‘Totally weird’: Stadium’s temporary seating plans surprise councillors

Tuesday, 10 March 2026

Crusaders flags waving in a 2022 preliminary artist’s impression of the view from the temporary stand, which is now unlikely to be used for Super Rugby games.

Some city councillors had no idea 5000 temporary seats at Christchurch’s new stadium would be so time-consuming and costly to install that they would barely be used.

The councillors say they believed the seats would be retractable and pulled out when needed and were surprised to read in Saturday’s The Press that they would be built from scratch out of scaffolding each time and take 12 days to install.

“It’s totally weird,” Cr Melanie Coker said.

One New Zealand Stadium at Te Kaha will open next month with 25,000 permanent seats. 5000 temporary seats will only be deployed once this year.

But other councillors and Mayor Phil Mauger say they always knew the temporary seats would not be retractable and would have to be built on site each time.

The council decided in August 2021 to build a 30,000-seat stadium, including 5000 temporary seats, adding $50m to the budget.

That decision revoked a resolution made three weeks earlier to build the stadium with 25,000 seats, which led to a public outcry. A petition signed by more than 24,000 people demanded a bigger venue.

Six60 members Chris Mac, left, and Matiu Walters are pictured at the northern end of the stadium where the seating would go during the All Blacks game, but during concerts this is where the stage sits.

The stadium, which opens next month, will end up costing $683m. Those 5000 additional seats will only be used once this year - for an All Blacks test against France in July.

Venue hirers bear the installation costs and therefore decide whether or not to use the temporary stand.

Stadium operator Venues Ōtautahi would not say how much it costs to install the stand, but Cr Aaron Keown said he knew the cost but would not say what it was.

“The upfront cost is high.”

Keown said he understood why it was so expensive to build the stand because it had to be strong enough to withstand 5000 “South African rugby fans or Tongans”.

He said it was a shame the stand would only be used for the All Blacks game and believed it should have been deployed for the Warriors as well.

Keown believed the council should have built the stadium with around 40,000 seats, given the increase in the city’s population.

He reckoned his design would have kept the project within budget, despite its increased size.

Keown said he always knew the stand would not be retractable.

But councillors Coker, Pauline Cotter, Tim Scandrett, Yani Johanson and Jake McLellan all said this week they believed the temporary seats would be retractable.

Cotter said she had no idea the seating would be constructed out of scaffolding, but the city had to get behind the stadium and make it a success.

Scandrett, who was on the VŌ board for 12 years up until October last year, said he thought the seats would be retractable and would be rented out to other venues when not in use.

He was surprised to find out that was not the case.

An artist’s impression of the temporary stand, behind the far goalpost, in use for a Crusaders game.

An artist’s impression of the stadium in use for a Super Rugby game without the temporary stand.

Johanson said he was concerned the stand would only be used once this year.

“There should be four events as a minimum as per the advice at the time.”

But Cr Sam MacDonald said he was 99% sure the cost of the temporary stand was deliberately never included in the capital cost of the stadium because the hirer was always going to bear the cost. He did not think ratepayers should.

A council agenda in 2021 states the additional 5000 seats would cost $50m because the roof span and concourse had to be increased in size. Stair widths also had to increase substantially to the north, and two additional entry points were required along with two equitable access lifts and additional stairs outside the footprint.

Mauger said people believed the seating was going to be like the retractable seats at the new Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre, but that was not the case and he always knew that.

VŌ chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare said retractable seats were never included in the design. They were essentially permanent but retracted into the structure. Temporary seats were, by definition, in a stadium context, a scaffold build and were used in many similar venues.

Harvie-Teare said a retractable, portable stand could be considered in the future, but would come at a “material cost” and would have to be stored off site. It would be a large structure and the stage pocket would be needed during other events and activities.

Temporary seats were always the intention when it was decided to build a concrete slab at the northern end, where the stage would go for large concerts.

The space allowed the venue to be flexible by delivering a concert capacity of 37,000 while also providing a space for additional hospitality and business and lifestyle events, Harvie-Teare said.

She said a stand housing 5000 seats is a large structure and could never be constructed in a short period of time.

“Twelve days is still a relatively short period of time to build a structure of this nature.”

In 2021, the 30,000 seat stadium was forecast to attract an extra 43,300 visitors to the city annually and result in $16m in visitor spending – $2.5m more than a 25,000-seat version. This was based on two major sporting events and two international concerts each year.

Last week, Harvie-Teare said even if Christchurch hosted a Super Rugby grand final it was unlikely the temporary seating would be installed because there would only be a one-week gap between semi-finals and the final – less than the necessary 12-day installation time.

Crusaders boss Colin Mansbridge last week told The Press the team was not planning to use the temporary stand for round-robin games at this stage but would “respond to demand”. It was possible the team would use it for Super Rugby finals, but only if the Crusaders knew well in advance they were hosting.

The Crusaders had temporary seats at Apollo Projects Stadium for years, and “temporary seats are never as good as permanent seats”, he said.