Auckland stadiums - Eden Park, Western Springs etc
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Th obvious problem with oval stadiums for rugby (and soccer) is the very best seats on halfway are too far from the action, so that means there are no great seats, just OKish seats all the way around.
Wellington was really silly to build an oval when they already had the Basin for cricket, they could have easily replaced the embankment (which is a shit place to watch sport as you spend half the time trying not to slide down the bank) with another stand at some point to increase capacity there (if needed). A purpose built rectangle stadium for rugby, soccer and hosting concerts would have been perfect.
I grew up in Wellington and have also lived in Auckland for a decade so have been to Athletic Park, the Cake Tin and Eden Park a lot. By far the best experiences I've had for rugby are at Athletic Park and Eden Park purely because the view was so much better so I could follow the action much more easily. The view at the Cake Tin is pretty average no matter where you are.
The challenge for Auckland is they don't have a decent cricket ground, but at the same time it'd be a real mistake to replace Eden Park with an oval. I think they are best to upgrade Eden Park and then think about where they can put a more modest cricket ground.
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@No-Quarter best ground to watch rugby code, based on quality of the view, is Mt Smart
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@No-Quarter said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
Th obvious problem with oval stadiums for rugby (and soccer) is the very best seats on halfway are too far from the action, so that means there are no great seats, just OKish seats all the way around.
Wellington was really silly to build an oval when they already had the Basin for cricket, they could have easily replaced the embankment (which is a shit place to watch sport as you spend half the time trying not to slide down the bank) with another stadium at some point to increase capacity there (if needed). A purpose built rectangle stadium for rugby, soccer and hosting concerts would have been perfect.
I grew up in Wellington and have also lived in Auckland for a decade so have been to Athletic Park, the Cake Tin and Eden Park a lot. By far the best experiences I've had for rugby are at Athletic Park and Eden Park purely because the view was so much better so I could follow the action much more easily. The view at the Cake Tin is pretty average no matter where you are.
The challenge for Auckland is they don't have a decent cricket ground, but at the same time it'd be a real mistake to replace Eden Park with an oval. I think they are best to upgrade Eden Park and then think about where they can put a more modest cricket ground.
i was trying to think if there was somewhere in auckland where they could do the same thing, although bigger as hagley park but cant think of anywhere central
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@Kiwiwomble said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@canefan said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Kiwiwomble said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@canefan and i agreed with you...and then you started taking swipes and forsyth bar for some reason
Read back. Someone basically said the tin was shit, and how far superior FB was
there is a middle ground between being shit and being better than FB...which is where i would put the caketin IMO
although now im starting to wonder if the caketin isn;t shit
I'm yet to see the ABs play at FB, but the Cake Tin isn't bad for a multipurpose stadium. It's small enough that you don't require binoculars to see across the field. Only ~20mins walk from the Intercontinental.
That being said, I never understood why the Basin wasn't upgraded as a cricket ground so the Cake tin could be a rectangle. edit - what @No-Quarter said.
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@antipodean i 100% agree, as i said i started agreeing that the caketin is far from shit
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@antipodean said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Kiwiwomble said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@canefan said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Kiwiwomble said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@canefan and i agreed with you...and then you started taking swipes and forsyth bar for some reason
Read back. Someone basically said the tin was shit, and how far superior FB was
there is a middle ground between being shit and being better than FB...which is where i would put the caketin IMO
although now im starting to wonder if the caketin isn;t shit
I'm yet to see the ABs play at FB, but the Cake Tin isn't bad for a multipurpose stadium. It's small enough that you don't require binoculars to see across the field. Only ~20mins walk from the Intercontinental.
That being said, I never understood why the Basin wasn't upgraded as a cricket ground so the Cake tin could be a rectangle. edit - what @No-Quarter said.
Greater capacity for ODIs and T20s is the only thing I can think of. Not sure how big a capacity they could make the Basin if they put stands in
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If you want to feel like you're in another postcode from the action on the field, buy a seat in the sorry excuse for a stadium in Olympic Park, Sydney. Now that's a shit stadium.
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@canefan thats the argument that always gets brought out for NZ stadiums, same with why chch needed a +30k stadium....its not for the Crusaders or Canterbury (outside playoffs maybe)....its for the one AB game a year
we build for the exception rather than the rule
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@Kiwiwomble said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@canefan thats the argument that always gets brought out for NZ stadiums, same with why chch needed a +30k stadium....its not for the Crusaders or Canterbury (outside playoffs maybe)....its for the one AB game a year
we build for the exception rather than the rule
I think when you have enough trouble trying to sell a major stadium to your council and constituents as it is, flexibility and maximising it's range of uses seems to be a selling point. At least with its 32k capacity it's not as cavernous as bigger ovals. I've been to Marvel stadium for S of O, and Dad's been to a Bledisloe at the G, they sit much further away from the field than the Caketin
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@canefan thats a double edged sword though....those multi use stadium also cost a lot more, more complicated sounds systems and lighting, large multi level stands become more and more complicated to design and build, having concerts mean you need a different turf so it doesnt die straight away when you cover it.....a roof? all of that costs a lot more
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@Kiwiwomble I've gone on record to say no stadium in NZ needs a roof. Dunedin would have the only reasonable case for it
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@mariner4life said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Nepia said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@mariner4life said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Nepia said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Auckman said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@Tim said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
RE: Onewa Domain, there used to be an auckland super fan who had a blue and white car, wore blue and white face paint, Auckland NPC uniform, and would just drive past the ground booing when there was a North Harbour home game. He was the same guy who ran onto the field at the end of the 96 inaugural Super Rugby final, evaded security and joined the team circle-hug.
