Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Welcome to 2014! I hope you enjoyed the wide range of events throughout the festive season. The choices that were available - both free and paid - were great to see.

During the break I was as surprised as most people to see the mayor pushing for a multi-million dollar 15,000-seat stadium on downtown's Domain Reserve. A suitable stadium has been on the city's wish-list for a number of years. But is an occasional All Blacks pre-season test and a super rugby match worth the significant investment?

What's the driver for a stadium?

Sport has major impacts on community pride and identity. For example, the 1995 rugby world cup was so significant to post-apartheid South Africa it became a Hollywood film.

High performance sport provides many benefits to society. But let's not pretend the public funding required to enable a 15,000-seat stadium will provide net economic benefit.

The subsidies required to attract a pre-season All Black test to Tauranga against a minor nation is unlikely to generate new money coming into the city. It would mostly be local people spending money that they would have otherwise spent on another form of local entertainment.

According to international studies, stadiums rarely bring the promised economic benefits. Instead, they create debt the city can't pay back before more funding is required for refurbishment.

Like us, Americans love their sport. But some cities are pushing back when major sport franchises threaten to relocate to another city if public funding isn't provided for new facilities.

The opportunity cost

I support investing public funds on worthy projects to raise the average incomes of Tauranga households and enhance community pride. Tying up funding in a multi-million dollar stadium would likely mean other opportunities that can better achieve these outcomes will be missed.

If the driver for a new stadium is to achieve sporting outcomes, then let's focus on our competitive advantages.

Our climate and location makes us an ideal host for national sport centres of excellence. Our secondary schools dominate the national volleyball scene. We are also strong in rugby sevens, hockey and aquatic sports. They each provide local athletes with pathways to the Olympics and we can attract international squads here to train during their off-season.

Based on the current funding models used around New Zealand, I'm doubtful a 15,000-seat stadium would be a smart investment at this stage. There are better ways to achieve economic growth and better sporting outcomes than an under-utilised stadium.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.