Bay of Plenty in 2011 Business & Economic Research Limited (BERL) identified the Bay of Plenty as one of the top performing regions in economic development, ranking second behind Auckland. It had the highest employment and GDP growth for 2011 and had the fastest growing medium term GDP. Tauranga, the region's largest commercial centre, was named New Zealand's top city for economic performance for the 2011 year. 67.1% of the resident population in the Bay of Plenty identified with the European ethnic group, while 27.5% of people identified themselves as Māori. This compared with 67.6% of the national population identifying themselves as ethnic
Bay of Plenty Steamers Bay of Plenty would only win two matches against North Harbour and Otago in 2014 and finish last in the Championship. As being a larger region than most, the Steamers are one of the few teams to have two home stadiums, the Baypark Stadium in Tauranga and Rotorua International Stadium in Rotorua. Built in 2000, opened in 2001 and formerly known as Bluechip stadium, Baypark stadium is a muiti-purpose stadium that the Steamers along with Rotorua International Stadium. It has a capacity of 19,800, which was almost attained when Bay of Plenty had the Ranfurly Shield run of 2004. With