March 29, 2025 • 10 mins
Auckland Council has officially endorsed an upgraded Eden Park as the city's main stadium - but they've made it clear they won't pay for it.
Prime Minister Chris Luxon and ACT leader David Seymour have also poured cold water on the idea, claiming the Government books are already too tight.
ACC head Mike Lane joined Piney to discuss the 'boring non-debate'.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sedb redevelopments of Eden Park deciding against backing the construction
of a new downtown stadium. They stop short though, of
backing a full upgrade to eden Park and furthermore said
they don't want to pay any money towards redeveloping eden
Park and in fact they don't have any money. The
government also suggesting it doesn't want to contribute the one
(00:31):
hundred million Eden Park needs to start its upgrade. Eden
Park reckons the upgrade will cost around five hundred and
fifty million. There are suggestions that's very light and that
it'll actually be closer to one billion dollars. So what
do we have here? Pretty much a non decision right
The council said, we back eden Park, but we can't slash,
(00:53):
won't throw any money at it. We don't back a
new stadium, say the council, and we probably wouldn't invest
in that either even if it was to be built.
So where does it leave us in terms of world
class sporting facilities for Auckland and simply with places in
Auckland that are good to watch live sport at rather
than delve into the politics of this, I wanted to
(01:15):
get a sports fans view one of the biggest I know,
Mike Lane, co founder of the Base Brigade, head of
the Alternative commentary collective, Thanks for crossing brands onto z
B for us, Mike, How are you no worries?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Piney Man? Is this the world's most boring non debate
of all time? God, it's it's like, it is so
tedious man, Like I guarantee every outside of Auckland listen
to this, Like who gives this stuff? With a bunch
of Aucklanders who can't make their mind up, who are
being held hostage by small minded procrastinators, which Gregor Paul
(01:51):
mentioned on Friday, And it's frustrating. Man, We suck. I'm
embarrassed to be in Aucklander. I'm embarrassed to live in Auckland.
This is this is the worst as a sports fan,
this is the worst. We're the pits. We suck.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You'll be pleased I gave you the call to come
on the show for such a such a tomic No, yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's true. Like you look at every other Australasian major
city in throughout Australia, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth. They've
all got new stadia, they've all got sports precincts. What
do we got Auckland. Nothing. It's embarrassing, It is embarrassing.
I don't know if it's going to happen in my lifetime. Piny,
(02:31):
this is this, This is the stage I've got to
a forty six year old man. I don't think I'm
ever going to see a new stadium built in Auckland
in my lifetime. That's how depressed diam about this.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
That is crazy because I've got a question here for you.
Can you see a time where a new stadium is
built on Auckland's waterfront? So clear the answer is not
for the next fifty years anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
No, I just don't get it. There's just no no vision.
There's no vision whatsoever. If you anyone who lives in
Auckland knows that a downtown stadium would change the face,
it would revolutionize downtown Auckland. You think of the bars,
the restaurants, the hotels, all in the stones throw. I
think about a Friday night where you could leave work,
have a beer, grab a meal, go watch some football,
(03:11):
some rugby, some rugby league, you know, down at the
waterfront and then crews home. That's not part of our
routine at the moment. Our routine at the moment is
how we're going to get to part, how we're going
to get to Mount Smart, how we're going to get home.
You're going to basically a whole day. There's no routine,
there's no habit here and it we're going to require
someone with a lot of vision and a lot of
(03:32):
nuts to do it, and unfortunately at the moment, no
one has got the actual gumption to do it. We'd
rather build a two billion dollar in a city rail
link that goes nowhere. I don't know, pointing it's going
to have to take bringing Maybe we make it a
part of a Russian Oli gap on to live in
New Zealand. Maybe maybe part of that is you're going
(03:52):
to have to build a stadium then you can go
live up the Bay of Island somewhere. That should be well,
maybe that's a concession we should have because it's going
to have to take a Bill Foley. It's going to
have to take a billion here. Look, get the mow braids,
come on, what are they up to? It's going to
take someone like that to you instigate this because I'm
afraid it's not going to come from the council and
it's not going to come from the government.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
We'll get to the mobrasen Bill folly in the moment
and what they want to do at Western Springs. But
so is it the access? Is it the getting there?
Once you get there? Eden Park? What do most people
think about watching sport at Eden Park?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Do you think, oh, look rugby, it's not bad. It's
not bad. Look I don't hate on Eden Park. I've
had some great times at Eaton Park. The people that
run it are amazing. The fact they turned around three
codes in four days the other weekend. It's great. But cricket,
no thanks, Test match cricket. When was the last time
there was a tet math test match played in Auckland.
(04:43):
I can't remember what, fifteen ten years ago? Maybe yeah,
you know, as a cricket fan, move out of Auckland
because you're not going to see much international cricket. But
the thing was Eden Park. It's a great stadium. I
like it. It's just in the wrong place. Finally, it
is in the wrong place it needs. It's not serviced
by any major bars or hotels. They say you can
(05:03):
catch a train straight there. Yeah, willing to hang around
for kind of an hour to get home. That's fine,
But I don't know's it serves a purpose. At the moment.
