How Wellington got Sky Stadium: Dame Fran Wilde on the highs and lows as it turns 25

Saturday, 4 January 2025

Twenty-five years ago to the day - January 4, 2000 - Dame Fran Wilde surveyed her field of dreams as Governor-General Sir Michael Hardie Boys declared Wellington’s shiny new stadium open.

Six years in the making, the $130 million, 34,500-capacity WestpacTrust Stadium was handed over by Fletcher Construction, on budget and two weeks ahead of schedule as a domestic cricket match between Wellington and Northern Districts marked its official opening.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, rain had its say, too. That first match on the new drop-in pitch was delayed a day by the weather, while the first cricket international spanned January 8 and 9 (when reserve days were still a thing). Nathan Astle and Chris Harris led the Black Caps to victory in the fourth ODI against the Brian Lara-captained West Indies, whose coach Viv Richards’ booming voice could be clearly heard through the walls as he berated his side post-match.

That quarter-century has flown by for Wilde, the former Wellington mayor whose vision in the mid-1990s came to life at the prime railyards site. Her recall of turning the first sod, smashing a bottle of bubbly on the final piece of concrete being lowered into place, then scaling one of the light towers one week out from opening day, remains crystal clear.

“Fantastic that we got it done. There were so many obstacles right from the start when we suggested moving out of Athletic Park. That was the very first obstacle. Then we had to take the whole of the community with us, and the region too,” Wilde tells The Post.

“We had to go around many, many places and organisations (for funding), and getting it open was phenomenal.”

Wilde recalls the back story of what is now Sky Stadium with immense pride, mixed with some head-shaking exasperation. Initially the project faced vocal opposition from sections of the rugby community and some Thorndon residents, then there was the battle to secure enough money with zero Government support. Wilde reveals just one regret: the colour of those seats.

“We were being so patriotic - ‘let’s have yellow seats because that is Wellington’s colour’. Not everything is perfect, but the least perfect thing is the yellow seats.

“It sticks out like the proverbial when there is no one there, and every time I see it when the cameras pan across, I kick myself,” she says with a hearty laugh.

What Wilde won’t apologise for is the stadium’s lack of a roof, and its oval shape to accommodate cricket and an eventually brief dalliance with AFL, as well as rugby, league and football (it was opened seven years before the Phoenix came into being).

Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium - roofed and rectangular and costing around $200 million - opened 11 years later and offers a reference point for capital critics… too big, the wrong shape, and exposed to the elements.

“We wouldn’t have built it at all if we’d decided to have a roof, because we couldn’t have afforded it,” Wilde says.

“It had to be multipurpose because we needed to be able to have concerts there and we wanted cricket there. We’ve had some massive cricket matches at the stadium (the 2015 Cricket World Cup a clear high point) and it’s perfect. For rugby if it’s full they can put extra seats down the sides to make it a bit more rectangular.”

A retrospective roof would not work, either, Wilde insists. Structurally the stadium was never built to hold a roof, and a report a decade ago put the cost of covering the stadium and making it rectangular with retractable seating at as much as $385 million.

Back to the 1990s. Wilde hadn’t envisaged a new stadium being on her to-do list when she took office in 1992, but the increasingly decrepit state of Athletic Park, the home of rugby in Berhampore, demanded it. “The Millard Stand was literally falling to pieces.”

She formed a group of non-council people to explore options. There was a lot of support, but some hard-bitten rugby types dug their toes in straight away, aghast at the thought of big matches being staged anywhere else. Then, when it was mooted the home of cricket, the Basin Reserve, undergo a redevelopment, Wilde recalls: “The cricket fraternity went completely AWOL and pointed out it had its own legislation. We looked at what we could do with the Basin but it was just too hard.”

The project gained pace, as former All Blacks captain Sir Wilson Whineray was enlisted to assess the various sites. Land was available near the railway station and despite pitches from Porirua (Aotea) and Lower Hutt (Fraser Park), it was a “no-brainer” to build a stadium centrally, right next to a transport hub. Then-Prime Minister Jim Bolger was “very keen”, Wilde recalls, but that didn’t extend to any Government financial backing as Wilde’s team raced to secure the money to ensure the project went ahead - something that irks her to this day.

