Number of Edgar Centre users falls

IT’S a venue that was first opened to provide cover from the extremes of the Dunedin winter, but the Edgar Centre is fast becoming more popular in the summer.

But fewer people are coming through the door; it has had the first recorded dropoff in patrons for a significant period.

The Dunedin Indoor Sports Venue Trust, which oversees the Edgar Centre, had its annual meeting on Monday night.

The venue recorded a decline in participation numbers of 9%.

Reasons for the decrease in people coming through the door were varied and there was no one dominant factor.

Edgar Centre manager Blair Crawford, in his report, said most sports showed a small drop.

That might have been because sports had reduced a league by a week, cut the number of tournaments over a year or reduced holiday programmes, which all reduced entry numbers in the centre.

The number of ‘‘casual’’ entrants, which includes practices, had dropped. This was likely to be due to a lack of space at convenient times, because of the number of leagues running in peak time, and the availability of school gyms. He said it was the first dropoff of participant numbers for many years.

There were now 270 teams playing in futsal leagues in terms one and four.

Netball was the most popular sport, followed by social basketball, which had grown.

Crawford said the rise of futsal, Rippa rugby and volleyball had led to increased use of the centre during summer and it was now on a par with the use of the centre in the winter months.

The venue was at its busiest from 3.308.30pm on Monday to Friday during school time and from 9am3pm on Saturdays. The biggest complaint about the venue was car parking, although 400 car parks were available.

The venue was looking to put up prices for the first time in eight years, with court hire and adult admission prices set to rise. The admission price for children would stay at $2.50.

Crawford said the rises were due to a budgeted loss of $41,000 this year, an increase in building rental of $87,800, other cost increases and a potential loss of income because of seismic strengthening, due to be carried out next year.

Court hire would rise by $5 and adult admission would rise from $4.50 to $5.

At the meeting, chairman Robin Bates held off making a decision on the price rises for two weeks to give time to hear back from sporting bodies on alternative prices.

The centre made a surplus this year of $181,735 on revenue of $1,105,500. The surplus was made from the hosting of the Trenz conference, which was a oneoff bonus for the centre.