I remember that guy. Absolute character. Those old characters were hilarious - like that guy with a chainsaw up the crane at waikato stadium back in the day who would crank it throughout the game and especially when Auckland kickers were lining up for goal.
Possum is actually annoying as fuck if you have to sit within his earshot - not the chainsaw, that's fine, but when he's in the crowd shouting.
i remember the guy from Northland they used to get on Sports Cafe all the time
Hmm, I don't remember him, I would probably have hated him because of where he was from, but I was too busy hating on That Guy to notice.
That Guy was on Sports Cafe? i don't remember anyone except Rick, Mark Ellis, Anal, and Zinny's giant fucking head
Yeah, he was definitely on Sports Cafe.
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@antipodean said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
If you want to feel like you're in another postcode from the action on the field, buy a seat in the sorry excuse for a stadium in Olympic Park, Sydney. Now that's a shit stadium.
Yep, I turn down free tickets to that place these days. Agree with what you say on the Tin, as it's small enough that you're never far from the action, even on the, gasp, round bits at the end.
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@Winger said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@canefan said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
@hydro11 said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
It's funny hearing people complain about the Cake Tin. At least we bloody built it! Let's be honest, no-one is going to pay for any of these Auckland options. We got ours done, on time and with a decent budget and have been enjoying it for 24 years. Yes, you could make it better but then you might have never done it all.
What do we actually want from an Auckland stadium? Huge capacity? Roof? Location? Looking cool? It will be necessary to make choices because we can't get everything we want.
Hear hear. People can moan about the Caketin all they like. But pretty pictures of a new stadium in downtown are a long way from sitting in said venue anytime soon. Anyone remember the Auckland Superdome? Auckland and Christchurch would bite someone's hand off to have a venue like the Caketin in their city. They should be so lucky
I enjoyed watching rugby more at Athletic Park. It was just a pain getting to it and out. And of course, the wind factor.
Wellington had an opportunity to build something great. That was a football / rugby stadium with a roof. And this was pushed strongly by people at the time. An alternative that Wilson Whineray? looked at was at Porirua. This wasn't Oval. But cost cutting and stupidity won the day.
The quote for a top stadium with a roof was NZ$50 million more. It was very hard to get 125million over the line
I hope Auckland don't make the same mistake.
The Porirua option was moronic. Getting to Porirua Park for instance is a nightmare and the new stadium out there would have been just as bad.
A roof is not necessary at the Cake Tin. I do think the stands could cover more of the seats. It is hard to get dry seats, especially with the wind.
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@No-Quarter said in Quay Park stadium for Auckland?:
Th obvious problem with oval stadiums for rugby (and soccer) is the very best seats on halfway are too far from the action, so that means there are no great seats, just OKish seats all the way around.
Wellington was really silly to build an oval when they already had the Basin for cricket, they could have easily replaced the embankment (which is a shit place to watch sport as you spend half the time trying not to slide down the bank) with another stand at some point to increase capacity there (if needed). A purpose built rectangle stadium for rugby, soccer and hosting concerts would have been perfect.
I grew up in Wellington and have also lived in Auckland for a decade so have been to Athletic Park, the Cake Tin and Eden Park a lot. By far the best experiences I've had for rugby are at Athletic Park and Eden Park purely because the view was so much better so I could follow the action much more easily. The view at the Cake Tin is pretty average no matter where you are.
The challenge for Auckland is they don't have a decent cricket ground, but at the same time it'd be a real mistake to replace Eden Park with an oval. I think they are best to upgrade Eden Park and then think about where they can put a more modest cricket ground.
This is mostly hindsight. Of course, with what we know now we would not build the Cake Tin as an oval. However, in its early years it was getting massive crowds for cricket.
You are severely limited by how large you can make the basin. You could probably build a bigger stand on the Museum/RA Vance side, but it would be much more difficult on the grass side. Not to mention extra stands could ruin the character.
The reality is that there is no appetite for spending tens of millions of dollars on a cricket stadium. If the Cake Tin was a rectangle, Wellington would simply not host major ODIs and T20Is. If Eden Park also could not hold big games, New Zealand would not have been able to host as many games as it did in the 2015 World Cup.
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The refurbished Lancaster Park was awful too. I reckon we would have been hating it by now.
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@mariner4life You don't remember that guy?
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I suspect "That Guy" debuted (as a NZ representative snail racer) possibly after @mariner4life left NZ.
Wikipedia says he joined Sports Cafe in 2001.
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