Inside One NZ Stadium’s secret rooftop tour above the Christchurch pitch

One NZ Stadium is already packed full of features that set it apart from its competitors, not least of all its location in the middle of Christchurch city. It might also have the best view in New Zealand sport and entertainment, writes Mike Thorpe.

It isn’t the 25,000 seats that surround the $683 million arena, or the plush corporate suites of the West Stand – though they are impressive. Not even the One NZ Field Club at the end, best described as “the gap”.

But high above the pitch is a walkway that takes those who are brave enough around the seating perimeter and within touching distance of the roof.

The Herald was this week – just days before the shiny new stadium’s first games – invited to see Christchurch’s brand-new asset from an angle no member of the media has seen before: via a walk between the rafters and across the gangway that’s suspended over the beautifully curated pitch below.

It’s a view that is not open to the public – at least, not yet.

“I guess we wouldn’t rule it out,” says Venues Ōtautahi head of marketing Shaun Eade.

“One day it could be possible. Certainly not as we work through these opening events, but it is pretty incredible up here.”

It’s a unique view – not just because of the height. You’re up close with the perfectly patterned engineering of 120,000 heavy-duty bolts that hold the structure together. The signature formation of 24 bolts appears all over the stadium.

Our tour guide points out the inner workings of the stadium’s less appreciated features.

More than a dozen Big Ass fans (no, that’s the name of the US company that makes them) can help to regulate the temperature. That’s helpful when a full house of spectators and a greenhouse-like roof generate significant heat in the warmer months.

It feels like a tour that people would pay to go on – just as they do on Eden Park’s roof. Herald video producer Alyse Wright, who captured video and images of the tour, says the One NZ Stadium walk was “a lot more fun” than the Eden Park walk.

This could be another revenue stream.

“I know our team are looking at all options of how we can make sure that the stadium is active all year round and has all these opportunities. So all that kind of thing will be explored,” says Eade.

“We got the keys on Monday, so now is our time where we can start investigating the opportunity to do these kinds of things.”

The roof looks totally different when you’re close enough to leave your fingerprints on it. The transparent ceiling is inflated to turn each segment into long bubbles that stretch from east to west. It can be accessed from the top and will be cleaned each year. To touch it feels like an orb – or a giant inflatable pool lounger, but much thicker. Obviously.

The side of the stadium has louvres to help keep CO2 levels at a manageable level. Around the rafter walk, thousands of metres of carefully bound cables snake their way around the barrier.

As we look straight down from the southern end, the busy team of six full-time turf technicians are preparing the field for a training run. Every day they mow, vacuum and brush the pitch. The lines are repainted with a surprisingly labour-intensive marking machine pushed by hand. Stringlines ensure they’re precise.

The mowers are also pushed by hand. Big electric mowers that silently trim millimetres off the most cared-for lawn in New Zealand. They’re electric because the diesel fumes would linger in the stadium. Two reel-style mowers work in tandem.

Above the turf between the 22m line and the 10m line of the southern end is a gangway that extends from the West Stand to almost the touchline of the East Stand. It is a skinny bridge that tests your comfort with heights. To get there, you must climb a ladder that takes you high enough to touch the bubble in the sky.

Next to the gangway is a heavy-duty rig that is suspended from the roof and can be lowered to ground level. That rig can hold up to 100 tonnes of lighting and sound equipment for concerts and shows.

The gangway doesn’t provide an unobstructed view, but it does offer one that is unique to this stadium. Where else could you be perched above the playing surface of an international-quality stadium? Where else could you physically find yourself with a vantage point that only a spider-cam or a drone can otherwise match?

“We’ve certainly had photography requests to be up here, and you can see why.”

There are strict rules around being in this area. Phones don’t come out of pockets, and anything that’s taken up there must be tethered to your person.

Should it eventually become a purchasable experience, there will almost certainly be more regulations – but it’d be a shame to see red tape prevent it.

This is a very special opportunity in a very special stadium.

Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.