State of the decline in Wellington in recent years.....
- GDP: Wellington City's GDP fell by 1.5% for the year to the June 2025 quarter, a steeper decline than the national average fall of 0.8%. The decline for the year to September 2025 was provisionally 1.2%, also worse than the national average.
- Job Losses: Approximately 9,500 public sector jobs have been lost nationwide due to government savings drives since late 2023, which heavily impacts Wellington, a city where many residents work in the public sector. Data to June 2025 showed a loss of 5,961 jobs in the capital. One report indicated a loss of 19,430 jobs in Wellington City over one year, equal to 11.6% of jobs in that area.
- Unemployment: The number of people on the Jobseeker benefit in Wellington was up 16% annually, compared with 11.7% nationally.
- Business Closures & Retail Spending: The equivalent of 177 businesses closed down in a year. The business count in the capital dropped by 2.3%, a greater fall than the national average. Retail spending saw a significant decline of 4.8%, the largest in percentage terms across New Zealand.
- Property Market: Wellington's house prices have dropped more than any other city in New Zealand, declining over 25% to 30% from their peak in early 2022. Rents have also decreased.
all of this results to residents being more careful with where they spend whatever small amount of money they have - things like evernts, concerts and sports are the first to go.
It's always been known that the season pass holders were in the 2500-3000 mark, then you have the other 3k fans that bought on the day, when things were good you gained the other 3-4k that brought it up to the 10-12k mark.
Eseentially the economy and last season have left us with the hardcore season pass fans who will attend regardless of the state of play.
10k is break even mark for gameday, that's never changed. I think the company has out other things in play to generate income to support the inevitable losses from gameday.
In short, it's very hard for a club/event to attract punters when spare cash is just non-existant
It's always been known that the season pass holders were in the 2500-3000 mark, then you have the other 3k fans that bought on the day, when things were good you gained the other 3-4k that brought it up to the 10-12k mark.
Eseentially the economy and last season have left us with the hardcore season pass fans who will attend regardless of the state of play.
10k is break even mark for gameday, that's never changed. I think the company has out other things in play to generate income to support the inevitable losses from gameday.
In short, it's very hard for a club/event to attract punters when spare cash is just non-existant
Add to that, that a lot of people have left Wellington (and indeed NZ) as a consequence of said job turmoil or losses. I don’t actually think the rest of the country understands how hard these pricks have smashed Wellington.
Living in Auckland and having visited Wellington a couple times in the last few months, the difference in how busy bars/restaurants are is noticeable.
To add to this, this article by the spinoff last month showed there was a net 2.2k international migration. This means at least that number moved over, likely a bit more.
On a brighter note, everyone coming out for Samba shows that there are new fans to be found.