The final horse in the Auckland stadium race has been revealed.
A stadium and entertainment precinct at Wynyard Point, encompassing a main 55,000-seat stadium, an indoor arena and an outdoor amphitheatre to view harbour events like SailGP, is the fourth proposal that will be voted on next month.
It joins Eden Park 2.1, a redevelopment option of the current national stadium; a waterfront stadium precinct at Quay Park or Te T艒angaroa, backed by New Zealand Rugby and including an All Blacks-branded hotel; and a fully enclosed stadium sunk into the Waitemat膩 Harbour with a floating roof above sea level.
Wynyard Point consortium head Richard Dellabarca told 九一星空无限talk ZB鈥檚 Elliott Smith that the current set-up of four stadiums (Eden Park, Go Media Stadium Mt Smart, North Harbour Stadium and Western Springs) was unsustainable.
He made the point that Melbourne had 10 Australian Rules teams, yet used just two stadiums to host their fixtures.
An aerial view of how the Wynard Point proposal would look on Auckland's waterfront. Photo / Populous
鈥淔rom a fiscal perspective, it makes no sense to continue with the four stadiums. I think the other thing is, from a customer experience perspective, if you go overseas, look at Suncorp [in Brisbane] last night: 52,000 fans, rectangular stadium, what an amazing atmosphere. We just don鈥檛 have that.鈥�
He believes the Wynyard Point proposal is clearly the best available and the most cost-effective.
Wynyard Point would be a multi-use entertainment precinct. Photo / Populous
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the best sites in the world. We鈥檝e got the best stadium designers in the world. The reason they鈥檝e joined us is because they think this is an amazing site, one of the best they鈥檝e seen in the world, and they have the ability to create something really iconic for New Zealand.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the lowest-cost site to build on. It doesn鈥檛 have the complexity of Quay Park and it doesn鈥檛 sit in the middle of a densely populated suburb, Mt Eden [where Eden Park sits]. So you鈥檝e got the double whammy of an iconic site and actually at the lowest-cost site to build.鈥�
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