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Goodbye Mt Smart, hello North Shore

Juju

Juniors
Messages
1,709
They were both run down, and pretty much dumps - Eden Park clearly is not...

In saying that, not sure the Dunedin rate-payers are enthralled, are they?

Eden Park is not suitable for cricket or football codes and the local residents hate it (same reason the speedway is likely moving)

Dunedin has only one code to service and 1 concert a year to service the stadium.
Auckland could potentially have 3 (RU, RL, Football) and already has large concerts coming through.

Who really give a f about the legacy? its just bias towards rugby union holding back decisions that are for the benefit of everybody longterm. Good on Doyle for highlighting that.
 

Diesel

Referee
Messages
20,424
Bump

Warriors to remain at Mt Smart Stadium until 2028
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league...at-Mt-Smart-Stadium-until-2028?cid=app-iPhone

The NZ Warriors will remain at Mt Smart Stadium, Regional Facilities Auckland (RFA) and the club have confirmed.

The NRL club's current licence runs out at the end of the 2018 season and the RFA's initial plan was that the Warriors shift to Eden Park or North Harbour Stadium, which the club was vehemently against, so much so that it even threatened to take the club out of Auckland.

The Warriors felt that Eden Park was too expensive and their fans, who are predominately based in south and west Auckland, wouldn't want to travel to Albany.

But a new agreement has been finalised between RFA and the Warriors which will see Mt Smart Stadium remain as the club's home ground until 2028.
 

ozbash

Referee
Messages
26,922
Warriors managing director Jim Doyle wants the club to move to a central Auckland stadium when their new deal runs out in 2028.

Regional Facilities Auckland and the Warriors announced on Friday that the NRL club would remain at Mt Smart Stadium until 2028, but when that contract ends Doyle would like a new stadium in the heart of the city, which would be shared with the Blues.

It would spell the end of Eden Park and Mt Smart Stadium, but Doyle believes this would make Auckland a more attractive city.

"To me, a city like Auckland deserves a downtown stadium," Doyle said.

"All public transport leads there, there are restaurants and cafes and it would be so vibrant.

"It could be shared between the Warriors, the Blues, soccer. So we could have games there on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday and each team would pick up a lot more fans because it would be easier to get to.

"For me, it's the only logical outcome for the city and possibly the country. I think it will happen, it's just a case of when."

Auckland came close to having a waterfront stadium for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, when it was being weighed up whether to improve Eden Park or build a new stadium.

The Labour government in 2006 announced its preference for the waterfront stadium, so too did Auckland City Council, but the Auckland Regional Council voted unanimously against it.

"A massive opportunity was lost, but that doesn't mean to say that the right thing can't happen some time," Doyle said.

"In Melbourne, you can walk from the city to AAMI Park, or to the tennis or cricket, it's just stunning and that's why Melbourne is known as a sporting city.

"Can you imagine if you had a venue like that on Auckland's waterfront, an iconic landmark, where there are events happening all of the time, whether it be concerts, rugby league games, rugby union games or soccer matches?

"It would make the city more alive."

The debate over whether there should be a central Auckland stadium is set to rage again, especially as Regional Facilities Auckland CEO Chris Brooks says it's something that needs to be investigated.

"Quite a lot of the feedback we've had is that there's a need for a national stadium," Brooks said.

"That's a rectangular one, where you can play rugby, rugby league, football and have concerts.

"There's also the need to have a round oval like we want to develop at Western Springs.

"Our view would be that this is something the city needs to think about and we need to start investigating whether that's possible or not."

A casualty of a new stadium would be Eden Park, which was redeveloped for $256 million for the Rugby World Cup.

"It would have to be part of the debate, on where Eden Park fits in," Brooks said.

"You either re-invest in Eden Park, because it will need further investment, and that becomes your rectangular stadium. Or you do something else."

Regional Facilities Auckland's original stadium plan was for the Warriors to move to North Harbour Stadium, speedway to go to Mt Smart and cricket to relocate to Western Springs.

With the Warriors remaining at Mt Smart for the next 12 years, RFA has announced speedway will remain at Western Springs until early 2019.

"We are still going to work with speedway to find an appropriate home for them," Brooks said.

"They work under an environmental court order, in terms of the number of events they can have.

"We're working with them, because we want to be able to grow that sport, but we have to find an appropriate venue for that to occur."

Brooks said they still want cricket to move to Western Springs eventually and suggested that in time an AFL team could come to Auckland.

"Our intention is still that Western Springs will be developed as an oval where we can play test cricket, 50-over games and other sports such as AFL," he said.

"AFL have made it quite clear that one of their next points of expansion is Auckland.

"Initially they'll probably have one of their teams playing a number of games here and my guess is that develops over time."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league...il-interested.html?cid=facebook.post.77076772
 

cleary89

Coach
Messages
16,456
All the footy fans i know in auckland (all 5 of them) would have loved that water front stadium. Ive only been over twice but they said they would hate the orth harbour and mt smart is good, but downtown would be better. Seems a pretty good announcement
 

LeagueNut

First Grade
Messages
6,974
Outstanding news, both the Mt Smart deal and the possibility of a new waterfront stadium.

I hope there's some $$$ left somewhere for a few upgrades to Mt Smart to cover the next 12 years though.
 

Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,557
I thought this was a condition of the extension - that the Warriors contribute to the upgrade.
 

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