May 30, 2025 • 12 mins
Which Super Rugby franchise has the best value for a family of four, and how does a night at the rugby compare with a day at the zoo?
The Herald estimated how much it would cost a family of four to attend a Super Rugby match at the main grounds for each New Zealand franchise.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Eleven after seven. This is sports Talk on at news
Talk ZB.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Article in the Herald print today around the relative cost
of attending matches at stadium across Auckland, New Zealand and
what they cost and according to their calculations, the most
expensive terms for the price of a night out at
the rugby comes at one hundred and ninety bucks for
(00:37):
tickets and food.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
And we're going to talk to that now to the
chief executive officer of Eden Park, Nick sn Good.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Evening, Nick Good, Eden, Darcy and thanks to you, John,
and thanks very much for joining us ahead of another
weekend of action at Eden Park.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
But it's not about the action on the park, it's
about the action off the park.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
Now Herald released an interesting article today talking about the
costs for your average family at a game and it
might be edon part it might be over the North
Harbor Stadium down and Wellington wherever, and they came out
with these these interesting figures around the costs surrounding them.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You have seen this article. Is it accurate?
Speaker 4 (01:21):
More's the point? Is it relevant when you consider the
different strokes that go to these games.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Well, it is relevant because we are in a cost
of leading crisis and we're operating the experience economy, so
we need to respond. We need to look at the
street to set experience and how we can work with
our hires to make that experience at a level where
is affordable but also memorable.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
So when you when you come to putting these prices,
obviously there's a baseline for you to work from, but
what do you work in with the costings behind everything
that you can control?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What are the key drivers and what money you're charging?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Well, sy as you know, if you go to a
cafe in Auckland at coffee seven dollars, if you go
to restaurants, cafes and bars, the hospitality sector through COVID,
including stadiums, took ahead and then we've seen inflationary prices
across the entire supply chain. We have three thousand staff
(02:24):
working on a sold out of it at Eten Park.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
We have a billion dollars worth of infrastructure.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
When constants like Luke Cohn's or an All Blacks test
comes to Auckland, over fifteen million dollars of economic benefits
delivered for the city and since the Rugby World Cup,
Eden Park has delivered a billion dollars of economic benefit
of the city. So I think we have to look
at it in its entirety. What we have done at
the park is worked with our caterer who does catering
at the sun Corps Stadium in Brisbane, has got the
(02:53):
contract down in Wellington, and look at it and say,
how can we provide an opportunity for a product offering
that is comparable to the high street. So we work
with our caterer here to introduce twelve food trucks on
the back of the week concourse that offers from wood
five pizzas through to or Getter rolls. Their food offering
(03:13):
differs from a concert to a sports event, and that
may even differ from an All Blacks test to a
Super Rugby game. We know that it is a challenge
for families and we need to get more people coming
to Eden Park and part of that is it is
the food offering, but it's the overall experience. One of
the things I wanted to touch on is that our
(03:35):
sensory room. We invested two hundred thousand dollars in the
sensory room. What's the room. Stop, Sorry, what's the Century Room.
So that is an area where up to sixty five
families access on an event day for kids who are
neurodiverse or who are autistic can go in and have
a fifteen minute break. Now, Darcy, I can assure you
(03:56):
two hundred thousand dollars, that's a lot of buckets and chips,
that's a lot of drinks to be sold to cover
the cost of that room. But we acknowledge that that
room is requ now in a modern stadium for societal purposes.
And I could list off the forty five million of
upgrades we've done over the last five years here at
the park. But coming back to the cost of living crisis,
(04:19):
we acknowledge it if you go to Subway and get
a six inch roll, it's twelve or fourteen dollars. And
so how do we provide an offering when people come
to the venue. So we offer discounts for the first
half an hour that people arrive. Because the reality is
at a rugby game, you have a ten minute halftime break.
Now you can't serve fifty thousand people in that period.
(04:41):
So we've introduced where you can scan a QR code
and in certain areas have delivery year seats.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
There's a whole.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Range of initiatives that we're looking at, including Australian venues
and moved away from having staffing so you're going your
pre purchase and you walk out and so. But those
outlets can be up to five hundred thousand dollars an outlet.
