Business View Oceania | Volume 3, Issue 8

65 66 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 I LT STADIUM SOUTHLAND work after school and make up 60 to 70 percent of my staff. They definitely bring vitality to the staffing team and to the venue, but it also gives our youth opportunity to work. It’s a magnificent opportunity to work with within a really nice, reputable venue, and they work incredibly hard. I think that’s been a great initiative from the board; it’s important that we utilise our young people and give them a good launching pad to the future.” Running a multi-purpose, world-class venue presents a number of unique challenges, not the least of which have been due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Complete lockdown of ILT Stadium Southland lasted six to eight weeks. Skelt mentions that the stadium’s flexibility was a great asset as they reopened. “As we came back, we had to adhere to limits regarding how many people could be in a space for each level of restriction. We were very fortunate that our venue has plenty of different exits, multiple toilet facilities, and the ability to secure spaces. We have different divider boards and curtains we can use to split up areas so we could make them function safely for different groups of people. During restrictions, we were probably one of the only venues in New Zealand that managed to function as well as we did.” Future growth of the venue is always in consideration at ILT Stadium Southland. Expansion and facility upgrades are a top priority of late, closely followed by the pioneering of