Fan spending doubles as new stadium injects $21m into Christchurch economy in 60 days
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Christchurch’s new stadium has generated $21 million for the local economy in its first 60 days, almost half what it was forecast to bring in across an entire year.
People attending rugby matches at One New Zealand Stadium are also spending double the amount of money on food and drink than people spent when they watched games at Apollo Projects stadium in Addington.
Food vendors inside the stadium, who are all local companies, have been paid $1.6m.
Venues Ōtautahi (VŌ) chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare described the results so far as “pretty incredible”.
VŌ, the Christchurch City Council-owned company that runs the stadium, originally forecast the stadium’s economic impact to be $50m in its first year.
The $21m impact relates to the spend of visitors from outside Canterbury. It excludes the additional economic impact gained through local employment and sourcing local food.
During an update on the stadium at a Christchurch City Council meeting on Wednesday, Harvie-Teare said having a collection of local food vendors at the stadium added another layer to the experience.
“Even if you’re not entirely into what is on the field, people are coming for that other experience.”
She said all the food operators, without exception, have had record turnover from day one.
Local businesses providing food include Smokey T’s, Pedro’s Lamb, Sheffield Pies, Fush, Little Fish Co, Bacon Bros and Black Burger.
They have churned through 2970kg of local beef brisket, 360kg of cheese from Rangiora, 650 slow-cooked Canterbury lamb shoulders, 530 sides of Akaroa salmon, 6671 Cookie Time cookies, one tonne of Ashburton lentils and 3653 litres of sauce.
Harvie-Teare said that was enough sauce to fill the home team’s plunge pool at the stadium.
“It’s kind of a disgusting thing to imagine but still pretty impressive.”
The stadium has hosted 286,000 guests across a variety of events including four Crusaders games, the Super Rugby Round, the Once in a Lifetime concert, the Warriors game last Sunday and various business events.
About 760 staff have worked at the venue across 3839 shifts, amounting to 26,945 hours of casual labour.
Harvie-Teare said the stadium was a source of pride.
“You see it and you feel it around the city … there’s a sense of positivity and it’s a sense we have not had for a long time.”
She said it was important to note the stadium did not appear to be taking events away from VŌ’s other venues including Wolfbrook Arena, the Town Hall and Hagley Oval. Those venues had also hosted several events in the past 60 days.
The next big event at the stadium is on July 4 when the All Blacks play France in front of a 30,000-strong crowd. Tickets sold out in four hours.
The council announced last week that the cost to build the stadium came in $26.6m under its 2022 budget and cost $656.5m.
At the meeting on Wednesday, mayor Phil Mauger said many people, including himself, felt an incredible sense of pride in the stadium.
“It never ceases to leave me in a bit of awe and I always walk away feeling how lucky we are that it belongs to us and the people of Christchurch. It certainly has the wow factor.”
VŌ also reported on Wednesday that its financial performance for the nine months ending March 31 had exceeded its budget and was higher than the same time last year.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was $1.24m, $2.4m higher than the projected loss of $1.16m.
The figure was also $749,000 more than the same time last year, which Harvie-Teare said could be attributed to 36 more events, new commercial partnerships worth $1m and lower maintenance costs.