So for our sits around looking at the entire experience.
We need to see more content at Eden Park and
you've seen that over the last five years. Seventy percent
(05:11):
of today's revenue and activity wasn't part of our business
model five years ago. But we need this billion dollar
asset to be used. And one of the best things
I think we're going to see is the CRL opening
and Eden Park will be seven minutes to town. We
need to consolidate our content at our National Stadium see
more content here, more concerts. And the last thing I
(05:31):
want to say is Darcy, is we need to get
either a bed levy or an event fund because otherwise,
the likes of Lady Gaga, the likes of an NURL
state of origin aren't coming to New Zealand and as
a result of that, we'll have to see infation on
prices to all events because we just don't have the content.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
What does your feedback say.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I'm presuming you're constantly talking to your customers to find
out what they want, what they think is fair, is unfair,
where they're prepared to spend more, where they wiggle. What
does that research tell you.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
The research there's a couple of areas. So in our
member areas, Eden Park has come roll over the porridge.
So people are after a variety of options they want,
whether it be craft beers or they want a variety
of products that aren't available in the public areas because
the hirer in New Zealand gets priority, So the All
(06:22):
Blacks determined or the Black Caps determine what porridge goes
into the retail outlets, and that might change. You remember
earlier this year we went from cricket to rugby to football.
That could be three different porridge partners and so our
caterer there needs to go and take out literally tens
of thousands of cans from one event to the next,
and you can imagine the labor costs there. So there
(06:42):
is actually some change that needs to happen in terms
of user agreements with our codes, consolidation of borage ticketing
and others that get some economies of scale too.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Who if the ultimate control and plainly the porridge rights
something completely different. But when it comes to bit food
more than anything else, this is all your care or
do the sports involved have a part to play in.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
That the sports have a part to play.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
We've done a number of initiatives this year with the Blues,
so we've had from Boden Barrett Berger's through to Blue
cups of chips, but it doesn't really shift the.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Dial in terms of the volume.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
What we need to see consistently twenty thousand plus people
coming to Super Rugby. That should be the benchmark across
the competition and if that's achievable, everyone wins. So my
focus now is to say we can provide hot chips
and cold beer, but it's the overall experience from the
street to the seat that people are interested in, and
(07:42):
that is the public transport offering. We've had disruption with
trains and buses, but the Corl opens and as I say,
seven minutes to town, does that make it easier for
people to get to Eden Park. Yes, from the North Shore,
they'll get a bus to town and train to Eden Park.
That hasn't been the case and it will be a
game changer. You would have experienced some of the venues
internationally seven minutes to the CBD. There's very few globally
(08:07):
that have that proximity ticket price. That's plainly a driver
to bring your whole family game. So the range.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Of prices across the board, this is set by you
and I expect by the organizations as well, and you
be very aware of the limitations and the crisis that
people have.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Has that worked as hard as you can into your
program or is that where a lot of the profit
actually is for the sports and for Eden Park.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
So Eden Park doesn't set the prices, that's set by
the hire or the code. We give feedback and if
we have the opportunity to set the price, we set
it on a price point that we know. So it's
very different talking about the All Blacks versus South Africa
to week in, week out content and so from our side,
(09:00):
we want to drive down the entry price to get
more people in attendance, to increase the experience, but also
to see greater sales across the board from merchandis for
the clubs or indeed food and beverage for our staff
to give more shifts and more economic benefit to the
supply chain. Now, the piece of what I'd say we've
seen with the likes of Auckland f C, where the
(09:23):
introduction of a slide or some instance as a Ferris
Wheell price point plays a part. The experience plays apart.
And we know that Eden Park has challenges. We've got
fifty thousand seats. Are you going to get fifty thousand
people we ca in week out Super Rugby?