It's the best we've got and we're kind of living
with it when we don't have to. We don't, like
I said, with the only Australasian city without a modern stadium.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How do people feel about Mount Smart? Same thing? Is
it just getting there? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I look Mount Smart if you took it, if you
took a visitor from overseas, because I just came back
from you called me in Vegas. I can't hardly reader
with the phone call. But I did go to a
couple of ice hockey games over there, and obviously we
went to Aldi Stadium for the Warriors. Man, that's next level,
like in terms of the stadium there, in terms of
what you can do in terms of the facilities. If
you took someone to Mount Smart, mildly embarrassing. And I've
(05:52):
got a very faithful group of fans in the AFC
and the Warriors. But if you take a step back
and look at that stadium, it's not great. And it's
in the middle of industrial Penrose, Southwunkland again, no bars,
no restaurants, no hotels. It's not serving anyone downtown. It's
not helping the city out at all. So look, they're
(06:15):
not great. I'm frustrated. You could probably tell Pioneers a
sports fan, it's frustrating to watch all this unfold and
it's you just end up yelling at the clouds. I
don't know. I don't know how we're going to fix it.
I don't know how what's going to happen. We'll probably
still be you'll ring me next year. We'll talk about this,
and the year after and the year after, and we'll
probably you could just press to repeat on my interview
(06:35):
who it'll be the same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, And so it feels like you're right, it needs vision,
it needs somebody. But the i mean billionaire oligarchs or
those with the resources to do something about this are
pretty thin on the ground, aren't they. So I mean,
you look at a place You've mentioned a couple of
places where you go, and Melbourne's a good example. There's
some magnificent venues to go and watch sport over there,
(06:59):
and most, most of not all of that has been
funded by state government. Right, they've decided, Okay, we want
to get people here. We'll put money into to venues
so they'll come. It just doesn't feel likely to you
that there will be any of that sort of vision
in the near future.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh God, it's going to have to take someone special
in terms of counsel to have the vision to do it,
because it will it will pay dividends, it will it
will pay dividends in central UK. And if you have
someone who comes in with a bit of vision, I
feel like it's probably going to have to be a
kind of private public partnership. I think there's going to
have to be someone like a Bill Foley. He'll go, hey,
I'll help out here to a degree. But who's going
(07:37):
to benefit the most from having a new stadia in
a sports precinc in downtown Auckland. It's going to be Auckland.
It's going to be all the hospitality, it's going to
be the tourism everything else. So they have to front
up and be involved and invest in the city. So
they say they want to invest in infrastructure, Oh whatever,
I mean. The Inner City rail Link is the biggest
(07:59):
joke that's ever been It's caused billions of dollars. They
can't even mow the burns. And as Gregor Paul mentioned
in his article, so you know I'm moving to christ Church.
You know what, that's the new That is the new
home of sport in New Zealand. It is. It's got
Hagley Oval when Takaha has finished, it's going to be
a covered stadium, perfect for football, built for rugby. You're
(08:19):
right on the sideline, You're not thirty meters back like
you are at Sky Stadium in Wellington. You know it's
it's going to be the news home of sport in
New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
That's it. I'm out. I'm done. I'm moving a christ Church.
I never thought i'd say that. I'll still support the chief.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Well, I don't have any more questions. Do you have
any more comments?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Sorry? Pinney, you can tell you've rung the wrong person
on this one. I have. You know, even the choice
of going to those two options, Key Park, they're completely
ignored the whin you'red quarter, the Tank Farm option, which
was the only pitch in there that took into count cricket,
and using Victoria Park as a cricket option, as making
(09:00):
that part of the sport's precinct with a stadium on
the Tank Farm, a smaller ten thousand seat stadium for
basketball ten and then building a walkway down to Victoria
Park where you could host international cricket on Victoria Park.
They were the only ones that fought through the whole vision,
yet they were ignored in favor of Key Park, which,
let's be honest, is never going to happen with the
(09:21):
fact they had to move railway tracks or build over
railway tracks. So I don't know this whole We've on
our Agenda podcast, Pony, we've banned any more discussions on
the Autumn stadium debate because it's just so tedious, it's
so boring, and nothing's ever going to happen, and it's
so frustrating as a sports stand to sit back and
(09:41):
watch the shambles.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, I'm glad the embargo doesn't doesn't extend to News
Talks MB's weekend sports show, Mike, it's been it's been
educational listening to your mate Andy, entertaining and in many
ways quite frustrating as well. So I'll tell my friends
in christ Church to expect your inquiry into some of
the some of the better real estate in that area
soon and hopefully we can hopefully we can catch up
(10:04):
again soon.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, I go, Ma, We're coming to christ here for
Cavin christ Cherch.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Watch out, Mike Lane. What a legend of a man,
head of the alternative commentary collective forthright in his views,
extremely honest, authentic, and makes a lot of scenes. Doesn't
He makes a heck of a lot of scenes.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks at b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sedb redevelopments of Eden Park deciding against backing the construction
of a new downtown stadium. They stop short though, of
backing a full upgrade to eden Park and furthermore said
they don't want to pay any money towards redeveloping eden
Park and in fact they don't have any money. The
government also suggesting it doesn't want to contribute the one
(00:31):
hundred million Eden Park needs to start its upgrade. Eden
Park reckons the upgrade will cost around five hundred and
fifty million. There are suggestions that's very light and that
it'll actually be closer to one billion dollars. So what
do we have here? Pretty much a non decision right
The council said, we back eden Park, but we can't slash,
(00:53):
won't throw any money at it. We don't back a
new stadium, say the council, and we probably wouldn't invest
in that either even if it was to be built.
