- a match in a holiday centre in late Dec/early Jan - Napier, Taupo, Tauranga etc
This is something that hasn't really been tried, and I think it's probably well worth a go.
Yeah, that's a slightly different scenario though. On paper that should work, but in reality most of the teams there were to play, and they used the spare time to rest and recover rather than focus on the Phoenix game.
I think Xmas and New Year holidays are a bit different, they tend to be more 'be lazy and relax' holidays, and bringing the game to a holiday destination at this time may actually incentivise that type of people to come along and have a look - this has kind of worked for cricket for example, they've had very good crowds in places like Nelson and Tauranga around this time.
Although Trace is right, locking in accommodation for travelling fans would be tricky as we'd be starting behind the 8-ball there. But worth a crack, especially since this pattern of away 'home' games will probably continue.
I'd be interested to know how many Wellington-based fans go to the home'n'away games. Less than a 1000?
I've been to most of the games in NZ away from Wellington and would guess that travelling Wellingtonians are in the 100s at most
[Side issue: we are usually battling to have a properly allocated Fever Zone where standing up is not a cause of bemusement/conflict with the locals. ]