Quay Park stadium for Auckland?

nzzp

@gt12 said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:

especially if it is a financial albatross.

usage is critical. Ignoring playoffs:

Blues 8 home games a year
Warriors 12
NPC 6ish
Soccer side ...???

So unless you can base more teams there, you're getting basically weekly usage for half the year. What do you do with a rectangular stadium in summer? Concerts?

Remember the finance - say you can find free money to 'only' leave $500M to borrow. You need a return of 10% to cover finance and upkeep (minimum! Probably an underestimate) ... so $50M/year.
With a 50k stadium, that is $1000/seat, or $40 per event (assuming 25 events/year) ON TOP OF the ticket price.

The assumptions start to become Christchurch Cathedral level of heroic.

Edit: and that assumes every seat sells for every game...

Kiwiwomble

the horse has bolted so this is pretty pointless post....but that would be the benefit of a proper national stadium....you accept it is a loss making machine used for AB's tests, concerts...maybe the odd time the All whites have a big game...

but then the super teams all have smaller more appropriate sized stadiums for the majority of their games, so build some big show piece on the waterfront....but the blues/auckland play at a nice compact 15-20k stadium at eden park, they get to keep their spiritual home and all the history associated with it...wont look empty and so give the illusion of being more popular and move the big annoying event away from the annoyed neighbours

mariner4life

short of making it a national stadium, i can't see the numbers stacking up for a big shiny stadium in Auckland.
The Blues get what, 7 home games a season? And what do they draw? 20,000?
You could move the Warriors, but will that make more or less people go? Their base is South Auckland
Fat chance Auckland NPC games are even worth opening the bars of a big stadium.
So every seat you are building you are hoping to fill and pay for on test match days. Auckland gets what, two a year? So unless you are hoping to move all tests to Auckland, and use the big stadium to generate revenue like England do, it doesn't make sense.

Contrast with Suncorp. Brisbane is about 600k people bigger than Auckland. Their big shiny stadium holds 52,000. It hosts the Broncos, the Reds, half the Dolphins, and the Roar (nicely, over summer).
Their big events are:
At least two Wallaby tests a year
Magic Round
State of Origin.

The Broncos will play there 13 times, and average 30,000. Throw in half a dozen Dolphins games. 7 Reds games. 13 Roar games. And any finals those teams play. That's a lot of football (though shit Roar crowds are awful). That's 40 regular season football games a year. Throw in finals, and the crowds they bring, and that stadium gets worked.
It's also a concert venue of good size (too small for Taylor Swift though).

Kiwiwomble

@mariner4life we need to come up with designs/layouts that allow teams to only open one stand (opposite the camera) for crowds, have everything thats needed on one side too try and make operating these things ( if we're going to insist every town has a biggish stadium) cheaper/easier

KiwiMurph

@mariner4life Auckland FC would be another tennant. 13 odd games.

Kiwiwomble

@KiwiMurph thats the new A-League team? i wonder what their crowd expectations are

KiwiMurph

@Kiwiwomble Yep. They start playing end of this year

mariner4life

forgot about them, that does change the equation a little.

Bovidae

The fact that Auckland FC are originally playing at Mt Smart suggests that the match-day costs at Eden Park are too expensive.

dogmeat

@mariner4life Little would be right

Across 8 seasons the Kingz /Knights best ever crowd was 9,000 and the average as far as I can work out was about 3.

Given the Phoenix will have hoovered up some of AFC's potential fanbase the idea that they would be in a position to meaningfully support any ground seems optimistic.

mariner4life

The Roar aren't much better, but they fill in the year

Cyclops

The phoenix draw 15-20k when they play but that's a one off event rather than a whole season. Their average attendance in Wellington has been about 8k, with 3-5k when things are bleak and 10-12 when things are good. I'd guess Auckland will have similar goals, and maybe the popularity of recent phoenix games will help them succeed where the previous attempts failed.

canefan

@Cyclops said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:

The phoenix draw 15-20k when they play but that's a one off event rather than a whole season. Their average attendance in Wellington has been about 8k, with 3-5k when things are bleak and 10-12 when things are good. I'd guess Auckland will have similar goals, and maybe the popularity of recent phoenix games will help them succeed where the previous attempts failed.

The Auckland franchise will be wise to learn from how the Phoenix has been able to develop a hard core following, because you need that during the ups and downs

DaGrubster

@Duluth

If Eden park 2.0 gets approved, it really needs to be given the money for the full 2.0 plans.

It will be cheaper than a completely new stadium and still provide a world class facility.

Make a decision now because in 12 months time it will have cost them 10’s of millions more in increased costs.

Auckman

The Blues and Warriors are also talking about Eden Park 2.0. They’re not supporting any new stadium proposal until they get the full costings and Eden Park is the worst of the lot - their proposal amounts to a single press release.

Auckman

As said before, the only stadium proposals able to get a big number of tenants are the waterfront proposals. The Warriors will never move to Eden Park. Auckland FC owner is prepared to put in money for a waterfront stadium.

All Blacks
Blues
Auckland NPC
Blues Women
Warriors
Warriors NRLW
Auckland FC

The proposals also have options for lower capacity configurations.

Anyway, the crowds would only come if the offering at the stadium was superior to that of the TV at home.

Easier to get to
Dining precincts nearby
Roof
Nice bars and lounges around the stadium
Children’s playground and parenting facilities (hell I’d try and get one of those kids playground companies to be one of the tenants at the stadium like Bounce or Chipmunks).

Given its location, the sunken stadium option would really be a big retail and dining mall during the week as the stadiums restaurants and fast food joints would be open 7 days a week. It’ll resemble the eateries under the Opera House in Sydney but with the big steps down to the water acting as covered outdoor dining areas with views to the harbour.

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