Speaker 6 (09:38):
Probably not.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
So what we need to do is then work with,
in our instance, the Blues and we acknowledge this to
say how do we create a different experience in areas
that may not be occupied. The other piece I would
say is that you see with the Warriors. The Warriors
always talk about being sold out, but there's a number
of initiatives. They win a game in Australia, they offer
I think it's ten dollar tickets for twenty four hours
(10:00):
and they shift a large volume of tickets. So I
think that the industry has changed dramatically. I mentioned earlier
that we are in the experience economy and we're fighting
for that discretionary spend and families are looking at it
and saying well, what am I choosing? Some families sadly
are probably choosing nothing. But in this instance we need
(10:21):
to be part of the solution to drive greater attendance.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Bye and large, Nick Sultan, thanks so much for joining us.
As always across all of these venues is the open
communication between you all about what the best path is
in order to encourage more people their price, sitting and
the like. Is this a combined is this a group efort.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Or probably there's more collaboration, For example with eden Park
and the number of the Australian venues where we don't
see the necessarily as competitors to us. In Auckland, the
Council controlled venues, whether it be Mount Smart, Western Springs
and North Harbor, they receive subsidences from Council, but they
(11:02):
also are operated under a different model, So in that
instant we are in arguably direct competitors for content. We
are in discussions regularly with the other venues across the country.
I think we need a national stadium strategy and a
regional stadium strategy. Hamilton and Mount Smart's a regional venue
(11:24):
and an eden Park, and perhaps the new christ At
Stadium is more a national asset but we also need
an event strategy. When you look to Melbourne, when a
major event is held in Melbourne, Taylor Swift is an example.
There's four major venues and a population of seven million,
so she doesn't play at four venues.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
She plays at one venue.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
And I think we saw this with the likes of
Luke Comb's or Coldplay, where artists are now going to
one venue and the sooner we can deliver that model
in New Zealand, the better where they come to one
venue and people go to that. But then there's the
whole range of economies that can be then delivered and achieved.
So much work and I know you've got nixcellt and
I thanks very much for joining us and Dias. Hope
(12:07):
that you get a good crowd tomorrow afternoon for the
Blues and that they can get through the finals playoff
time so you can get more bums on seats.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Good on your neck, Thanks so much, Darcy.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Tonight, we've got Art Battle at Eaton Park with over
five hundred guests, so I'm off to now Art Battle.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio,
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Eleven after seven. This is sports Talk on at news
Talk ZB.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Article in the Herald print today around the relative cost
of attending matches at stadium across Auckland, New Zealand and
what they cost and according to their calculations, the most
expensive terms for the price of a night out at
the rugby comes at one hundred and ninety bucks for
(00:37):
tickets and food.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
And we're going to talk to that now to the
chief executive officer of Eden Park, Nick sn Good.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Evening, Nick Good, Eden, Darcy and thanks to you, John,
and thanks very much for joining us ahead of another
weekend of action at Eden Park.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
But it's not about the action on the park, it's
about the action off the park.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
Now Herald released an interesting article today talking about the
costs for your average family at a game and it
might be edon part it might be over the North
Harbor Stadium down and Wellington wherever, and they came out
with these these interesting figures around the costs surrounding them.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You have seen this article. Is it accurate?
Speaker 4 (01:21):
More's the point? Is it relevant when you consider the
different strokes that go to these games.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Well, it is relevant because we are in a cost
of leading crisis and we're operating the experience economy, so
we need to respond. We need to look at the
street to set experience and how we can work with
our hires to make that experience at a level where
is affordable but also memorable.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
So when you when you come to putting these prices,
obviously there's a baseline for you to work from, but
what do you work in with the costings behind everything
that you can control?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What are the key drivers and what money you're charging?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Well, sy as you know, if you go to a
cafe in Auckland at coffee seven dollars, if you go
to restaurants, cafes and bars, the hospitality sector through COVID,
including stadiums, took ahead and then we've seen inflationary prices
across the entire supply chain. We have three thousand staff
(02:24):
working on a sold out of it at Eten Park.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
We have a billion dollars worth of infrastructure.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
When constants like Luke Cohn's or an All Blacks test
comes to Auckland, over fifteen million dollars of economic benefits
delivered for the city and since the Rugby World Cup,
Eden Park has delivered a billion dollars of economic benefit
of the city. So I think we have to look
at it in its entirety. What we have done at
the park is worked with our caterer who does catering
at the sun Corps Stadium in Brisbane, has got the
(02:53):
contract down in Wellington, and look at it and say,
how can we provide an opportunity for a product offering
that is comparable to the high street. So we work
with our caterer here to introduce twelve food trucks on
the back of the week concourse that offers from wood
five pizzas through to or Getter rolls. Their food offering
(03:13):
differs from a concert to a sports event, and that
may even differ from an All Blacks test to a
Super Rugby game. We know that it is a challenge
for families and we need to get more people coming
to Eden Park and part of that is it is
the food offering, but it's the overall experience. One of
the things I wanted to touch on is that our
(03:35):
sensory room. We invested two hundred thousand dollars in the
sensory room. What's the room. Stop, Sorry, what's the Century Room.
