Westpac Centre

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Westpac Centre , Christchurch
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Westpac Centre , Christchurch

Westpac Centre formerly known as the WestpacTrust Centre is a sporting and entertainment arena located in Addington, Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Westpac Centre is New Zealand's largest and most modern indoor stadium with 9100 capacity. This impressive multi-purpose arena hosts concerts, exhibitions and a wide range of sporting events. Provision for international sport and traditional indoor arena events has been integrated into the design requirements.

The Westpac Centre has over 7200 seats for sporting Fixtures or In the concert configuration, which has on-floor general admission accommodation, the seating increases to over 8,888.

The Sports and Entertainment complex is located adjacent to Addington Raceway in Southwest Christchurch surrounded by 3000 carparks. The complex is only 10 minutes from the central business district

It is currently the largest indoor arena in New Zealand, though it will soon lose that crown to Vector Arena in Auckland which will boast a capacity of 12,000+ depending on configuration.

Westpac Centre has been affectionately dubbed ' The woolshed ' , by Canterbury Rams basketball fans . Some other Christchurch citizens colloquially refer to the arena as the horseshoe , due to its unusual architectural exterior design

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[edit] History

The arena opened in September 1998 at a cost of $32 Million. In the first ever sporting match at Westpac Centre , the Canterbury Rams basketball team suffered a close loss to the Wellington Saints in April 1999.

The Westpac Centre was built for two main reasons :primarily for the 1999 Netball World Cup in Christchurch, but also because Christchurch was missing out on many concerts and other attractions , because it did not have a suitable indoor arena in the city .

[edit] Current Tenants

Canterbury Rams 1999-

Canterbury Flames 2002-

[edit] Events

Sporting

Since its opening the Westpac Centre has been host to a number of different sporting events. These Include home matches for the Canterbury Rams (Basketball) and Canterbury Flames (Netball) teams. Various international basketball fixtures featuring the Tall Blacks. It was also home to the 1999 Netball World Cup and since then is the premier venue for New Zealand Silver Ferns international Netball fixtures.

It has also been host to a lot of non-regular sporting events. These include various Celebrity Tennis Matches, Ice Shows, Disabled Games, Karate Championships and Gymnastics Competitions.

Concerts

The Westpac Centre has been host to many different concerts since it Opened. Most Notably in the Last few Years Neil Diamond, Velvet Revolver, 50 Cent, R.E.M. and Rod Stewart just to name a few.

Conferences and Trade Shows

The Westpac Centre also pays a key part of the Christchurch economy my hosting regular trade shows. Some of which include the Christchurch Home Show, Womans Lifestyle Expo and The Christchurch Boat Show.

It also works with the Christchurch Convention Centre to host some large conferences. It is the New Zealand conference facility of choice for many international and national conferences with capacity for over 2000 delegats. It is often used for Gala Dinners, Cocktail parties and other Functions as well.

[edit] External links