Latest news with #MikeFitchett
RNZ News
30-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Nelson City Council revises catering contract to save Giants basketball team
Nelson_Giants_head_coach_and_general_manager_Mike_Fitchett_left_Nelson_Mayor_Nick_Smith_and_CLM_Trafalgar_Centre_manager_Mark_Mekalick Photo: Samantha Gee/RNZ Nelson Giants basketball club is no longer facing closure, after the local council amended its contract for their Trafalgar Centre venue, enabling the team to sell food and drinks at home games for another two years. Giants management earlier urged the Nelson City Council to re-consider its new contract with Community Leisure Management (CLM) that gave the company exclusive rights to food and beverage sales at the centre. At a council meeting earlier this month, head coach and general manager Mike Fitchett said the decision would "likely kill the Giants", because money raised through selling food and drinks at games accounted for about 15 percent of their revenue. More than 1200 people signed [ a petition calling on the council to rethink its position ] . Nelson Mayor Nick Smith said the council should have engaged with the venue's users before negotiating the contract and promised to do better next time. Nelson City Council had a contract with CLM for several hundred thousand dollars a year to manage the Trafalgar Centre. Smith said CLM had "dropped the price significantly" in exchange for the exclusive hospitality rights. "We didn't appreciate in coming to the agreement of the exclusive food and beverage with CLM, a common arrangement in premier venues around the country, that it would have such a negative impact," he said. "We should, at the time, have engaged with our regular users and there's some lessons for us to learn from that." He said the prospect of the Giants not being part of Nelson was "untenable", the region had huge pride in the team that had a long history in the NZ Basketball League and many players had gone on to become Tall Blacks. Smith said the council had negotiated a variation to the contract with CLM until June 2027, the remainder of its term. There was a cost to ratepayers, which he would not disclose for commercial reasons. The centre cost $2.5 million to run each year and generated about $500,000 per year in income. Smith said the council had hoped to reduce the cost on ratepayers. Smith said the variation would also apply to two other groups that used the centre - Dancing for a Cause and Te Tauihu o te Waka a Maui Māori Cultural Council kapa haka. "The savings that were achieved last year were significant and we've had to return a portion of those savings back to CLM to be able to get this exemption for these three organisations," he said. Nelson Giants head coach Mike Fitchett calls the shots against Tauranga Whai. Photo: Chris Symes/ Smith said some community organisations would be disappointed that they were not included in the exclusion, so the council needed to think strategically about the venue's management from June 2027. "We need a partner like CLM that's able to promote it as a national venue and maintain it as a premier facility, but I think we've got a bit of a challenge to provide a hybrid model that will also work for our community-based organisations," he said. Fitchett said the club was overwhelmed with support, after it went public about the issue, with fans from Nelson and around the country getting in touch. "For [the council] to find a solution for us, it's a massive relief," he said. "To secure our future at the Trafalgar Centre for the next few years is huge." CLM Trafalgar Centre manager Mark Mekalick said the organisation was glad to come to an agreement that worked for everyone. The company had managed the Trafalgar Centre for the last seven-and-a-half years and put forward a contract proposal based on delivering the best value. When Giants management spoke publicly about how contract would affect the team, Mekalick said the company valued the partnership and wanted to work together to find a resolution. "Community is at our heart and the Giants are a big part of this community, so it wasn't a hard decision to make," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
02-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Stadium Policy ‘Will Likely Kill' Nelson Giants
Changes to the food and drink policy at Nelson's Trafalgar Centre could end the city's basketball club, its manager has warned. Nelson City Council last year gave its contractor for the Trafalgar Centre – CLM (Community Leisure Management) – exclusive food and beverage rights for events at the stadium. But revenue from food and beverage sales from 11 home games each season account for about 14 per cent of the NBS Nelson Giants' income. 'This decision will likely kill the Giants,' club manager and head coach Mike Fitchett warned the council during its Thursday meeting. The Giants are the only club to have competed in the National Basketball League every year since its formation in 1982 and has played at the Trafalgar Centre since 'the late '80s'. The charity-owned club also provides community programmes, with members spending 343 hours coaching more than 1500 children in regional schools last year, and has created 35 Tall Blacks. Fitchett understood the policy had been changed to minimise costs to ratepayers, but said the Giants had not been consulted on the decision. He added that while he understood the desire to reduce costs, community events provided wider benefits to the region. Earlier in Thursday's council meeting, researchers from Massey University advised that every dollar spent on live events generated $3.20 for the community. While the club was 'very grateful' to secure an exemption from the policy for this season, it had no guarantees for next year which would result in losses of $80–145,000 if it was unable to sell food and drink or host its corporate tables. 'I'd describe us as one of the most under-resourced clubs in the NBL, financial losses are not an option for us,' Fitchett said. 'We're always trying to grow our revenue base, but this change to operations would mean that … additional revenue we generate will go straight to fill that hole.' The club wanted all community groups, including the Giants, to be exempted from the policy prohibiting them from supplying their own food and drink. 'The status quo is the only scenario that guarantees the Giants' immediate future.' Corkage fees charged by CLM at the Trafalgar Centre have previously come under fire from the NBS Dancing for a Cause charity event. It had said the fees doubled the cost of running the event, limiting the amount it could donate to the Nelson Tasman Hospice, and that future increases to the fee threaten its feasibility. The biennial event raised $440,000 for the Hospice in 2023. The Trafalgar Centre is Nelson's only venue in the region that could host the club, with the floors at Saxton Stadium being too weak to support the stands for game attendees. Councillors were concerned about the prospect, with Tim Skinner saying he was 'horrified' to hear the news and would be 'asking questions' of staff, while Mel Courtney said a solution had to be found 'as soon as possible'. Mayor Nick Smith said the issue required 'careful thought' as the council needed to maximise both the use of and revenue from the facility, which ratepayers subsidised by about $2 million. 'We're very keen to find a solution. No one wants the Giants to end.' The club will need a solution by 31 August, the deadline for when it needs to commit to the 2026 season.
