contributions, spread over 30 years, will peak at an average of $4 a week this decade.

Another popular site in the festival, the Christ Church Cathedral, sold out the 80 tickets available (across four tours) some days ago, with about 150 people on the wait list.

This was not the first time cathedral tours had been in the programme and they booked out early every year, a festival spokesperson said.

The Open Christchurch festival is organised each year by Te Pūtahi, the Centre for Architecture and City-Making.

Te Pūtahi director Jessica Halliday earlier acknowledged getting a sneak peek of the stadium was “a really limited opportunity”, but said she was thrilled Christchurch City Council had agreed to make the “significant new landmark” part of this year’s festival.

Te Kaha project director Kent Summerfield earlier said opportunities for larger numbers to tour the stadium would become available once construction finished and the facility was handed over to the operators Venues Ōtautahi.