Fans snap up seats for first event at Christchurch's new stadium

Thursday, 6 November 2025

One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch will host a Super Rugby Round in April, just days after the stadium is due to be completed.

The first tranche of tickets for the opening event at Christchurch’s new stadium have sold out in four days.

The three-day Super Rugby Round sees teams from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and the Pacific compete against each other across a weekend in April.

It is the first time the event has been held in New Zealand and it will be the first event at the $683 million One New Zealand Stadium.

The stadium is on track to be completed on April 20, just four days before the Super Round kicks off on April 24.

Tickets went on sale for the round at 3pm on November 1 and sold out on November 5.

Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley said he was thrilled at how fans had responded to the Super Round.

If people had missed out on tickets, they would have another chance to secure seats when the second and last allocation of tickets are released at the end of November.

The ticket were being sold across two allocations to manage the high demand and give fans two opportunities to secure tickets, Mesley said.

The ground is now being prepared for the new turf. (File photo)

He would not say how many tickets had been sold in the first allocation.

Stadium capacity for the event will be just over 25,000. Temporary seating can be used to bring capacity up to 30,000, but they would not be used for this event.

Sales of Crusaders memberships for the 2026 season have also gone well, already surpassing last years numbers, despite some long-time members complaining about the high cost.

Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said 3774 people had paid for memberships, an increase from the 3452 members in 2025.

Two categories - Diamond VIP and Platinum - had already sold out but three others were still available.

Venues Ōtautahi chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare says event announcements later this month and in December will give people a lot to be excited about.

While the first sporting event is confirmed for the stadium, people are still in the dark about the first concert that will take place.

At a Christchurch City Council meeting on Wednesday, Venues Ōtautahi chief executive Caroline Harvie-Teare told councillors to expect announcements in November, December and January about upcoming entertainment events at the stadium.

After the meeting, Harvie-Teare said the stadium’s April opening was outside the touring season for artists, so events were more likely to be peppered throughout 2026.

“There is a lot of demand and a lot of interest.”

The stadium concert season was generally in the summer months between October and March, and this did not change because the stadium had a roof, she said.

“There are increasingly artists who will tour in the winter with there being more roofed stadiums internationally, but there still aren’t enough to formulate an entire winter tour for a major international artist.”

When asked if they were considering having an opening concert with multiple Kiwi performers, Harvie-Teare would not comment but did say: “Watch this space. Announcements in November and December will give people a lot to be excited about.”

When asked if the first concert would be free for Christchurch residents, given ratepayers have contributed $453m toward the project (the Crown contributed $230m), Harvie-Teare said ticketing prices were determined by the promoter for all concerts.

There will be two community days in the first two weeks of opening which will be the community’s opportunity to visit the stadium.

The roof of the stadium was completed last month after 22 months of work.

Inside, the field is being prepared for turf, handrails and safety barriers are up, and the permanent seats are going in creating a Kōwhaiwhai pattern (a traditional Māori pattern).