Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?
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I don't understand why the All Blacks don't have Eden Park as their national stadium, it can produce the most crowds consistently (Auckland has most of NZ's population 3 million people within just a 1 hour drive), produces the most revenue overall and ABs have a dominant record there as the stadium is intimidating for teams due to the crowd setting/environment and design, look at Scotland's record at Murryfield, NZ is far too small of a country and economy to not have a national stadium based in their largest city, imagine if Wales decided to take some test matches to Llanelli stadium over Millennium Cardiff? NZ is a tiny country with most of it's population concentrated north of incl. Hamilton/Tauranga, It doesn't make economic sense to host important test matches away from Eden Park.
Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton should only ever host tests when the All Blacks are playing lower ranked nations & even then it should be very sporadically to increase the novelty factor in order to incentivize the locals to turn up.
Wellington should not be a given to host with only 6 tests per year, makes sense to maximize revenue and play every test at Eden Park, unless we're playing a world cup or season warm-up fixture against a tier 2 nation (for example, Tonga test in Hamilton before the 2019 World Cup and that 2017 warm-up test against Samoa ahead of the Lion's series).
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Answer: politics, and that historically the ABs have been 'New Zealand's' team. Hosting in Auckland would piss off a large proportion of the population, no matter if it made financial sense.
The reaction to the Lions playing two out of three tests there in 2017 was somewhat vocal.
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@nzzp said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Hosting in Auckland would piss off a large proportion of the population, no matter if it made financial sense.
This seems like a rather trivial and insignificant first world problem in the scheme of things, Auckland's a mere 50 min flight from Wellington, we're not a big nation by any stretch, Eden Park should be our Millennium/Murryfield stadium equivalent. It should be our proud fortress and sole host of meaningful home tests, exceptions only for fixtures against tier 2 sides and non-RC opposition.
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Hosting an All Blacks Test gives a small boost to the economy of the relevant city. Each city in NZ wants a piece of the pie.
Historically many Tests were about hosting touring teams.
Unlike in England where Rugby is a regional game, rugby in New Zealand has very much been the national game.
Personally I love the fact that so many Kiwis who love Rugby has seen their national team play at some point and most of them have met many of the players too.
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@darylmitchell
You have such big plans for a stadium that doesn't have a confirmed future, and isn't a dedicated rugby stadium.
As far as Scotland goes, in most of the other regions rugby isn't their top sport. Also Edinburgh isn't their largest city. -
@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
I don't understand why the All Blacks don't have Eden Park as their national stadium, it can produce the most crowds consistently (Auckland has most of NZ's population 3 million people within just a 1 hour drive), produces the most revenue overall and ABs have a dominant record there as the stadium is intimidating for teams due to the crowd setting/environment and design, look at Scotland's record at Murryfield, NZ is far too small of a country and economy to not have a national stadium based in their largest city, imagine if Wales decided to take some test matches to Llanelli stadium over Millennium Cardiff? NZ is a tiny country with most of it's population concentrated north of incl. Hamilton/Tauranga, It doesn't make economic sense to host important test matches away from Eden Park.
Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton should only ever host tests when the All Blacks are playing lower ranked nations & even then it should be very sporadically to increase the novelty factor in order to incentivize the locals to turn up.
Wellington should not be a given to host with only 6 tests per year, makes sense to maximize revenue and play every test at Eden Park, unless we're playing a world cup or season warm-up fixture against a tier 2 nation (for example, Tonga test in Hamilton before the 2019 World Cup and that 2017 warm-up test against Samoa ahead of the Lion's series).
*Murrayfield.
Definitely helps if you take out any test matches played against the ABs…..
Also their biggest win was against Japan in 2004, 100-8 at McDiarmid Park, Perth.
….and their biggest hiding was at Murrayfield ( 68-10 against the Boks in 1997 )
Fortress Murrayfield is a myth.
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Kind of wondering if this is a genuine question, but I'll play anyway.
Firstly, there's a limited audience, even in Auckland.
Would you expect sell outs, or even 40k crowds for two Argie tests a week apart, less than a month after two England tests a week apart?
That's a fair investment of entertainment $$$ from the same bunch of people.
Two out of four home tests in Auckland is probably about right without saturating the market.
Playing the others at other venues maximises attendance, and a full 30k stadium is a better look that a 60% full 50k.
And it keeps the games accessible to people who don't live near Auckland.
Isn't that enough?
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@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Auckland's a mere 50 min flight from Wellington
That's a very insincere argument. Flying isn't just randomly jumping on a train/bus or in the car. It's booking flights, hoping they're on time or even running, dealing with airport bullshit and getting there long before your flight, not to mention getting to/from the bloody airport.
Are you my boss?
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@MN5 said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
I don't understand why the All Blacks don't have Eden Park as their national stadium, it can produce the most crowds consistently (Auckland has most of NZ's population 3 million people within just a 1 hour drive), produces the most revenue overall and ABs have a dominant record there as the stadium is intimidating for teams due to the crowd setting/environment and design, look at Scotland's record at Murryfield, NZ is far too small of a country and economy to not have a national stadium based in their largest city, imagine if Wales decided to take some test matches to Llanelli stadium over Millennium Cardiff? NZ is a tiny country with most of it's population concentrated north of incl. Hamilton/Tauranga, It doesn't make economic sense to host important test matches away from Eden Park.
Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton should only ever host tests when the All Blacks are playing lower ranked nations & even then it should be very sporadically to increase the novelty factor in order to incentivize the locals to turn up.
Wellington should not be a given to host with only 6 tests per year, makes sense to maximize revenue and play every test at Eden Park, unless we're playing a world cup or season warm-up fixture against a tier 2 nation (for example, Tonga test in Hamilton before the 2019 World Cup and that 2017 warm-up test against Samoa ahead of the Lion's series).
*Murrayfield.
Definitely helps if you take out any test matches played against the ABs…..
Also their biggest win was against Japan in 2004, 100-8 at McDiarmid Park, Perth.
….and their biggest hiding was at Murrayfield ( 68-10 against the Boks in 1997 )
Fortress Murrayfield is a myth.
It certainly has been a fortress in the last 4 years for them, that's undeniable.
Millennium Stadium, Twickenham, Stade de France, Aviva Stadium, why shouldn't we have a national stadium for test rugby?
NZ isn't a big expansive landmass like Australia, South Africa, Argentina. most of our population are concentrated into a tiny space north of Taupo. It's bizarre.
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@darylmitchell
What experiences have you had at test matches in other cities apart from Auckland? -
@Bones said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Auckland's a mere 50 min flight from Wellington
That's a very insincere argument. Flying isn't just randomly jumping on a train/bus or in the car. It's booking flights, hoping they're on time or even running, dealing with airport bullshit and getting there long before your flight, not to mention getting to/from the bloody airport.
Are you my boss?
Also ignores the fact that Chch is basically as big as Wellington, and you're looking at a 90-min flight from Chch (plus the faffing about you mention above). Never mind that domestic airport travel is very expensive right now.
Aldo, I'm not sure I've seen a worse comparison than comparing Wales to NZ in terms of hosting tests at home venue.
Llanelli to Cardiff - just under 100km
Christchurch to Auckland - 1070km.NZ isn't the same geographic size as each of the four individual nations that make up the UK - it's larger than all four of them combined.
As the saying goes, you can't be what you can't see, and I see no value in depriving kids in other parts of the country the opportunity to see the All Blacks (if their parents can afford the obscene ticket prices), just to feed the superiority complex of Eden Park's management.
Absolutely, it was a weird call to host two tests in Wellington this year, but this ain't the solution.
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@Smudge not to mention NZ doesnt have the competition with airlines either, a return flight Wellington / Auckland is likely to set you back $350+, assuming you are looking to stay at least 1 night, otherwise price goes up (that is similar from Whangarei / Auckland) it makes it a very expensive night away.
Practically it just makes no sense, you'd end up isolating so many from seeing an AB test, which tbf is not feasible for many now anyway if you are travelling from out of town.
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@Smudge said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Absolutely, it was a weird call to host two tests in Wellington this year, but this ain't the solution.
Two in Ak
One in Dunners
OneTwo in Welly?
Edit: Forgot the Bled...
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@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@nzzp said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Hosting in Auckland would piss off a large proportion of the population, no matter if it made financial sense.
This seems like a rather trivial and insignificant first world problem in the scheme of things, Auckland's a mere 50 min flight from Wellington, we're not a big nation by any stretch, Eden Park should be our Millennium/Murryfield stadium equivalent. It should be our proud fortress and sole host of meaningful home tests, exceptions only for fixtures against tier 2 sides and non-RC opposition.
Agreed. Make Eden Park a rugby stadium and if non-Aucklanders can't be bothered making a pilgrimage, then they aren't real Kiwis.
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@antipodean said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@nzzp said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Hosting in Auckland would piss off a large proportion of the population, no matter if it made financial sense.
This seems like a rather trivial and insignificant first world problem in the scheme of things, Auckland's a mere 50 min flight from Wellington, we're not a big nation by any stretch, Eden Park should be our Millennium/Murryfield stadium equivalent. It should be our proud fortress and sole host of meaningful home tests, exceptions only for fixtures against tier 2 sides and non-RC opposition.
Agreed. Make Eden Park a rugby stadium and if non-Aucklanders can't be bothered making a pilgrimage, then they aren't real Kiwis.
Fuck yeah.
I loved my recent Uber ride from the airport to the CBD when I was there for work.
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@MN5 said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@antipodean said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@darylmitchell said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
@nzzp said in Why doesn't Eden Park host most, if not every AB home test?:
Hosting in Auckland would piss off a large proportion of the population, no matter if it made financial sense.
This seems like a rather trivial and insignificant first world problem in the scheme of things, Auckland's a mere 50 min flight from Wellington, we're not a big nation by any stretch, Eden Park should be our Millennium/Murryfield stadium equivalent. It should be our proud fortress and sole host of meaningful home tests, exceptions only for fixtures against tier 2 sides and non-RC opposition.
Agreed. Make Eden Park a rugby stadium and if non-Aucklanders can't be bothered making a pilgrimage, then they aren't real Kiwis.
Fuck yeah.
I loved my recent Uber ride from the airport to the CBD when I was there for work.
I'm sure for regional folk a visit to the city, especially from the airport to the CBD must be like looking into the future.
Dystopian future perhaps, but the future none the less!
