The $4.2m loan for Sky Stadium will be repayable over 10 years. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The $4.2m loan for Sky Stadium will be repayable over 10 years. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Councils are considering a $4.2m lifeline loan for Wellington Regional Stadium Trust to fall back on if it finds itself in real strife over the coming months.
The trust initially forecast a revenue drop of 85 per cent, although revised cash flows and budgets are now being calculated with a move to Covid-19 alert level 1.
The Government's previous restrictions on mass gatherings have particularly affected the stadium as well as the country's border closure.
The $4.2m loan will be repayable over 10 years, with Greater Wellington Regional Council and Wellington City Council equally splitting the funding.
Regional councillor Glenda Hughes, who's a stadium board trustee, said the problem was having no idea what position the stadium was actually going to be in.
Concerts were the stadium's biggest earner, Hughes said.
The stadium had five concerts pencilled in over the next 12 months which have been canned due to border restrictions. Two test matches have also been cancelled.
The loan will be available from the beginning of next month and will be interest-free for the first two years.
Sky Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon said the original request for the loan was based off grim modelling of up to 18 months without revenue from events.
Even though the country has now moved to Covid-19 alert level 1, the future was still uncertain, Harmon said.
Eminem live in Wellington. Photo / Jeremy Deputat.
If needed, the loan would be used to help the stadium complete the seismic upgrade of the Fran Wilde Walk, which has been underway for the past six months.
The money would also cover any operational shortfall.
"It's really to tide us over that finite period of time. The trust is in a reasonable financial position so doesn't require any further support at this stage, Harmon said.
"The outlook is uncertain. Obviously it's fantastic that crowds are coming back but that means we can only lock in domestic content at the moment, the majority of our events rely on open borders."
Harmon said the past few months have been a rollercoaster.
"I don't think anybody would have envisaged a situation 8 to 12 weeks ago where we would have been back to capacity crowds by the end of the month."
Earlier this week Wellington City Council also confirmed its contribution of more than $25m in an equity underwrite for Wellington International Airport Limited. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
Stadium staff have been working four days a week, taking a voluntary day's annual leave.
There have been no redundancies with the board taking a position the stadium needed to be event ready.
Wellington City Councillor Sean Rush, who's also a stadium board trustee, said it was important the stadium has more certainty through the loan.
He said the best thing for hurting hospitality businesses would be to get "30,000 bums on seats".
"No one comes to Wellington for the weather, or even the beaches. We are an events city, the capital, and the Stadium is a vital component to our story."
The loan is being considered by both councils through their annual plan processes.
Earlier this week Wellington City Council also confirmed its contribution of more than $25 million in an equity underwrite for Wellington International Airport Limited.
The city council owns 34 per cent of the Airport and Infratil owns the remaining 66 per cent.
Together the shareholders have agreed to jointly provide an equity underwrite of up to $75.76 million.
