Changes to the food and drink policy at Nelson’s Trafalgar Centre could end the city’s basketball club, its manager has warned.
Last year, Nelson City Council 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.
Mike 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,” Mike 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.
