COVID-19 placed an immense strain on the play, active recreation and sport system in New Zealand.

In response, Government announced a $264.6m investment into the sector to be distributed over a four-year period.

In total, Sport NZ has so far announced $261.9m of much-needed funding to the sector.

We developed a Recovery funding framework with three key outcome areas (Reset and Rebuild, Strengthen and Adapt, and Different and Better) to help guide our decision making. In addition to this we have ensured that we continue to focus on our priority groups in order to raise the levels of physical activity among New Zealanders.

This means we have focused on women and girls, Māori, disabled, tamariki and rangatahi when allocating investment through the recovery process. We have also worked closely with our partners to understand their needs and provide funding to all levels of their organisations.

Our funding package to date includes:

• An investment of $4.6m was made in June 2020 to assist professional sport in New Zealand to navigate the initial phases of recovery, meet cost increases directly due to Covid-19, and participate in 2020 and 2021 seasons. This investment supported the ANZ Premiership Netball League and clubs, Wellington Phoenix, Vodafone Warriors and Super Rugby teams, New Zealand Breakers, Vodafone Warriors, and Wellington Phoenix.
• A $68m activation fund, Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa, to provide physical activity opportunities for tamariki and rangatahi - $34m is from the Sport Recovery Package with the remaining $34m from existing Sport NZ baseline budgets. Tū Manawa is focused on tamariki and rangatahi who are less active, or missing out on opportunities for play, active recreation and sport.
• Additional investment of $25.4m for Sport NZ’s Investment Partners to respond to the pandemic. This funding included support for Regional Sports Trusts and National Partners to Reset and Rebuild,and $4.7m to support specific sports with the cost of running their national leagues affected by COVID-19. A breakdown of how much Reset and Rebuild and National Leagues funding has gone to each partner is available on our Partner Support page.
• The Community Resilience Fund 2 provided short-term assistance in 2020/21 to a broad range of community organisations across the play, active recreation and sport sector, which had been impacted by the loss of membership fees and Class 4 revenues. A list of the organisations that received funding is available here: Community Resilience Fund - Phase Two (PDF).
• $15.1 million to improve facilities for New Zealand’s hosting of world cups: Rugby World Cup 2021, ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, and the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup 2023. Many of the match venues and training grounds were upgraded to provide gender neutral, fit-for-purpose, multi-sport amenities for players, referees and umpires.
• We are partnering with two agencies to pilot Individual Hardship initiatives, with $9.7m committed over four years. The initiatives provide financial support for tamariki and rangatahi in the context of whānau who are experiencing financial hardship and missing out on physical activity opportunities. Variety NZ’s Active Me – Kia Tū fund supports physical activity for tamariki and rangatahi on Kiwi Kid sponsorship. Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu manages Te Kīwai Fund to deliver support for tamariki and rangatahi Māori who live in Te Waipounamu.
• $7m Kaupapa Māori initiative that provides support for Māori, across four components: Support for Māori NSOs, an expansion of He Oranga Poutama, funding for MaraeFit Aotearoa (a marae-centric ‘Everybody Active’ initiative), and funding for a Te Ihi activation fund.
• High Performance Sport NZ's 2024 Strategy has a focus on three key system shifts which advance the high performance sport system’s recovery from COVID-19 by stimulating the performance pathway for athletes and coaches, supporting athlete and coach wellbeing and providing greater financial certainty for NSOs. $33.2m of Recovery funding will support the delivery of this HPSNZ Strategy, aligned to our outcomes of Strengthen and Adapt and Different and Better.
• $31.5m has been committed through our Strengthen and Adapt Programme for existing partners to rebuild in the medium term and make changes to their organisation and networks to strengthen their capability and capacity so they can operate successfully post-pandemic and create a better future. Twenty-one partners have been supported to develop Strengthen and Adapt plans with dedicated investment. The third wave is in progress with a further seven partners, and the fourth and final wave involves six partners. Our People and Culture Capability project and our support for Regional Sports Trust is also part of the overall National Partner Strengthen and Adapt programme.
• $1m has been invested into Sport Diplomacy to utilise our sport assets and event platforms to develop and maintain international influence and relations, resulting in economic growth and delivering social outcomes. We are working with key agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and Tourism New Zealand, NSOs and international networks to develop a Sport Diplomacy Strategy for Aotearoa, New Zealand.
• $25m contingency to support partners respond to new requirements and unplanned costs as a result of Covid-19. This included $3.7m to support athletes’ MIQ costs and increased travel cost due to Covid-19 restrictions for Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Recreation Aotearoa distributed $1.5m to support outdoor education providers with one-off funding to help cover costs incurred when schools cancelled bookings due to increased alert levels. Similarly, $3m has been provided through RSTs in Auckland, Waikato and Northland. To help protect the viability of World Cup events, $1.4m contributed to meeting the costs of health and biosecurity protocols necessary to maintain border integrity, ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in 2022, and $1.3m supported additional costs (due to Covid-19) in the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup 2021. Part of Sport NZ’s Covid-19 response was a national campaign in 2022 to promote physical activity, supported by $1.7m from this funding.
• With the FIFA Women’s Football World Cup being hosted by New Zealand, we have contributed $3.5m to support the building of resources, expertise, and revenue for a self-sustaining high-performance programme for women’s football.
• Hawaiki Hou is a $45m investment into selected community-led kaupapa that will be a catalyst to move the physical activity system towards the attributes of the preferred future in Aotearoa. These attributes are encapsulated in the Futures Five Pou - they are five core themes that describe our desired future. These themes are Mana Taurite, Mana Tangata, Mana Māori, Oranga Taiao/Oranga Tangata and Mauri Ora. They represent major shifts in our current practices and systems that are necessary to make it easier for all New Zealanders to be active.
• An additional $4.3m over three years for Drug Free Sport New Zealand to help the agency improve athletes’ understanding of the risks of doping, as well as enhance its testing programme to keep up with changes in technology.

Just $2.65m remains unallocated. Potential investments are currently under discussion.

We will continue to update this webpage as our Recovery Programme of work continues.

Last updated June 2023