Westpac stadium management - We love you Shane...honest

Patrick,

A few final comments and I'll let it go:

Re: Parking cost increase - fortunately for me the cost increase is not material - my anger doesn't originate from the $ amount but my perception of the hypocrisy of the cost increase.

Re: Stadium costs - stadium revenue has gone down 2% in the last 5 years, over the same time costs have increased (excl. dep'n and financing) 13%. At some point in time those respective trajectories force most businesses to review their operating model and cost structure - the stadium should be no different - at the moment they operate as a cost+ business.

I will listen to the pod cast (with an open mind) and would also appreciate you asking Shane; Does he see a problem with the sustainability of the stadium's cost structure? and, another question if you're wanting suggestions; What opportunities does he see for greater collaboration between the providers of the services that make up the match day experience?

Question for Shane: "How come annual events like home & garden and comicon have an $8/day parking fee while regular events (nix games) are $15 for members and $30 for general parking?

As I do when I take my daughter, we generally get a plate of chips at Backbencher before a game to fill up, a single drink each at the game (And an empty bottle for water), and a bag (or 2) of donuts at the game. And then I have a lunch box of snacks in my bag in case she gets hungry as well. (I also don't think the price of food is that bad for what you get at the foodcarts anyway).

And expected the Stadium to pay bac the "LOAN" that they used to pay for the Stadium as well...(Yet they freely put money into "The Arts")

They have been replacing the Wooden Poles holding overhead wires with Steel ones, this has been the last 2 years or so since they put the Maitangis in. (There is other maintenance as well, but this is the major current project), but they don't seem to plan around events, they just pick weekends (In particular long ones)

Westpac Stadium The Westpac Stadium is a regional facility that provides a high-quality, multi-purpose venue for sporting and cultural events. GWRC provided a $25 million loan to the Westpac Regional Stadium Trust to plan and build the stadium. GWRC is the Trust’s principal funder. GWRC services and repays this loan through a targeted stadium rate. GWRC appoints one of its Councillors to the Westpac Stadium Trust and, jointly with the Wellington City Council, appoints other trustees. GWRC also monitors the Trust’s performance against its Statement of Intent

http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Plans--Publications/A...

By the looks of it though that debt must be nearly paid off (last financial year there was $5m remaining, and the council is paying it back at about $2m a year). I wonder if once the debt is cleared rates money will continue to contribute to the stadium?

On this one Patrick you and I will disagree. All I hope is that at some time in the future should you get in a relationship and kids are involved, you will then appreciate the expense and organisation that has to place to get everyone there and looked after. It's a lot more work than you think - honest. And things like $5 more for your car park etc, does make a difference, not in a positive way. One has to work to a budget.

Hasnt greater wellington rates being paying for the stadium since it was built?

Im sure I remember my parent bitching about that 10 years ago.

I just had a look and it looks like there is a very small part of Rates going to the Stadium loan, for me it is $7 per year. 

BUT as per Page 18 of this report, the Stadium has to pay any surplus to the Councils to repay their loans WCC $15m, GWRC $25m (So in 2014 Financial year that $2.2m went straight back to the councils for their loans)

http://westpacstadium.co.nz/fileadmin/Documents/An...

As CT posted above, that is paying off the loan obtained for building the stadium. 

See this attitude and the lemmings comment about people that buy the food from the readily available and clearly advertised locations iritates the shark out of me.

Until just now I didn't know anyone can go to the mezzanine bar, I thought it was for specific people.  So the average doesn't go to all the games punter probably doesn't know about it either.

I hate when this conversation comes up and people cant sympathize with less financially OK families.  $40 for 4 items is not cheap for a lot of people.

Hell I didn't even know they had a blanket food and drink policy of it being OK.  for some reason I got the idea that its heavily restricted on what you can or cant bring into the stadium. 

Granted its my own ignorance, but I doubt I'm the only one, and that's what marketing is for, inform the uninformed so the product (in this instance match day) is more appealing.

So I'd stop shaking your head at people who aren't pleased by the things they don't know about.  Personally the Fritz wieners are all that I need to be game day satisfied but even then $8 for a glorified hot dog (though a fantastic one) for some people is just too expensive.

Sorry I saw that right after, didn't know I wasn't looking at the last page like a n00b.

So GWRC does own the stadium right?

No it is owned by the Westpac Stadium Trust.

No hot food, and no drinks is the ruling (May be able to take unopened Water Bottles, but easier to just bring in a bottle and fill up on concourse), you can't bring in a chilly bin or picnic basket, buit can put all the food in a backpack and take it in.

you want cheap then you are gonna be paying for crappy tasteless food. . I think the food is fine for what you pay at the stadium. #dontexpectgourmet

Free public transport is an interesting conundrum. At present apart from an All Black game and maybe the odd Canes game their are so few people at the games (relatively) that traffic is not a problem so respective councils probably think traffic is light so why bother funding PT.