So where does it leave us in terms of world
class sporting facilities for Auckland and simply with places in
Auckland that are good to watch live sport at rather
than delve into the politics of this, I wanted to
(01:15):
get a sports fans view one of the biggest I know,
Mike Lane, co founder of the Base Brigade, head of
the Alternative commentary collective, Thanks for crossing brands onto z
B for us, Mike, How are you no worries?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Piney Man? Is this the world's most boring non debate
of all time? God, it's it's like, it is so
tedious man, Like I guarantee every outside of Auckland listen
to this, Like who gives this stuff? With a bunch
of Aucklanders who can't make their mind up, who are
being held hostage by small minded procrastinators, which Gregor Paul
(01:51):
mentioned on Friday, And it's frustrating. Man, We suck. I'm
embarrassed to be in Aucklander. I'm embarrassed to live in Auckland.
This is this is the worst as a sports fan,
this is the worst. We're the pits. We suck.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You'll be pleased I gave you the call to come
on the show for such a such a tomic No, yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's true. Like you look at every other Australasian major
city in throughout Australia, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth. They've
all got new stadia, they've all got sports precincts. What
do we got Auckland. Nothing. It's embarrassing, It is embarrassing.
I don't know if it's going to happen in my lifetime. Piny,
(02:31):
this is this, This is the stage I've got to
a forty six year old man. I don't think I'm
ever going to see a new stadium built in Auckland
in my lifetime. That's how depressed diam about this.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
That is crazy because I've got a question here for you.
Can you see a time where a new stadium is
built on Auckland's waterfront? So clear the answer is not
for the next fifty years anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
No, I just don't get it. There's just no no vision.
There's no vision whatsoever. If you anyone who lives in
Auckland knows that a downtown stadium would change the face,
it would revolutionize downtown Auckland. You think of the bars,
the restaurants, the hotels, all in the stones throw. I
think about a Friday night where you could leave work,
have a beer, grab a meal, go watch some football,
(03:11):
some rugby, some rugby league, you know, down at the
waterfront and then crews home. That's not part of our
routine at the moment. Our routine at the moment is
how we're going to get to part, how we're going
to get to Mount Smart, how we're going to get home.
You're going to basically a whole day. There's no routine,
there's no habit here and it we're going to require
someone with a lot of vision and a lot of
(03:32):
nuts to do it, and unfortunately at the moment, no
one has got the actual gumption to do it. We'd
rather build a two billion dollar in a city rail
link that goes nowhere. I don't know, pointing it's going
to have to take bringing Maybe we make it a
part of a Russian Oli gap on to live in
New Zealand. Maybe maybe part of that is you're going
(03:52):
to have to build a stadium then you can go
live up the Bay of Island somewhere. That should be well,
maybe that's a concession we should have because it's going
to have to take a Bill Foley. It's going to
have to take a billion here. Look, get the mow braids,
come on, what are they up to? It's going to
take someone like that to you instigate this because I'm
afraid it's not going to come from the council and
it's not going to come from the government.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
We'll get to the mobrasen Bill folly in the moment
and what they want to do at Western Springs. But
so is it the access? Is it the getting there?
Once you get there? Eden Park? What do most people
think about watching sport at Eden Park?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Do you think, oh, look rugby, it's not bad. It's
not bad. Look I don't hate on Eden Park. I've
had some great times at Eaton Park. The people that
run it are amazing. The fact they turned around three
codes in four days the other weekend. It's great. But cricket,
no thanks, Test match cricket. When was the last time
there was a tet math test match played in Auckland.
(04:43):
I can't remember what, fifteen ten years ago? Maybe yeah,
you know, as a cricket fan, move out of Auckland
because you're not going to see much international cricket. But
the thing was Eden Park. It's a great stadium. I
like it. It's just in the wrong place. Finally, it
is in the wrong place it needs. It's not serviced
by any major bars or hotels. They say you can
(05:03):
catch a train straight there. Yeah, willing to hang around
for kind of an hour to get home. That's fine,
But I don't know's it serves a purpose. At the moment.
It's the best we've got and we're kind of living
with it when we don't have to. We don't, like
I said, with the only Australasian city without a modern stadium.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How do people feel about Mount Smart? Same thing? