While recent debate has been around a possible new outdoor stadium for Auckland, frustration is reaching a fever pitch over a lack of indoor facilities.
A number of other cities are facing the same issues as indoor sports boom around the country, but the recent impact of the Auckland Anniversary floods has ignited calls for the Government to step in and help.
One of those leading the call is Harbour Basketball chief executive John Hunt who told 1News it’s an issue that’s only getting worse as participation numbers grow.
“I would say in Auckland, we're short 50 courts,” Hunt said.
“We are struggling to keep up with the demand for kids playing basketball.”
Hunt says the problem has been mounting for a decade – if not longer – and existed even before the North Shore centre was flooded in January.
While high school sports numbers have declined 10% in the past decade, indoor court sports have jumped 30%, with Harbour Basketball alone administrating nearly 600 junior teams.
“Successive councils and governments and Sport New Zealand have missed a beat,” Hunt said. “You could argue they've been asleep at the wheel.”
Sport New Zealand's arm in Auckland, Aktive, told 1News they're in the process of developing a plan, focusing future funding into facilities like indoor courts.
In the meantime, repairs have begun for sports such as Badminton North Harbour, which have were forced to be gutted after floodwater tore through, leaving them with a bill already in the millions.
“We'll be out for a number of months, probably into 2024, before we're functional again,” Badminton North Harbour chief executive Glenn Cox said.
Despite that, numbers are up. But, like basketball, badminton is having to rely on school halls and university gyms at an increased cost in the meantime, meaning more money.

Cox said there are plenty of other sports in the same predicament, and they’re all contesting the same limited spaces.
“The demand from 3pm in the afternoon until 10pm at night, plus weekends, is across all codes.”
The pressure is the same for Canterbury Basketball, who are still grappling with court issues since the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Club basketball numbers in the southern region have more than doubled since 2015, with more than 200 teams now registered, as well as 300 secondary school teams and nearly 500 primary school sides.
“One of the competitions in the northwest of the city plays until 9:30 on a Friday night – this is primary school-aged children,” Canterbury Basketball general manager Clive Beaumont said.
“That's the extent of the popularity of the sport these days.”
In Auckland, relief could come in expansion or a new northern multi-use centre but Hunt argued more needs to be done in the present.
“It's five or six years where kids can't play the sport,” he said.
“Coming out of Covid, it's incredibly important kids play sport.”
SHARE ME