I'd be very surprised if there were plans to ever get rid of Mt Smart. It's the spirtual home of the Warriors and far closer to 50% plus of their supporter base than any downtown stadium. It's the only ground of a meaningful size that services the whole of South Auckland.
I think the Warriors would need to be very careful about moving all their games downtown. Especially if it was just a 18,500 size Foley Stadium full of Ponsonby types necking $40 cocktails, who knew nothing about league, just there because the Wahs were the hottest ticket in town. That would just piss off their long standing suffering core support. Note the angst earlier this year with plans to move their finals game to Eden Park.
Of course put the Wahs in a 50,000 seater ground and there is room for all. But they still may play some games at Penrose, like how some of Sydney NRL clubs mix up home hames between 80,000 seater Homebush and their traditional small suburban grounds.
Knocking over Mt Smart, to build a new similar sized ground downtown, near a new 50,000 seater ground - that can be 'curtained off' to 25,000 - makes no sense at all on so many fronts. Especially in an age of trying to reduce our carbon/CO2 emissions.
I think the Warriors would need to be very careful about moving all their games downtown. Especially if it was just a 18,500 size Foley Stadium full of Ponsonby types necking $40 cocktails, who knew nothing about league, just there because the Wahs were the hottest ticket in town. That would just piss off their long standing suffering core support. Note the angst earlier this year with plans to move their finals game to Eden Park.
Of course put the Wahs in a 50,000 seater ground and there is room for all. But they still may play some games at Penrose, like how some of Sydney NRL clubs mix up home hames between 80,000 seater Homebush and their traditional small suburban grounds.
Knocking over Mt Smart, to build a new similar sized ground downtown, near a new 50,000 seater ground - that can be 'curtained off' to 25,000 - makes no sense at all on so many fronts. Especially in an age of trying to reduce our carbon/CO2 emissions.