I know that is not the way for councils to look at it but it probably is the way they do

Some people are so hypersensitive to any criticism of the the Nix on here - If the stadium issue is a big deal for some, it's a big deal. End of. Saying it shouldn't be doesn't make any difference. Imagine a business that ignored market research - "people are idiots - our product is great!"

The food doesn't bother me much but it's obviously a big deal for some with families etc. Most people are attending and paying money for a good "experience". Transport and stadium in general is an issue.

I don't know what could be changed, but If we need 10,000 and only 6,000 are showing up, everything should be taken into consideration, because obviously there are more than 6,000 non-diehard Nix/live football fans in Wellington.

The whole croWds are simply based on results thing hasn't stacked up, has it?

And the Trust is owned by?  Is privately owned or something?

I kind of feel like if Wellington owned it then the stadium could take some minor losses to at least attempt higher croud numbers for a) the event being in wellington and b) out of towners.

It also looks nice as part of the package.  When my parents came back from Aus they wouldn't stop ranting and raving about how it was free public transport to the stadium on game day in Brissie.  I think they talked about that more than the f**king test match t hey saw.

If you are tossing up coming to Welly for an event, then knowing there is free public transport makes you less paranoid about where you get accommodation, etc.

Depends who was sehlling out for it, I assumed that Wellington in some way paid for it, but if the Nix were paying for it, then I can understand it being dropped.

why was Robbie Williams at the basin rather than westpac? It seems music doesnt want to go there, cricket want to put lights at the basin for 20/20, and Phoenix, canes and lions would all rather have a smaller rectangular ground. Are we keeping the stadium for aussie rules games? It all seems like an uncoordinated shambles. Maybe we shoul bulldoze the stadium, or at least one side of it to get a stand nearer the pitch. If the all blacks want a bigger stadium they can pay for one.

Robbie Williams was at the basin because the promoters knew they could only sell 15,000 tickets rather than 40,000. 

Also, AFL is no longer at the stadium either. That experiment has finished, they didn't get crouds they wanted for the first game and since then they have dropped further.

The only sport that uses it, that needs it to be round is cricket.

and even then chucking some lights at the basin would meet their needs as they don't exactly get crouds that'd require anything bigger. (Cricket World Cup aside). 

Hindsight....

In before someone blames the current staff at the stadium for the pitch being an oval.

No.  That is Morrison and his Cricket cronies building something contrived and not fit for actual purpose.

a timely and specifically concentrated earthquake the second the final payment for that debt is paid would be an ideal situation. 

Runaway train... just saying...

That'd involve trains actually running...which is more unlikely than the earthquake. 

Not to state the obvious but pretty sure no's 1 and 2 are directly related to achieving no.4, just for the record.

Now wait a minute, I remember when they built the RoF and back then it wasn't uncommon to get 30-40,000 people to ODIs at Eden Park or Lancaster Park, so no wonder the Basin didn't seem fit for purpose. I'm sure I went to a sold-out ODI or two in the early days of the Stadium, including that one where Peter Jackson came on the pitch during the innings break and got us to make Orc noises. The point I'm making is that you can't blame the cricket mob for not predicting that people would cease to be interested in ODIs after a while.

in 2006 they got 13,000 for two ODIs. Which is the same capacity the basin reserve can hold. 

Attendance is usually around this mark or less with three exceptions: vs India 19,000 (2003), vs England 25,000 (2002) and vs Australia 20,000 (2005). 

Am excluding the novelty factor of the first year of the stadium. 

So they've basically built the stadium in an oval shape for 3 games of cricket (and the World Cup) in a 15 year span. I blame them. 

Fran Wilde has to accept some of the blame, this was her legacey to begin with in the first place. Don't worry Fran, some of us have long memories.

People seem to have forgotten though for the early part of its life it was near impossible to get a ticket to most things at the stadium. Lets face it if any body had said in those early days there would be a football team in Wellington you would have been laughed out of town. This hindsight from everybody is great but the reality is what we have most were very happy with in the early days. Wellington was the envy of all major cities. Yes the dynamics have changed know and no one really seems  to have a solution,but then who would also have predicted that the numbers for watching live sport would drop so dramatically. 

Didn't hear that excuse for the Kingz/Knights.

What excuse was that sorry dont understand.

That the reason for Knights attendances dropping so alarmingly in Dorkland a decade ago was because going to watch games live was no longer an attraction.

Wellington Region paid alot into this stadium. The only way to make some noise and make these idiots listen is people power. shame them. Tony Veitch is a legend trying to get the best atmosphere from stadium grounds. 

Can use that excuse if you want,but i thought it was a more recent trend of sports struggling to get punters through the gates. Lets face it if you had said a decade ago that a football team in Wellington would pull in more punters than the Lions they would have had you cerified.

Don't forget the Nix didn't exist when the stadium was built and that NZ Cricket's commitment to play ODIs there was a key part of the business case to get it over the line. 

In hindsight, a simpler issue which was a way bigger mistake than the oval shape (which was not really negotiable) was those fudgeing yellow seats.