Tātaki Auckland Unlimited commissioned report into selling North Harbour Stadium
Wednesday, 15 May 2024
After receiving an unsolicited report, Tataki Auckland Unlimited commissioned a report on the stadium.
Mayor Wayne Brown now believes the stadium should remain as it is.
But all Auckland councillors will get a vote on Thursday.
Councillor John Watson says the penny has dropped for him why he believes North Harbour Stadium was purposely run down and neglected.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (TAU) was pushing for the under-used and loss-making stadium to be de-constructed and remodelled as a smaller venue.
Watson, who represents the Albany ward, has seen information revealing that TAU spent $25,000 on a report examining whether the stadium should be sold off and he believes their recommendations to downsize the stadium now needs to be looked at in a different light.
TAU, which is a Council Controlled Organisation, commissioned accounting firm PWC to carry out a property review of the stadium two years ago after it received an unsolicited offer to buy some of the land.
In April 2022, PWC, evaluated five different options, from selling off all 23 hectares of the precinct to TAU retaining most of it, with the report being updated in November 2023.
As part of Auckland Council’s Long-term Plan, feedback was sought on what to do with the stadium. One being to keep things as they are, another to de-construct the stadium to one that seats around 8000 spectators, rather than 17,000, and also whether the stadium should continue to be operated by TAU.
Watson says he was surprised that PWC had been engaged to do a report.
“That was revealing and for me, it put everything else in context because what it means is that unbeknown to anyone else, they’ve been pursuing this sale agenda.
“The failure to get events there, failure to invest in basic maintenance, and even the failure to repair the demolished western seating after the baseball franchise went, it can all be seen in light of this running the stadium down and bolstering this case to sell off the land.
“So all of the pennies start to drop, when you look at the neglect of the stadium, the way it’s been run down by them (TAU), both in the media, physically and the failure to attract any content. You then realise that all this time they’ve had PWC working on plans to dispose of the land.”
However, Nick Hill, chief executive of TAU, disagrees with Watson’s comments that the stadium was deliberately run down.
“TAU completely refutes the councillor’s disappointing comments about a hidden agenda,” Hill said.
“TAU has been fully committed to trying to make the stadium a success – there was never a plan to let the stadium fail or run the stadium down through lack of maintenance so it could be sold. In fact, as the councillor is aware, in the past 10 years, $13.8 million has been spent on upgrades and maintenance.
“Since we took over operating the stadium in 2014, our Auckland Stadiums division has worked hard to attract events and long-term sporting tenants. The largest crowd ever at the stadium – a 2017 All Blacks test – was a direct result of our attraction strategy.
“The move to accommodate an exciting new tenant in pro baseball was further proof of that, and the franchise’s unfortunate liquidation last year was out of TAU’s control. Any move to reinstate the part of the stadium removed for baseball was paused while the Long-Term Plan process considering the stadium’s overall future was underway.
“As TAU has said during the LTP process, many key promoters and sporting franchises do not want to stage events or play there for a range of reasons. That is a simple reality we are asking councillors to confront, though unwelcome to those who don’t want any change at the stadium.
“When the trust that operated the stadium handed it over to council, it was already struggling to stay economically viable, and that situation has continued – despite a fully committed effort from our stadium team.”
Also, a spokesperson for TAU said it commissioned the PWC report because of the unsolicited offer to purchase a portion of the land.
'Without prejudice, TAU commissioned PWC to undertake a feasibility assessment to determine the land value in a potential sale to a third party,” the spokesperson said.
“The summary analysis in late 2023 by PWC has been used alongside other available information to provide a useful foundation for TAU on the long-term stadia plan for Auckland.
“PWC was commissioned to undertake this analysis, as they have significant subject matter expertise in this area.'
It is sure to be a heated discussion when the councillors debate the stadium on Thursday.
Watson and fellow Albany councillor Wayne Walker will be fighting hard for the stadium to remain as it is.
Mayor Wayne Brown last year called it a ‘white elephant.’ However, in his final Long-term Plan proposal, released on Tuesday he now feels the stadium should remain as it is, but wants clarity on the future purpose, vision and role of the stadium.
“I think we need to keep things as they are, and let the local community run a process to consider how to improve things.” Brown wrote.
From the public submissions to the Long-term Plan, there were 15,203 individual responses about the stadium and 33% selected ‘keep the precinct as it is’, 33% selected ‘consider redeveloping the precinct’ and 26% selected ‘change the operational management’.
But in the Upper Harbour and Hibiscus and Bays boards there was far more support for the stadium remaining as it is, with backing for this option being at 50% and 55% respectively.
Watson said there was support to retain the stadium in its current state from local boards when they made presentations on the Long-term Plan recently and he’s hopeful that his fellow councillors will vote the same way as him.
“There has been a strong pushback from the people north of the bridge and that sent a clear message that they want their stadium retained as it is,” he said.
“They want it repaired, so this gaping big hole is fixed up so it can be serviceable again, and not left in this no man's land of half of it being a beautiful modern stadium and the other half looking like a country ground.”
North Harbour Stadium made an operating loss of $2.6 million last year. Over the last 10 years North Harbour Stadium has received $13,856,373 in capital investment, with $2.5 million of that being for the removal of most of the Western Stand in 2020 for the now-defunct Auckland Tuatara baseball team.
Mt Smart Stadium has received $55,046,597 of capital investment over the same period.
There is $33 million budgeted for North Harbour Stadium for the next 10 years, regardless of whether that money is used for general improvements to the current stadium, or put towards a boutique stadium.
The proposal was to sell off precinct land to make up the shortfall for a redeveloped stadium, but even though some of the infrastructure is already there, $33 million may not go far. The Te Kaha Stadium being built in Christchurch is costing $683 million, while there wouldn’t be much change out of $1 billion for a new waterfront or downtown stadium.