“The big thing was funding. We had no government funding, not one cent of government money in it. And it still really riles me when I see how much taxpayer money has gone to other stadiums. Look at Christchurch, a massive amount of money. We built ours ourselves, with Wellington money, effectively.” (The Government contributed $15 million to the Dunedin stadium, then in 2020 approved $230 million for Christchurch’s new Te Kaha stadium from the Christchurch Regeneration Acceleration Facility fund).

On the Sky Stadium website, the breakdown of the $130 million cost was: Greater Wellington Regional Council $25m, Wellington City Council $15m, grants and donations $7m, fundraising $50m, and the rest from an ANZ loan of $33m.

It was “jolly hard work” raising that $50 million from the community, but the group that became the Stadium Trust contained some heavy hitters who “opened a lot of wallets”, Wilde recalls.

“They were amazing. Hats off to them, they were a great team.

“We sold everything that we could name. First of all we sold memberships and seats, which started the stadium membership club which Iain Morrison and his group did a lot of work on.

“We also sold the boxes and the naming rights for the rooms and spaces within it. Ironically the only thing we didn’t sell was the walkway which several years later, unbeknown to me, when Kerry [Prendergast] was mayor, she said ‘we’ll call it the Fran Wilde walkway’!

“I had no idea they were going to do that, and I said at the time ‘let’s sell it and get some more money, don’t name it after me’. It would have been better to get the money in my view.”

Then there were the local residents. Original plans had a walkway from the stadium to Thorndon Quay, which was canned after it was challenged in court. Resource consent also limited it to six night-time events per year.

“They said ‘all those terrible people from Wadestown will walk through Thorndon and pee on our roses’… I was a Thorndon resident myself at that stage… it was daft,” Wilde says with a laugh.

Litigious residents seen off, construction flew into action and the only remaining barrier was the red tape at the opening ceremony.

It soon earned itself a nickname, the Cake Tin, which should only be mentioned to Wilde in hushed tones. “I hate it, but I don’t think we’re going to change that now. I’ve never liked that.”

Its design remains a hot topic of debate, 25 years on, as all sporting codes grapple with declining attendances and fewer big concerts being awarded to the city.

A covered stadium of similar ilk to Dunedin, with a 15,000-20,000 capacity, would be ideal but is no chance of happening in the current climate, with Wellington City Council “pretty much on its knees” and the city facing much bigger issues.

“We do need a smaller indoor venue but we’re not going to get that in a hurry because there is no money.

“It has been great for Wellington. It was the right stadium at the right time, and definitely in the right place.”

Big moments at Sky Stadium

2000: The first cricket international is played across two days in January, as Nathan Astle and Chris Harris inspire the Black Caps to victory over the West Indies in the fourth ODI.

2000: In the stadium’s first rugby test, the Wallabies retain the Bledisloe Cup with a last gasp John Eales penalty to break All Blacks’ hearts.

2001: Robbie Williams plays the first big concert at the stadium, to a crowd of 42,500.

2002: Sir Peter Jackson records 30,000 fans chanting and stomping during an ODI against England, to use in his Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers film.

2005: All Blacks first five-eighth Dan Carter produces the ‘perfect 10’ performance as they hammer the British and Irish Lions 48-18.

2009: The stadium turns a sea of white as the All Whites book their ticket to the FIFA World Cup with victory over Bahrain, thanks to a headed goal from Rory Fallon.

2015: Chants of ‘Southee, Southee’ ring out as swing bowler Tim Southee destroys England at the Cricket World Cup, and Brendon McCullum helps finish the job before the lights even come on.

2016: The Hurricanes beat South Africa’s Lions to win their first, and only, Super Rugby title.

2019: Eminem draws over 46,000 people to his concert, at the time a record stadium attendance (since beaten by Ed Sheeran, who drew 47,000 in 2023).

2023: The Football Ferns lose to the Philippines at the FIFA Women’s World Cup just days after upsetting Norway. The Netherlands and USA reconvene for a 1-1 draw, four years after playing the final.