Tauranga’s largest indoor venue for concerts and other events has increased its venue capacity and partnered with a leading ticketing provider, opening the door to bigger and better events for the city. 

Mercury Baypark Arena in Mount Maunganui can now host up to 6000 people inside its Lion Foundation Centre, which makes it one of the larger spaces in the country of its type. 

This increased venue capacity allowance was on full show on New Year’s Eve when Mercury Baypark Arena hosted the popular drum and bass event Famous Last Words. 

Bay Venues – the organisation that manages Mercury Baypark Arena and 23 other community facilities on behalf of Tauranga City Council – has also signed a preferred ticketing partnership for Mercury Baypark with Ticketek, a leading provider in the sports and live entertainment industry in New Zealand and Australia.  

“Our partnership with Ticketek means we can now offer event promoters and organisers access to a full-service ticketing option, and they will be working alongside a reputable provider and trusted brand with significant reach,” says Bay Venues head of events Michelle Stevens.

“This is going to give our event clients and their patrons a range of benefits, including targeted marketing opportunities and amplified promotion, data analytics, and advanced ticketing technology.” 

Michelle says the work undertaken by health and safety and engineering experts to review and improve Mercury Baypark Arena’s capacity to host higher occupancy events has also brought the venue into the same category as the likes of TSB Arena in Wellington and GLOBOX Arena/Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton. 

“Our increased venue capacity and our new partnership with Ticketek, when combined, could mean many exciting things as we look ahead to the future, including bigger and better concerts for New Zealand’s fifth biggest city and the wider Bay of Plenty region,” she says. 

The additional capacity in Mercury Baypark Arena now makes it one of the larger spaces in the country of its type, “and will bring a range of meaningful content to the region from quality international family shows to major comedy, spoken word and artists from all around the world,” says Ticketek general manager James McKee.

“As the flexibility and capacities of Mercury Baypark continue to evolve, a partnership with Ticketek and our content partner TEG just makes more sense,” he says. 

The increase in capacity of Mercury Baypark Arena is “a game changer” for the city, says Tauranga City Council manager venues and events Nelita Byrne.

“It makes it more viable for promoters and event organisers to bring the larger indoor concerts to the city, meaning our community don’t have to travel out of town to attend these wonderful entertainment experiences and instead spend their money locally.”