NZ to small for WC

[In-goal]

NZRU chases government World Cup funds
December 13, 2004 - 6:04AM

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The New Zealand Rugby Union will seek financial support from the government to keep its 2011 World Cup bid afloat.

NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs told the Dominion Post newspaper, the union would approach the government for financial help early next year.

Hobbs said government funding had taken on more importance after World Cup hosting criteria were unveiled by the International Rugby Board at its annual meeting in Dublin last month.

The criteria includes a minimum guaranteed amount, in pounds, that must be returned to Rugby World Cup Ltd by the hosts, and Hobbs admitted that was a "big hurdle".

"My feeling is, having seen the criteria, that Government support is very important if we are to take our bid any further, or pull the pin," he said.

"We've got to look at that and see if it's realistic ... that will happen pretty early in the New Year, considering the time frames."

Hobbs did not reveal the size of the IRB's fee, but said the size of New Zealand's stadia restricted the NZRU's ability to bring in revenue.

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Advertisement"The sole income as a host is your ticket sales. You have to take into account how many tickets you can sell and at what price.

"We have stadiums of a certain size ... but I would think at the current capacity it would be a stretch."

But the NZRU was not interested in owning or investing in a national stadium, he said.

Instead, a working party was investigating all aspects of the bid, including the possibility of co-hosting the tournament with Japan.

Hobbs and NZRU chief executive Chris Moller travelled to Japan twice this year to discuss the joint bid after an initial meeting in Christchurch.

But Hobbs stressed the proposal was in "very preliminary stages".

There were obvious obstacles, including the distance between the two countries and Japan's lack of rugby pedigree.

"We had a couple of meetings in Japan and out of that, while the door is not totally shut at this early stage, both countries are committed to focusing on their own respective bids."

Though Australia could not be ruled out as a co-host, that proposal would probably meet with considerable political resistance after Australia hosted the last World Cup, he said.

The 2007 World Cup is in France, but New Zealand, Japan, and South Africa have publicly expressed their interest in hosting the 2011 tournament.

Well it looks like the top end of RU is once again making life difficult for the poor little guy at the bottom, well choose the devils path and live with his fate.

 

[bayrep]

I think NZ is not organised enough and doesnt have the 80K stadiums to benefit from the Cup. I would also think its a huge mistake to co-host with Japan let Japan have it they have the resources to put behind it.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

I Think NZ is now too small to host the Soccer World cup , Olympics , Commonwealth Games and now the RWC .
It is NZ's fault because they are not investing in building bigger stadiums . Like the Kevin Costner movie . Built them and they will come .
Australia didn't have the stadiums too but Stadium Australia help them win the Olympics bid and now they can host any major events in the world .

 

[In-goal]

Australia had the M.C.G., Telstra Dome(before that Wavely Park), Football Park, Subiaco and to a lesser extent the Sydney Football Stadium.

Funnily enough the first 4 mentioned are filled quite reguly with crowds around the 50k mark to watch the A.F.L.

Not many nations outside the U.S. have as many 45,000 plus stadiums as Australia.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I Think NZ is now too small to host the Soccer World cup , Olympics , Commonwealth Games and now the RWC .
It is NZ's fault because they are not investing in building bigger stadiums . Like the Kevin Costner movie . Built them and they will come .
Australia didn't have the stadiums too but Stadium Australia help them win the Olympics bid and now they can host any major events in the world .

Not much point in building them if they'll only come once every 4 years though. With the exception of Auckland, NZ just doesn't have the population to support 80K seat stadia. Personally I think they're overplaying the stadia issue frankly. With the exception of the finals how many really big crowds did the last WC generate? If Auckland replaced Eden Park with a genuine world class stadium to host the final NZ would have adequate stadia for hosting a WC, with the bonus that almost every game would be a sell-out, which is unlikely to happen in any other country.
Auckland doesn need to sort out it's stadia though, currently there's one good 25K staduim (the upgraded Ericcson) One half finished staduim (North Harbour, which really needs a second stand to be built on the west side), and Eden Park, which has decent capacity but no parking, noise/licghting problems, and crap atmosphere due to it trying to cater for both Football and cricket but doing neither well.
Welllington, Christchuch, Hamilton and Dunedin all have decent stadia though.

 

[taipan]

For a country NZ size it has a reasonable share of decent stadiums,although I think in the main too small for major semis/finals for a union world cup.
Despite this I still think it would be a financial success with packed stadiums such is the popularity of that code in the country.

