| CBS Canterbury Arena | |
|---|---|
| The Woolshed, The Horseshoe | |
| Former names | WestpacTrust Centre (1998-2007) Westpac Arena (2007-2010) |
| Location | Jack Hinton Drive, Addington, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Opened | 1998 |
| Owner | Vbase |
| Operator | Vbase |
| General Contractor | Charles Luney |
| Capacity | Netball: 7,200 Concerts: 8,888 |
| Tenants | |
| 1999 Netball World Championships Canterbury Tactix (ANZ Championship) (2008-present) |
|
CBS Canterbury Arena is a sporting and entertainment arena located in Addington, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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The stadium is New Zealand's second largest indoor arena with a maximum capacity of 8,888 (depending on event type), it was the largest until the construction of Auckland's Vector Arena in 2007. The indoor stadium is capable of hosting concerts, exhibitions and various sporting events. Provision for international sport and traditional indoor arena events has been integrated into the design requirements.
It has over 6700 seats for sporting fixtures or, in the concert configuration, the seating can increase to over 7000.
The Sports and Entertainment complex is located adjacent to Addington Raceway and Rugby League Park in South West Christchurch surrounded by 3000 car parks. The complex is only 10 minutes from the central business district
It has been affectionately dubbed 'The Woolshed' by Canterbury Rams basketball fans. Some Christchurch citizens colloquially refer to the arena as the horseshoe, due to its unusual architectural exterior design.
CBS Canterbury currently holds the naming rights to the stadium.
Charles Luney was the builder for the stadium.[1] The arena opened in September 1998 at a cost of NZ$32 Million. In the first ever sporting match at CBS Canterbury Arena, the Canterbury Rams basketball team suffered a close loss to the Wellington Saints 86-81 in April 1999.
It was built for two main reasons: primarily for the 1999 Netball World Cup in Christchurch, and also because Christchurch was missing out on many concerts and other attractions, because it did not have a suitable indoor arena in the city.
Since its opening, it has been host to a number of different sporting events. These Include home matches for the Canterbury Rams (basketball) and Canterbury Tactix (netball) teams. It occasionally hosts international basketball and netball fixtures featuring the Tall Blacks and Silver Ferns respectively. It was also the host of the 1999 Netball World Championships.
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.
On 22 May 2007, Guns N' Roses were announced to play their last New Zealand show here, during their Chinese Democracy World Tour 2007.
On 25 November 2007, Muse performed, on their last show of their Australasian (and eventually, as Bangkok was cancelled) world tour.
On 21 and 22 September 2010, Metallica played two sold out shows as part of their World Magnetic Tour.
On 10 February 2011, Sting performed during his Symphonicities Tour, along with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
It also pays a key part of the Christchurch economy by being the host to regular annual trade shows. Some of which include the Christchurch Home Show, Women's Lifestyle Expo, The Christchurch Boat Show and the South Island gift Fare.
It is also managed by the same company that manages the Christchurch Convention Centre and plays an important part of hosting major conferences in cooperation with the convention centre. The combined facilities regularly host a variety of different conferences for up to 2500 people. It has been a frequent host for the New Zealand annual Tourism conference known as T.R.E.N.Z..
In 1999 and 2010, the arena was used to stage the Disney on Ice production. In June 2008 the CBS Canterbury Arena is host to Disney's High School Musical on Ice tour, which will be only the second time that ice has been used on the Arena floor.
The venue is also used for big gala dinners, lunches, balls and cocktail parties.
On 18 June 2010, Westpac Arena was officially renamed CBS Canterbury Arena.[3]