I'm in no way against Hamilton but do many from there drive up to Auckland for matches there? And would Aucklanders travel to Hamilton for their game?
That is what I had imagined so why such poor crowds in Auckland? If there is a large group travelling from both Wellington and Hamilton it seems crazy they should have such low crowds over the years.
The thing is I wonder if they would shift an Auckland game to Hamilton or hold one in each place.
Poor crowds in Auckland??? Last I checked they got 11,000 for the last Phoenix game at Eden Park compared with 4,000 recently at Westpac and barely 3,000 in Dunedin. Hasn't Auckland produced the largest regular season Phoenix crowd of 20,000 plus as well? I think Napier deserves a Phoenix game - good football supporters there.
I always go to Hamilton for ACFC away games, as do a lot of City supporters. In fact we often exceed the number of locals turning out to see Waikato United. Any Phoenix game played in Hamilton would need a lot of football fans to travel from Auckland to be a success.
Lots of factors here. The Eden Park 20k had a large number of cheap tickets on offer. Auckland games (like Dunedin games) are of the one-off variety while Wellington crowds are week-to-week (compare with Kingz/Knights). The Dunedin game was seen by many (including those outside of Dunedin) as a completely dead rubber and then a vital All Whites fixture was announced in quick succession.
And let's not forget the population bases here.