Billionaires and All Black thought to be behind plan for new Auckland football stadium

Saturday, 5 October 2024

Auckland’s Western Springs could become the permanent home of new A-League franchise Auckland FC.

Billionaires Bill Foley and Anna Mowbray and former All Black Ali Williams are believed to have tabled a “very impressive proposal” for an 8,000 capacity football stadium at the site.

The plans aren’t due to be announced until next month, and Mowbray, who’s married to Williams, told Stuff on Friday she had “no comment from our side”.

Billionaires Bill Foley and Anna Mowbray and former All Black Ali Williams are believed to have drawn up plans to turn Auckland’s Western Springs into the permanent home of their new Auckland FC A-League franchise.

Their proposal for a new 8,000-capacity football stadium at the site is likely to mean the end of the tenure of two historic sporting clubs - Ponsonby Rugby and Western Springs Speedway. The venue, 6km from the city centre, also has a history of hosting major rock concerts, including the Rolling Stones and David Bowie.

Stuff approached both Mowbray and Williams, who married recently in Fiji, about the proposed stadium on Friday. Mowbray replied saying: “No comment from our side.”

Williams is understood to be the driver behind plans for a ‘home of football’ at Western Springs, with a source saying he had tabled a “very impressive proposal” which was “the most likely track” council would take for the stadium.

The plans would see a complete rebuild of the main stadium, provision for new futsal and indoor basketball courts, and precinct-building work to link the stadium better to the neighbouring Western Springs parkland and zoo.

Auckland FC could still take bigger games to Mt Smart Stadium or, eventually, the proposed new waterfront stadium.

Western Springs’ outer fields, presently used for rugby, would be renovated and turned over to football - principally for the nearby Western Springs Football Club, which is oversubscribed and thought to be the largest single sporting club in New Zealand for playing numbers. The pitches would also be used by Northern Region Football and New Zealand Football. In summer, they could be used as outgrounds for Grafton United cricket club, which is headquartered at the city centre’s Victoria Park.

Work could begin at the end of 2025, with the rugby and speedway leases due to expire.

The plan would see Ponsonby moved to Cox’s Bay Reserve, where its existing three fields would be increased to four, and a new clubrooms and changing block constructed.

Speedway would be shifted in April 2025 to share the existing speedway track at Waikaraka Park in Onehunga.

The plans won’t be announced until they are presented to a full Auckland Council meeting, probably next month.

The new football franchise has agreed an initial contract to play at Mt Smart Stadium, and hosts its debut game there against Brisbane Roar on October 19 - but Auckland Council own and manage both Mt Smart and Western Springs, so a medium-term change of venue would not be difficult.

In June, Tataki Auckland Unlimited (TAU), Auckland Council’s events and venues arm, put out a tender for “organisations and potential capital partners, outlining their ideas for how Western Springs Stadium could best contribute to meeting Auckland’s sports, entertainment and festival needs into the future”.

Ponsonby board member Dave Atkins said TAU had conducted an extensive feasibility study on the proposed move to Cox’s Bay. He was worried the park would not have enough field capacity for all their teams.

Atkins said: “It’s a sensitive issue for us. The council has told us they are not going to renew our lease. We’ve got to figure out what we do if Auckland football goes in: Ali Williams is one of the shareholders and he’s a Ponsonby old boy, so we are going to try and see if he will let us co-exist. We don’t know what the timing will be.”

Atkins said some Ponsonby board members had met with Williams some time ago and Atkins hoped the club could have a “flexible and constructive conversation with him”.

Williams, who won 61 caps for the All Blacks, played club rugby for Ponsonby before he was first selected for Auckland and was coached in their premier side by Atkins.

Asked about the stadium concept, Ponsonby president Bryan ‘Beegee’ Williams, the former All Black, said: “I have heard those rumours but I don’t know the detail. There’s lots of things happening in the background at the moment but there is a process going on at the moment with Auckland Unlimited, and we are just waiting to see what the outcome is. Ultimately, it will be a recommendation from Auckland Unlimited and the Council will make a decision and we have to go through that process before we make any comments.”

Speedway has been held at Western Springs since 1929 but has had to fight off several attempts to re-home it over the past decade. Speedway general manager John McCallum said: “We’ve all heard those rumours as well, but Auckland FC would be the best placed to answer them.”

Auckland Stadiums director James Parkinson said: “It’s public knowledge that we have run an expression of interest process. That process is still ongoing and we are due to provide an update to our board at the end of October. Beyond that, there is nothing to speak to until that process has completed.”

Asked if Auckland FC had bid in the tender process, Parkinson said: “It would be inappropriate to speak … it’s a confidential process and it’s not for us to disclose who the parties are.”

Auckland FC would certainly not be short of the funds to build a new stadium: Foley, who also owns football teams in Las Vegas, England, Scotland and France, has an estimated net worth of $2.1bn, according to Forbes. The NBR estimated in 2023 that the three Mowbray siblings, Anna, Nick and Matt, who founded the Zuru Toys empire, had a combined net worth of $3 billion.

Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker did not return a call for comment before deadline.