 

[ozbash]

the stadiums are/were big enough for us and then we started getting overseas fans coming here to follow their teams :roll:

next year will be the test,, 30k (est) british lions fans converging on nz.
imagine a place the size of whangerei or rotorua putting them up for a couple of nights :lol:

it,ll be total chaos.

 

[bayrep]

It’s the corporate box’s that haven’t helped. Didn’t Eden Park hold close to 60K before they upgraded it?

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

It’s the corporate box’s that haven’t helped. Didn’t Eden Park hold close to 60K before they upgraded it?

Yes they did before they had to make Eden Park an all seater . NZ need 80,000 stadium in Auckland , Wellington , Christchurch and Otago . They will fill it to roof when the Men In Black play .

 

[bayrep]

I think they could get away with one in AKL (population) maybe WLG (Fantastic fan support) but maybe not in Canterbury and definitly not in Otago.

 

[Te Kaha]

Watch this space... The preasure is being put on the Govt to at least half pay for a 65K seater in south Auckland... All this is manouvering by the NZRFU... Wait until after the Lions next year for the preasure to REALLY go on leading up to the election.

 

[ozbash]

hope yr on the money TK.
hope its covered and has a speedway track which the neighbours cant hear. :roll:

 

[bayrep]

:lol: :lol: good call re: the speedway. What gets up your left nostral is that the neighbours knew there was a speedway right next door before they brought their house. Did they think that the cars were tonka toys and the whole event was over by 6pm. :evil:

TK - 65K is still on the small side but atleast its heading in the right track, I hope they build something like the cake tin which has to be the best stadium in NZ at the moment.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Don't tell me the wowsers have finally won and they've closed the speedway at western springs? :roll:

 

[ozbash]

no, not yet.
couple of aussie drivers on the news last night giving the council crap for even considering it ( wonder who put them up to that? )

news today says the city council was leaning more towards the speedway assoc .
hope so.

the new baypark raceway is also in the same boat,, we went to see a big sprintcar event 2 weeks ago, quite a few were black flagged because of noise, there is also a 10pm stop racing time so the good residents of mt maunganui can get their beauty sleep :roll:

 

[In-goal]

I think a 70,000 seat stadium would be fine, but then comes the problem of who pays for it. The WRU are suffering because of the Millenium Stadium, the NZRU couldn't afford to follow them down that garden path.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

the new baypark raceway is also in the same boat,, we went to see a big sprintcar event 2 weeks ago, quite a few were black flagged because of noise, there is also a 10pm stop racing time so the good residents of mt maunganui can get their beauty sleep :roll:

Bastards! I used to go to the old Baypark track across the road when I was teenager until they closed that one down because of noise issues, it would be a real shame to see the new track go the same way.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Watch this space... The preasure is being put on the Govt to at least half pay for a 65K seater in south Auckland... All this is manouvering by the NZRFU... Wait until after the Lions next year for the preasure to REALLY go on leading up to the election.

Why South Auckland ? Why not where the Auckland Central railway is . There's also good space in Waitakere Stadium to built on .

 

[-JJ-]

It needs to be in Wellington to get full use, but I couldn't see them building a new one, and expanding Westpac seems a little tricky.

If a 60-80ker was put in Auckland it would only max out 1-2 times a year, a very rarely reach even half of that. Basically it would sit un-used. If it was in Wellington then it would continue to get to at least 40000 in the some of the provincial games so at least it won't be completely empty.

 

[Te Kaha]

It needs to be in Wellington to get full use, but I couldn't see them building a new one, and expanding Westpac seems a little tricky.

If a 60-80ker was put in Auckland it would only max out 1-2 times a year, a very rarely reach even half of that. Basically it would sit un-used. If it was in Wellington then it would continue to get to at least 40000 in the some of the provincial games so at least it won't be completely empty.

I agree, Wellington would fill it out much more often then Auckland would... The problem is the locals complained when the Westpac Stadium was being developed so its as big a it will ever be....

To give you some examples of the issues the locals i.e Thorndon, Wadestown residents.. imposed on the developers before they could get a resource consent...

There are only a certain number of times a year that the Stadium is allowed to have the lights on... There was a daytime international cricket match against the Windies i think that was rain delayed that had to be called early because they weren't allowed to put the lights on... This is also one of the Major reasons I believe an NRL team wont work in Welly.. the stadium only fills up during night games and the NZRFU has most of the allocated "lights on" days for the next 15 years with an option for the next 30.

The locals complained about their carparks being taken... so the developers had to build in a carpark... Because it is a pain in the arse to get out of after a game.. the Stadium management charge a fortune to park there on game day.. as a result the carpark is not more than half full....

So As much as I would love a 60K+ Stadium in Welly... it aint gonna happen.