Stop the Stadium

From the website of the Department of Marketing, University of Otago:

Two lecturers (John Williams and Ben Wooliscroft) at the Department of Marketing are investigating public opinion regarding the proposed Awatea Street Stadium in Dunedin. The stadium has been, and remains, the topic of much debate in the community. In an effort to contribute to gauging public opinion, Ben and John are trying to involve parties from all positions in the spectrum of support (pro, anti and disinterested) for the proposal in the planning of a survey of public opinion.

By involving parties on both (or all?) sides of the debate, we hope to produce results that are as unbiased as possible, given the inherent limitations of survey research. On this page we will show the planning of the survey as it progresses. When the results are in, the raw data will also be available. When we have completed our analysis, the report and the relevant technical data will also be made available for interested parties to reproduce or perhaps extend upon our analysis.

(Ed: Note the first draft of the questionnaire is available for comment on the web page.)

» Visit website to read more…

Asking HOK for advice on a new stadium is a bit like asking a barber if you need a haircut… The advice is ‘Yes’, even if you had one yesterday.

Read this illuminating article from Pittsburgh newspaper the Post-Gazette about HOK Sport’s stranglehold on that city’s stadium building projects.

HOK dominates the world of international sports architecture and has been involved with the Carisbrook Stadium Trust from an early stage. It was HOK which proposed the various options to revamp Carisbrook, as well as the proposal to build afresh at Awatea St.

There is nothing illegal about the way HOK operates, but its aggressive tactics have raised eyebrows.

HOK is both consultant and architect, leading to accusations of a conflict of interest…

HOK’s options to renovate an old stadium expensively are bypassed in favour of its new stadium proposal …

Public money is used for the investigations, but the architectural work is not put out for tender – the job goes to HOK…

Sound familiar? » Read the article

Check out this link to the Word of Mouth Forum (WOMF Otago). This is an online forum that lets you write comments on your experiences with local businesses and organisations. The link is: http://otago.womf.com/  

Type  ’stadium’ in the search box.