The plans have been revealed for what Christchurch's new stadium could look like, and while it would make it one of the most desirable stadiums in New Zealand, it'd be very expensive.
Lancaster Park was damaged beyond repair in the 2011 earthquake and the uncovered AMI stadium isn't up to standard as a temporary replacement.
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Mayor Lianne Dalziel said "It's at the end of its natural life. It's running on now borrowed time."
The time is ticking on a replacement and the recommended option is expensive.
The proposal has a $496 million price tag for a stadium built on crown owned land in the CBD but the council can only afford to pay for half of it.
Ms Dalziel said "I won't be going back to the people and asking them to meet that short fall. We have to look to central government, we have to look to external partners, we have to look to the wider region to look for that support."
The city's recovering hospitality industry is heavily relying on key projects such as the stadium and convention centre.
Hospitality Industry President Peter Morrison said "They are, we need them to be open, There's nothing there to attract the out of towners to come to the city. We've got enough bars, but these new ones are going to be struggling if we don't get things going."
The industry "haven't worked out plan B yet."
"Without a convention centre and a multisport stadium, we've been really struggling this winter," he said.
Ms Dalziel said "I'm confident that it's what the people of Christchurch want. It probably is unfortunate that people didn't think of signing the cost sharing agreement, what the funding gap would be met other than being out in default provision that wouldn't be acceptable in this day and age."
"You can't look to the region to fund the shortfall but I think it is worth considering if the region would contribute to some of it."
The report looked at four options:
Option One:
25,000 seats
5,000 temporary seats
80% roof cover
Option Two:
25,000 seats
5,000 temporary seats
Forsyth Barr Stadium-type roof
Option Three:
25,000 seats
5,000 temporary seats
Full solid roof
Retractable pitch
Option Four:
30,000 seats
5,000 temporary seats
Full solid roof
Retractable pitch
Newshub.
