Stadium crisis hits cricket

Cricket fans in Auckland may soon be searching for a new location to view test cricket, after the revelation the possible closure of Eden Park. Auckland’s premier stadium is likely to be replaced by a 60,000 seat rugby stadium, designed for the 2011 rugby World Cup.

It is unlikely that the new stadium will have the necessary dimensions to fulfil the standards of a test cricket venue. Furthermore, the shift of international and domestic rugby matches away from Eden Park is likely to make the ground financially unsustainable.

The news arrives in the wake of New Zealand Sport Minister Trevor Mallard’s announcement that the government would back the proposed waterfront stadium, as long as it received the approval of the Auckland public.

Mallard denied claims that such a stadium would be a similar financial fiasco to Cardiff’s Millennium stadium. However, Auckland cricket chairman Brent King remained sceptical of the viability of the new stadium, commenting it is my understanding that you would need north of 30,000 people in the waterfront stadium to break even. Tell me how many events get that many people every year.

The possibility of the construction of the waterfront stadium comes at the same time as news that Eden Park has fallen into more than $20 million of debt.

A new stadium would seriously cut into Eden Park’s future revenues, especially given the loss of matches from future rugby (2011) and cricket (2015) world cups.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the ground would have to be demolished, although Auckland Rugby Union Chairman Ken Baguley has suggested that preserving Eden Park as a boutique ground might have some value.

In any case New Zealand Cricket is wasting no time in its search for a replacement test venue.

Unfortunately, the Auckland region is woefully short of high quality cricket grounds. The current favourite is the speedway venue Western Springs. However, there are a number of reservations as to whether such a location would be suitable. Even Trevor Mallard, whilst trying to put a positive spin on events, could only say I’m told technically it would work but there is a lot of water to go under that bridge.