The Highlanders and Blues have had their turn and now it's the Hurricanes and Chiefs hoping for capacity crowds, as they gear up to host their first games of Super Rugby Aotearoa.
The Chiefs' opening round loss to the Highlanders did little to dampen enthusiasm, with the club already selling over 15,000 tickets for the game against the Blues on Saturday - on track for a bumper crowd.
“Twenty-five thousand is a sell-out for us here in Hamilton and we’d be delighted if we had that many fans coming down, plus there might be the odd Blues fan that manages to get down the expressway,” Chad Hooker of Waikato Stadium said.
The stadium employs nearly 600 staff on game day, injecting plenty of cash into the local economy.
The Hurricanes take on the Crusaders in Wellington on Sunday.
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