Friday 5 November 2010
Game on 2012 was an outstanding success with over 1000 people wandering through the main Stadium Southland complex during our Open Day last weekend.
It was staggering the amount of comments we heard from both young and old about the large open space here. You can already feel the excitement building about the planned rebuild – people just want their community hub back again.
Several packets of chalk were reduced to stubs as many embraced our Remembrance Wall and shared their stories about the venue. Fantastic tales emerged featuring experiences as varied as international netball games to the Spanish dancing horses.
Our staff looked stylish in their NZI Insurance-branded shirts and thoroughly enjoyed the chance to interact with the community – it was a really neat opportunity.
The focus this week has been around ticketing for the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel netball franchise and while it has been a challenge logistically, it’s one we are excited about.
We’ll be welcoming their extensive membership base in from 9am on Sunday to renew their season passes for the 2011 season and, with fans having to pick new seats in our ILT Velodrome, we’re anticipating a bit of a rush!
Stands in the new venue have been named: the Ray Harper Stand, the NZI Stand, the Radio Network Stand and the Game on 2012 fixed grandstand.
Tickets for Southland Sharks NBL games are also scheduled to go on sale later this month and we are in the process of aligning the draws of the two franchises with confirmation expected next week.
The immensely popular Christmas at the Stadium has been temporarily renamed Stadium Southland's ILT Christmas at the Civic and limited tickets will go on sale next week.
Our friends from NZI in Christchurch visited earlier this week and next week we will welcome their chief executive from Auckland.
On the rebuild front, the Southland Indoor Leisure Centre Charitable Trust is expected to confirm the appointment of an engineer to the project in the next couple of days – another exciting step into the future.
Cheers,
Nigel Skelt
Stadium Southland
Game On 2012