So that is an area where up to sixty five
families access on an event day for kids who are
neurodiverse or who are autistic can go in and have
a fifteen minute break. Now, Darcy, I can assure you
(03:56):
two hundred thousand dollars, that's a lot of buckets and chips,
that's a lot of drinks to be sold to cover
the cost of that room. But we acknowledge that that
room is requ now in a modern stadium for societal purposes.
And I could list off the forty five million of
upgrades we've done over the last five years here at
the park. But coming back to the cost of living crisis,
(04:19):
we acknowledge it if you go to Subway and get
a six inch roll, it's twelve or fourteen dollars. And
so how do we provide an offering when people come
to the venue. So we offer discounts for the first
half an hour that people arrive. Because the reality is
at a rugby game, you have a ten minute halftime break.
Now you can't serve fifty thousand people in that period.
(04:41):
So we've introduced where you can scan a QR code
and in certain areas have delivery year seats.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
There's a whole.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Range of initiatives that we're looking at, including Australian venues
and moved away from having staffing so you're going your
pre purchase and you walk out and so. But those
outlets can be up to five hundred thousand dollars an outlet.
So for our sits around looking at the entire experience.
We need to see more content at Eden Park and
you've seen that over the last five years. Seventy percent
(05:11):
of today's revenue and activity wasn't part of our business
model five years ago. But we need this billion dollar
asset to be used. And one of the best things
I think we're going to see is the CRL opening
and Eden Park will be seven minutes to town. We
need to consolidate our content at our National Stadium see
more content here, more concerts. And the last thing I
(05:31):
want to say is Darcy, is we need to get
either a bed levy or an event fund because otherwise,
the likes of Lady Gaga, the likes of an NURL
state of origin aren't coming to New Zealand and as
a result of that, we'll have to see infation on
prices to all events because we just don't have the content.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
What does your feedback say.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I'm presuming you're constantly talking to your customers to find
out what they want, what they think is fair, is unfair,
where they're prepared to spend more, where they wiggle. What
does that research tell you.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
The research there's a couple of areas. So in our
member areas, Eden Park has come roll over the porridge.
So people are after a variety of options they want,
whether it be craft beers or they want a variety
of products that aren't available in the public areas because
the hirer in New Zealand gets priority, So the All
(06:22):
Blacks determined or the Black Caps determine what porridge goes
into the retail outlets, and that might change. You remember
earlier this year we went from cricket to rugby to football.
That could be three different porridge partners and so our
caterer there needs to go and take out literally tens
of thousands of cans from one event to the next,
and you can imagine the labor costs there. So there
(06:42):
is actually some change that needs to happen in terms
of user agreements with our codes, consolidation of borage ticketing
and others that get some economies of scale too.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Who if the ultimate control and plainly the porridge rights
something completely different. But when it comes to bit food
more than anything else, this is all your care or
do the sports involved have a part to play in.
Speaker 6 (07:07):
That the sports have a part to play.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
We've done a number of initiatives this year with the Blues,
so we've had from Boden Barrett Berger's through to Blue
cups of chips, but it doesn't really shift the.
