Economic success, satisfaction and resident pride were outstanding factors for Christchurch in the latest data unveiled from the variety of sports events supported by the city’s economic development agency over summer.
Event data recently made available to ChristchurchNZ has revealed over 32,000 fans congregated in the city for the five major sports events the agency supported over the 22/23 summer season. Between the first WHITEFERNS vs Bangladesh T20 at Hagley Oval December 2 and the TSB New Zealand Surf Life Saving Championships finals March 12th, approximately 18,000 visitor nights were generated, with visitors spending a total of $2.9 million into the local economy.
Across the season’s cricket fixtures, the Black Clash exhibition match January 20th between current and former BLACKCAPs and All Blacks players and staff proved most successful, selling out Hagley Oval with a total 8,522 attendees. The event drew over 3,600 (or 43% of attendees) from outside of the region, generating an additional $794,000 in visitor spend including 3,813 visitor nights. The match doubled as a showcase for Christchurch to television viewers with over 976,000 viewing the live broadcast on TVNZ1 with an additional 43,000 streaming on TVNZ ON Demand service; as well as broadcast live on Stan Sport to Australian audiences.
ChristchurchNZ’s Head of Major Events - Karena FinnieThese major events are a fantastic way to show off our vibrant and playful city,” says ChristchurchNZ’s Head of Major Events Karena Finnie. “Alongside appealing to residents and drawing visitors down for the weekend, ‘friendlies’ like this provide platforms to talk to broader audiences than your standard fans and ticket holders."
“These major events are a fantastic way to show off our vibrant and playful city,” says ChristchurchNZ’s Head of Major Events Karena Finnie. “Alongside appealing to residents and drawing visitors down for the weekend, ‘friendlies’ like this provide platforms to talk to broader audiences than your standard fans and ticket holders. Unlike regular cricket the Black Clash’s audience is particularly gender-balanced; and appealing to women or the main household shopper is another positive takeaway from these types of events. Overall, we are incredibly proud of supporting our partner Venues Ōtautahi in hosting the event as the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. 92% surveyed said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their match-going experience,” Finnie says.
Adding to the city’s successful summer of sport was the Melbourne Storm’s pre-season match versus the One NZ Warriors at Orangetheory stadium Sunday February 19th. Early estimates showed sales would exceed 10,000 tickets and promoters were rapt with the 12,725 attendees to the afternoon game.
“Late summer afternoon fixtures in Addington have proven profitable in the past and it was heartening to see such a positive response to the 2.50pm Sunday pre-season NRL fixture,” says Venues Ōtautahi Chief Executive, Caroline HarvieTeare. “In addition to positive ticket sales, 45% or over 5,700 attendees were from outside of the region. This shows a clear hunger for more fixtures like this, and we are pursuing a wide variety for the sports-mad region,” says Harvie-Teare. The pre-season match generated $326,000 in visitor spend and over 1,500 visitor nights attributable to the event.
Closing out the summer was the TSB New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Championships at New Brighton beach, last held in Christchurch in 2017. The four-day event kicked off Thursday March 9th and over 1200 competitors from 45 different Surf Life Saving clubs took part, with 31 clubs travelling from the North Island and two clubs taking part from overseas. Considered a standout success for New Brighton, the event generated approximately 10,000 visitor nights and $1,539,568 in visitor spend, bringing a real buzz to the seaside suburb. Considered a win for residents, pride and liveability scored incredibly high at 87% of those surveyed.
“Despite all the disruption caused by wild weather in the North Island, we were incredibly honoured to bring the championships back down to Ōtautahi Christchurch. New Brighton really put on a show with huge surf and great sea temps across the entire weekend. It was a real spectacle, and we couldn’t have produced such a magic event without the help of the council and ChristchurchNZ,” says Stu Bryce, Surf Life Saving New Zealand Southern Regional Manager.
ChristchurchNZ is analyzing final economic data before reporting on the hugely successful inaugural ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix on Whakaraupō, Lyttelton Harbour which closed out a successful return to this summer’s events.
