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• Ponsonby Rugby Club and music promoters are challenging Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray’s stadium proposal at Western Springs. 
• Williams and Mowbray plan a 12,500-seat stadium, while the rugby club proposes a 50,000-person concert venue with a multi-sport hub. 
• The council will consider the proposals on May 1, and decide if the public will have a say. 

The Ponsonby Rugby Club has teamed up with two music promoters to challenge former All Black Ali Williams and his entrepreneur wife, Anna Mowbray, to develop stadium facilities at Western Springs. 

With backing from NBA star Steven Adams, Williams and Mowbray plan to build a new 12,500-seat sports stadium at the venue. The facility would include community sports facilities, a hospitality concourse and live entertainment facilities. 

The two rival bids have been presented to Auckland councillors at separate confidential workshops in the past fortnight. 

Two bids are in the running to operate Western Springs. Photo / Hayden Woodward 

The rugby club, CRS Records, and Eccles Entertainment plan a Hollywood Bowl-style live concert and festival venue, a 5000-seat boutique stadium and a multi-sport community hub. 

The 50,000-person capacity venue would include a permanent full concert stage and improved hospitality infrastructure, complemented by updating the outer fields and the Ponsonby Rugby Club expanding its operations across other codes such as basketball, netball and touch. 

The joint bid is based on at least a 30-year term. CRS and Eccles Entertainment propose to build the concert infrastructure at their own cost. Ponsonby Rugby is seeking to develop the new multi-sport hub with an estimated cost of $18-20 million, which is likely to require some council funding. 

The bare details of the joint bid were released to the Herald by the council’s events arm, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (TAU), which has been seeking a new operator for Western Springs since last June. 

CRS Records’ Campbell Smith and Ponsonby Rugby Club chairman Greg Edmonds said they did not wish to comment beyond what TAU has released until the process is concluded. 

In a statement, Mowbray has said the group’s proposal would not require public funding. 

An artist's impression of a proposed redevelopment of Western Springs Stadium to house Auckland FC and basketball facilities from a consortium led by Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams. 

“The heart of the complex will be the 12,500-seat stadium, which will become home for Auckland FC. The city has a stadium shortage, which this will help to rectify. The complex is expected to create long-term social, economic, environmental and cultural benefits for Auckland without any burden of cost to the ratepayer. 

“The proposal is backed by local and international investors with local motivation around giving back to Auckland. Auckland FC, who this will become the new home of, has seen massive success in its first season, creating a loyal and significant fan base in the city.” 

Auckland FC have attracted huge crowds in their inaugural season to Go Media (Mt Smart), where they have a five-year deal. 

The TAU board will make a recommendation on a preferred proposal for the council’s governing body to consider on May 1 on whether to proceed to public consultation. 

The Ponsonby Rugby Club has co-existed with speedway at Western Springs since 1997, and its current lease expires in 2027. In October last year, Mayor Wayne Brown and councillors voted 11-8 to move speedway to Waikaraka Park in Onehunga at the end of the summer season. 

Western Springs Speedway is no more after 97 years. Photo / Jason Dorday 

After 97 years at Western Springs, the last race night was held on March 22. 

Rugby great Sir Bryan “Beegee” Williams is among those fighting plans to move his beloved Ponsonby Rugby Club out of Western Springs, telling the Herald last October: “There is really no alternative to fit our needs like Western Springs does.” 

Last year, the club celebrated its 150th anniversary and holds the record for producing more All Blacks (48) than any other club in New Zealand. 

Quite separately, councillors last Thursday endorsed in principle a staged redevelopment of Eden Park as the best and most feasible option for a fit-for-purpose main stadium. The councillors rejected a second proposal on the waterfront at Quay Park. 

Analysis by council officers found both plans are not feasible without significant public funding. 

The decision leaves the privately owned Eden Park Trust with little prospect of funding its 2.1 vision for a retractable roof, three new grandstands and a pedestrian promenade costing hundreds of millions of dollars. 

The council has no plan for funding, and Associate Sports Minister Chris Bishop holds out little hope for Government funding.