Speaker 6 (07:18):
Dial in terms of the volume.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
What we need to see consistently twenty thousand plus people
coming to Super Rugby. That should be the benchmark across
the competition and if that's achievable, everyone wins. So my
focus now is to say we can provide hot chips
and cold beer, but it's the overall experience from the
street to the seat that people are interested in, and
(07:42):
that is the public transport offering. We've had disruption with
trains and buses, but the Corl opens and as I say,
seven minutes to town, does that make it easier for
people to get to Eden Park. Yes, from the North Shore,
they'll get a bus to town and train to Eden Park.
That hasn't been the case and it will be a
game changer. You would have experienced some of the venues
internationally seven minutes to the CBD. There's very few globally
(08:07):
that have that proximity ticket price. That's plainly a driver
to bring your whole family game. So the range.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Of prices across the board, this is set by you
and I expect by the organizations as well, and you
be very aware of the limitations and the crisis that
people have.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Has that worked as hard as you can into your
program or is that where a lot of the profit
actually is for the sports and for Eden Park.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
So Eden Park doesn't set the prices, that's set by
the hire or the code. We give feedback and if
we have the opportunity to set the price, we set
it on a price point that we know. So it's
very different talking about the All Blacks versus South Africa
to week in, week out content and so from our side,
(09:00):
we want to drive down the entry price to get
more people in attendance, to increase the experience, but also
to see greater sales across the board from merchandis for
the clubs or indeed food and beverage for our staff
to give more shifts and more economic benefit to the
supply chain. Now, the piece of what I'd say we've
seen with the likes of Auckland f C, where the
(09:23):
introduction of a slide or some instance as a Ferris
Wheell price point plays a part. The experience plays apart.
And we know that Eden Park has challenges. We've got
fifty thousand seats. Are you going to get fifty thousand
people we ca in week out Super Rugby?
Speaker 6 (09:38):
Probably not.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
So what we need to do is then work with,
in our instance, the Blues and we acknowledge this to
say how do we create a different experience in areas
that may not be occupied. The other piece I would
say is that you see with the Warriors. The Warriors
always talk about being sold out, but there's a number
of initiatives. They win a game in Australia, they offer
I think it's ten dollar tickets for twenty four hours
(10:00):
and they shift a large volume of tickets. So I
think that the industry has changed dramatically. I mentioned earlier
that we are in the experience economy and we're fighting
for that discretionary spend and families are looking at it
and saying well, what am I choosing? Some families sadly
are probably choosing nothing. But in this instance we need
(10:21):
to be part of the solution to drive greater attendance.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Bye and large, Nick Sultan, thanks so much for joining us.
As always across all of these venues is the open
communication between you all about what the best path is
in order to encourage more people their price, sitting and
the like. Is this a combined is this a group efort.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Or probably there's more collaboration, For example with eden Park
and the number of the Australian venues where we don't
see the necessarily as competitors to us. In Auckland, the
Council controlled venues, whether it be Mount Smart, Western Springs
and North Harbor, they receive subsidences from Council, but they
(11:02):
also are operated under a different model, So in that
instant we are in arguably direct competitors for content. We
are in discussions regularly with the other venues across the country.
I think we need a national stadium strategy and a
regional stadium strategy. Hamilton and Mount Smart's a regional venue
(11:24):
and an eden Park, and perhaps the new christ At
Stadium is more a national asset but we also need
an event strategy. When you look to Melbourne, when a
major event is held in Melbourne, Taylor Swift is an example.
There's four major venues and a population of seven million,
so she doesn't play at four venues.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
She plays at one venue.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
And I think we saw this with the likes of
Luke Comb's or Coldplay, where artists are now going to
one venue and the sooner we can deliver that model
in New Zealand, the better where they come to one
venue and people go to that. But then there's the
whole range of economies that can be then delivered and achieved.
So much work and I know you've got nixcellt and
I thanks very much for joining us and Dias. Hope
(12:07):
that you get a good crowd tomorrow afternoon for the
Blues and that they can get through the finals playoff
time so you can get more bums on seats.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Good on your neck, Thanks so much, Darcy.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Tonight, we've got Art Battle at Eaton Park with over
five hundred guests, so I'm off to now Art Battle.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio,
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