Kerre Woodham: What is our obsession with shiny new stadia?

What is this mania for the building of stadia when this country has so many already and very, very few of them are economic assets? The decision over whether to upgrade Eden Park in Auckland or to build a brand spanking new stadium on the waterfront is such an old debate. And before I go on, I will say I've been a guest of Eden Park, but it does take more to buy my opinion than a very nice lamb chop and a glass of non-alcoholic rosé, I promise you. 

The contest for Auckland's main stadium yesterday ended with neither Eden Park nor Te Tōangaroa proving feasible without public funding. Eden Park's upgrade is technically feasible but requires $110 million from the Government. Te Tōangaroa’s proposal lacks technical and commercial feasibility. So right there I'd say, “well, I'm gonna stop you there” if I was a councillor. If it lacks technical and commercial feasibility, wouldn't we go, “well, thanks very much, bit of a waste of our time, ka kite anō” to the people behind it? Anyway, they plan to progress land acquisition over 12 months.   

Now, most of you will be familiar with Eden Park, even if you're from around the country. Te Tōangaroa is more ambitious, includes a 50,000 seat stadium —which is the capacity of Eden Park— that can be scaled down to 20,000 capacity for smaller events. It’s the centrepiece for the redevelopment of Quay Park with up to four hotels, hospitality, scope for 2000 apartments, plus commercial offices.   

Different parties have been trying to build a waterfront stadium for years now. You'll remember Trevor Mallard had a plan to build a stadium in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and that came to naught. Another proposal in 2018 was floated and came crashing down to earth. Developers would build a shiny new waterfront stadium, in exchange, they'd get the land at Eden Park, plus the ability to build apartments on the waterfront land. There's always something in it for the people behind the developments. Of course, there is, otherwise, why would they do what they do? And it ends up being chumps like you and me who pay for it. We have stadia. We have stadia up the Yin Yang, all over the country, all over Auckland that are underutilized and uneconomic.  

As the chief executive of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Martin Snedden told Mike Hosking this morning we need to get over ourselves and consolidate into just one stadium.   

“It's time people really got collaborative, and I know, you know, you may not agree with me here, but the Warriors, Auckland FC, they should be incorporated into the program at Eden Park, so that, you know, that venue is... This is what's happened, you know, places around the world is the multi-use of one venue.  

"Look at what happened at Eden Park over the weekend, where on Friday they had White Ferns and Black Caps internationals played there, Saturday it was the Crusaders and the Blues, and Monday it was the All Whites qualifying for the World Cup. That's the right use of the stadia, and that's what we need to move towards. We don't need to keep propping up other stadia that are just not fit for purpose, let's just concentrate it all on what we've got.” 

Absolutely. But why is it too, that every city around the country, every large town, big city, wants its own stadium when they don't make economic sense? There's a great piece in the conversation by Robert Hamlin and he points out, there have been just 30 major events at Forsyth Bar in Dunedin since 2014. He wrote the piece last year, so that's three a year. Te Kaha in Christchurch is being funded mostly by ratepayers —the Crown's put in a bit— and the stadium was solely responsible for a 2% increase in rates last year.  

We come to Hamilton, and these figures are from 2015 so there might have been a remarkable turnaround – I doubt it, but there might have been. Since Claudelands Event Center opened in 2011, it has run at around a $10 million deficit per year. And who pays for that? Ratepayers. Palmerston North: in the 2021 10 year plan, it showed a budgeted income of $19 million, but expenses of $73 million. Come on. It does have facilities for some indoor sports, but much of the money that's going to be spent is on the main stadium in sport of stock car activities, including $4 million budgeted for new pits and more millions for a new grandstand on the south end. Non-stock car income is negligible because the stadium struggles to attract higher level rugby matches or large concerts because of the car track.   

Invariably, if you do end up building a bloody stadium, It's not good for something else. So, they're not multi-purpose, they can't be used for other events. You build this stonking great white elephant, and we pay for it, us, and then we're not allowed in it unless we pay a fortune for a ticket to go to something that's on inside the stadium that we built. As a ratepayer, you should get a free ticket to anything that's in there for the rest of your life.   

I just don't get why we're so obsessed with wanting new shiny stadia. In Auckland, we've got Eden Park, Go Media Stadium (formerly Mount Smart), Western Springs, Spark Arena, North Harbour Stadium. No, we don't need another one. Bowl the others, and everybody can play nicely together in one big stadium. At the moment, it looks like Eden Park's the most likely – there you go, I've paid for my lamb chop.  

But imagine your family budget at the moment: Oh, wouldn't it be nice if we built a beautiful new swimming pool at the back because the kids are getting a bit older now? Be lovely, with a nice little pool house next to it. Yes, it would be lovely. Can we afford it? No. And that's what the Waterfront Stadium is. 

Honestly, as Robert Hamlin said, the reason why is that people just get so excited, the decision makers get so excited, with all these reports of the extra economic benefit that's going to come to the city, and it's gonna prosper and it's just gonna be the making of the city.   

No, it's not. No.   

Ratepayers end up paying and paying and paying for generations for a white elephant that nobody's allowed to ride unless you pay a bloody fortune to get on its back. 

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