Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says stadium snub was wrong call, angering John Banks

Tuesday, 26 June 2018

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff now says 'most people' feel it was wrong to decide against building a new stadium before the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Phil Goff has suggested leaders were wrong to snub a past central Auckland stadium proposal, sparking a tirade from former mayor John Banks.

A recent $1 million PwC pre-feasibility study weighs up the pros and cons of building a new stadium in downtown Auckland, but for now the idea is on the backburner, with Goff saying a council decision is unlikely until the early-2030s.

Previously, the Auckland Mayor said not enough time was given to plan a new stadium considered in 2008, ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Goff now suggests it was a mistake not to push on with that idea, but Banks has hit back, saying the right call was made.

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An artist's impression of how Stadium New Zealand, on Auckland's waterfront, would have looked. The scrapped idea was the Government's choice for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

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Former two-term Mayor of Auckland City John Banks says the idea of a central city stadium was 'dead from the day it was first proposed'.

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'I was directly involved in the discussions in 2008, where there was the opportunity to get hundreds of millions of dollars for a new stadium and the decision was made not to build one,' he said.

'I think, in retrospect, most people feel that was the wrong decision.'

On Tuesday, Banks, who was in office in 2008, said the decision not to proceed with a new stadium was 'absolutely' the right call at the time.

'I totally disagree with that, and the ratepayers of Auckland were on my side then and will be on my side now,' Banks said.

'Let's start a process of utilising Eden Park's potential before we start talking about the madness of borrowing … money to build a stadium at the bottom of Queen St.'

The PwC report found it would cost up to $1.5 billion to build a new stadium and $800m to bring Eden Park up to international standards. It stated a new stadium would need to be rectangular and roofed, with the capacity to hold up to 65,000 people. If a private company was willing to build, own and manage the stadium, it could happen in seven years.

But Banks said the latest central city stadium idea had been 'dead from the day it was first proposed'.

'It's insane that the council are still squandering ratepayers' money on feasibility studies. It is never going to happen,' he said.

'My council invested a lot of money on the complete refurbishment of Eden Park for the purposes of the Rugby World Cup and I have no regret about that.

'But another stadium for Auckland is crazy man thinking.'

Goff said the 'drop dead' date for a council decision would be the next time Auckland is named to host a major event.

'The point will come where we have to spend hundreds of millions on Eden Park, to bring it up to international standards and a rectangular playing field for the codes that will use it, and a roof, or alternatively find a new location for it,' he said.

'But we will only get a stadium at a point where it is affordable and we will need to make that decision no later than before a decision to spent considerable sums of money on Eden Park, because you'd be crazy to spend $800,000,000 on a new stadium at Eden Park if that was not the right place for it.

'The drop dead date will be the point at which Auckland has to host a major international event, whether it's a Rugby World Cup or a Commonwealth Games, and that's likely to be in the early 2030s.'

Goff doubted he would be in power when construction on a new stadium started.

'But do we have to start discussing it now to make sure we make a decision that will be a pretty substantial decision, that it's been thoroughly canvassed and debated?' he asked.

'The answer is yes, and that's all we're doing.'