$40-45 Million Soccer Specific Stadium - Petone Phoenix

I realise this discussion has now moved past the serious part but I thought I would add my two cents.

One of the benefits of the Welnix tie up with the Canes was the increased leverage we would have with the stadium, your two biggest tenants with a coordinated approach and plan can only be a good thing. The only events that still fill the stadium these days are All Black tests, you can't even include the Sevens these days so the stadium can't afford to dismiss the WRFU which in turn means you can't dismiss the Canes and thus the Phoenix.

As everyone else has said this has been a clear shot across the bow of the stadium. One that was desperately needed, probably three years ago, but still a good ploy. The Stadium management have been awful for a long time, I know that a few years ago the WRFU went to them to talk about a legends walk type thing on the concourse up to the stadium. They said no. Hopefully new stadium management can understand what the codes are trying to achieve. The unused councourse I think is the best untapped resource they have.

Got to love Gareth, he may talk an utter load of garbage a good chunk of the time but at least he gets people talking/thinking.

I don't know if anyone has said this but providing there isn't cricket scheduled couldn't we have temporary seating making the stadium rectangular and bringing everyone closer to the action? Not sure what kind of capacity you could fit or whether the back seats would be plausible nor what it would do to TopLeft's old turf but surely the cost of such an endeavour could be split between us and the canes and the Trust?

Surely we could get 12000-15000 in there all around the ground? Maybe some high quality ones with rain cover...

North Shore City and NHS should be putting the hard sell on the Nix to move up there. If it all guarateed profitability, the business would move up there in a flash

I believe the Knights moved from the Kingz venue, Mt Smart, to North Harbour because the venue was being offered to them virtually for nothing. Nobody was using it.

NHS is still not being used. That's place is a white elephant.

Nope.  Season 1 only was at NHS.  The other four at Ericsson (Mt. Smart).

Ssshhh.... don't let the cat out of the bag...

Wanderers SC

this has to be considered for next season - they have the tent in the corner there for "special fans" why not have a section of seats at ground level - they did it for the WC quals to increase capacity so it's not impossible.....

the lack of ideas to make the game day experience from the nix is annoying - we throw all kinds of idea about here and I for one have mentioned a lot of them to the nix in the various "meet the fans" meetings they've held. I realise Westpac Stadium is difficult to deal with but with the temp seating thing we are not asking for anything that hasn't been done in the past. It should not be that difficult to put 3000 additional seats in front of the YF section and the aisles to the right - I'd wager that on a fine day you'd get all extra fans in that section easily. The lack of visible nix marketing is really concerning me - especially since we have "thunder sticks" as a marketing manager now.

It is a beautiful day here in the Bay, has anyone thought of moving the Nix here permanently? McLean Park is just the right size :)

On the temporary seating front, there is a set cost per seat worked out for those kind of instalaltions isn't there?  Financially not worth it if the stadium's other seats aren't filled. While sideline seating would be a bonus, its a want not a need really isn't it?

I see the solution as two-fold:

1. Increase crowd numbers to games [by whatever means] - much easier to stomach loss of potential revenue than running at a loss.

2. Get a better deal from the Stadium.

I'm not sure what is being done by Nix management to increase crowd sizes apart from hoping better performances will fill more seats. i think they need to do more than that frankly because the way its going now, its not working. What is the general view on how Thundersticks is doing?

Actually a decent place to watch rectangle field sport unlike Westpac. Public transport links now too. The shore /  Albany is growing rapidly north too.

But it won't happen :) Move the stadium to welly haha

If you're going to talk public transport, Mt Smart is almost as good as Eden Park (and in fact easier for those coming from the South/East). But, like NHS, it's in the middle of a commercial wasteland without good pubs nearby.

...and it's a shit heap.  The running track leaves one whole stand to far away and without a northern stand in place it only has a crowd by the pitch on two of four ides.

Whereas, what are the problems with Eden Park? Probably only the cost, and having to elbow cricket and rugby out of the way (just little things than that). It's far bigger than we need, but close off the upper tiers and you'll have a lovely atmosphere.

Umm it's oval, which is how this whole thing started. I was initially against a smaller stadium in Petone/Newtown due to travel time but if it'll shut you aucklanders up with all these mind numbingly retarded suggests to promote and move to Auckland, I'm all for it.

I'm sick to my dick with Aucklanders at the mo. The amount of dorks all of a sudden posting on this forum sums up Auckland perfectly. You only sing when you're winning, where were you before Saturday?!?! (not necessarily you Doloras, you're pretty much OG :)

Sorry for your dick AJ, but we Aucklanders who are Nix supporters post regularly.

I much prefer to watch a football game at NHS rather than Eden Park or Caketin because it is a rectangular field and you get close to the action. I'd love to see the Caketin pulled down and a new facility built there. Cricket off to the basin for the occassional matches that happen in the season

I really think temporary stands along the sides and, possibly, the ends (@ the RoF) would probably be the most practical and cost effective option - a mini version of what they do at Etihad.

Hopefully this and other options will be seriously looked at by the new stadium management.

I believe that it will one day work. Whether that's today or not I'm not sure. BUT it should not come at the expense of another city and it's people, some of who invest the better part of each day supporting our club, not just the YF who are mostly known for their 90min display every couple of weeks yet work tirelessly behind the scenes, but all the everyday people too. There are much more than 7k of us trust me.

I'd even go so far as saying you would actually need the Nix for an Auckland side to survive. We finally have a template which works, and the 2-3 meetings between the two sides every season (depending on the size of the league at the time) would mark the biggest dates on the NZ Football calendar. It would be something that football has never seen in this country, and would engage more people than anything before it. The competitiveness would go a long way, you would have the clubs and fans constantly trying to one-up each other, it could be what finally gets the game off the ground.

Imagine how beneficial it would be for talent identification and development in NZ if there were two A-League sides, each with a football academy / school of excellence, competing with each other to find the future football stars.

Flaws as I see them:

1 - How would you justify the cost?  Your costs of the exisiting lease all remain plus the cost of $20 a seat for the additional seats.

2 - It looks like a giant empty barn now.  How would adding more Yellow seats and spreading the crowd wider resolve that?

It is not economically viable at all for the nix to pay for the temp seating week in week out. This is a loss making entity aiming to break even. I also highly doubt it would bring more than an extra 100 people in a game.

All you are doing though is relocating the exisiting crowd and adding to the number of empty seats.  That only resolves one of about ten issues with Westpac and exacerbates two or three others.

I think you'd just end up making less on the seats that you do sell. It would hardly increase atmosphere. A few hundred people would get a better view while the rest of us will still need binoculars. 

Stick a temporary stand (say 2,500) along the Wadestown side only to start with and completely close off the area behind it.

Make the area free seating (i.e. anyone with a match ticket can move there if they want - seats first come first served. If it pisses down everyone stays under cover, the seats are empty but they're on the non-camera side so doesn't affect TV image.

Theory being it will be much better match day experience, encourage more punters (covers cost) and creates some competition to get there early enough to get a seat when the weather's good.

Doesn't affect YF or anyone else on the other side i.e. views not unaffected.

Just some thoughts. 

Junior ....Im just relieved where your sexuality  appears to be heading ....