Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Landlord pulls pin on indoor sports centre

By Joseph Aldridge
Bay of Plenty Times·
17 Sep, 2012 07:53 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The owner of a pay-for-play indoor sports centre has been locked out of the stadium he leases after falling nearly $90,000 behind in rent.

Mount Action Centre principal Andrew Templer said his business has been undercut by ratepayer-subsidised sports leagues at the $40 million TECT Arena, placing his own $400,000 business investment in jeopardy.

However, the Tauranga City Council said the sports leagues are not subsidised by ratepayers and are run to make a profit.

Mr Templar took over the lease at the stadium when the TCC's indoor sports groups moved out and into their new premises at Bay Park late last year.

Due to delays in getting the stadium fitted out for the new business, Mr Templar fell four months behind in rent payments.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On Facebook, Mr Templer said yesterday the council had caused the delays because they viewed his business as a competitor.

The council's contractor Tauranga Leisure had further upped the ante by running social sports leagues at TECT Arena at a much cheaper price than he was able to, he said.

"So how could we compete? They have gone from two nights to four nights a week and can run it at under half the price we can. You win, we lose. I guess it was going to happen.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was obvious to us right away that we were not going to get our team numbers up as much as we hoped because the TECT Arena is so much cheaper (that's right, they don't need to make a profit, ratepayers will cover the shortfall)."

However, TCC recreation relationships manager Kiri Pope said while some sporting activities at TECT Arena attracted ratepayer subsidies, social sports leagues run by Tauranga Leisure were not among them.

While she was not sure of the exact rates being charged to play in sports leagues at TECT Arena, Ms Pope said the rates had increased since the sports had moved to TECT Arena.

Tauranga Leisure were charged with providing a profit to the council, she said.

"The key thing is council has been running these social sports leagues since 2000 so it's not a new situation and we were really clear before we moved to TECT Arena that we were going to continue running these management-run sports leagues."

Ms Pope also rebutted Mr Templer's assertion that council had stopped him from fitting out the stadium while it lay empty and unused.

The council's lease ended on November 30, 2011. While most sports were able to be moved to the TECT Arena earlier, inline hockey was not and so they remained at the stadium until the end of the lease.

Mr Templer said the centre's closure would affect about 1000 people in 120 teams, including Tauranga Hockey, cricket clubs and two boys who were using the centre's cricket nets to train for the junior world indoor cricket championships which are in South Africa in two weeks' time.

The only way to re-open the centre was finding a business partner to invest, he said.

Mr Templer said the landlord, Doug Owens, had been reasonable but had been forced to shut the centre until further investment was found.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

07 Jul 01:24 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

06 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

Māori fighter stars in Netflix boxing event

07 Jul 01:24 AM

Cherneka Johnson's fight will stream live on Netflix, a first for a Kiwi boxer.

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

Teen's sudden cancer diagnosis puts close-knit family on 'rollercoaster ride'

06 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP