R23 vs Newcastle Jets | Sat 17th March 7:35pm | QBE Stadium

At NHS, that is not unusual to close off parts of the ground. In doing so, there is a reduced cost of hire.

It appeared to be 2 3/4 of the "stands".

Usually only one side is open, like it was for the last All Whites game there. This time there was the main stand and the embankment. It's not a Phoenix thing at all - just the way the stadium is designed.

I think it always good sense to put everyone in an area that the camera points to. Sensible for stadium costs too.

That attendance figure is rotten though

It's about what anyone could expect given the circumstances imo.

North Harbour Stadium is a fudgeing dog, Eden Park is too big for anything but international rugby and cricket and Mt Smart (the best ground for football) has the Warriors - who've got a stadium within easy public transport reach of their support bases heartland - which is why they averaged 11k even when they were as rotten as last season.

Put the game on the Shore and most people from Central, South and West Auckland look at it and how the team's done and go, naaaaah.

It's also why there won't be a successful Auckland team up here, crowd wise.

You make it sound like it's Auckland that needs an alternative stadium, not Wellington.

The only decent new-ish stadium in the country is the Forsyth Barr. Everything else is pretty sharke for anything that isn't international rugby.

Auckland does actually need a new stadium (actually two with cricket) before Wellington.

Your stadium isn't that bad, 

Just need to sort out your back office and then team

Auckland (and the rugby union) screwed up the best chance they had for a decent stadium when they turned down the idea of the waterfront stadium.

Had football been a thing in the 90s when they built Westpac they would have built it rectangular, but at the time it was all about Rugby and Cricket and football struggled to fill Newtown Park for internationals but even if we had a rectangle stadium, our crowds would still be sharkte!