As Auckland Council looks at ways to fix a multi-million-dollar budget shortfall, mayor Wayne Brown has his sights set on North Harbour Stadium.
At a meeting in August, Brown told councillors the North Shore stadium was “a white elephant” and “we’re probably going to pull down next year because nobody uses it”.
Harbour Sport CEO Mike Bishop said that he was “pretty frustrated” when he heard of Brown’s comments.
The 25,000-seat stadium opened in 1997 and Bishop says it was built “by the shore, for the shore”.
Part of the reason it isn’t used as much as it was is because it was deemed to be “too costly to use”, Bishop said.
“Every time you try to use it…there just seems to be a cost structure in the way and that needs to change.”
Local National MP Erica Stanford said that the community relies on the stadium for a lot more than just watching rugby.
“It's a little bit concerning when I hear comments that the stadium is going to be bulldozed. It’s not just the stadium it’s the surrounding sports facilities, they’re full every weekend, they’re full after school, it would be really sad to lose those.”
Bishop said that the stadium is “the jewel in the North Shore’s sporting crown” and that it needs to stay that way with investment to make it "commercially viable".
SHARE ME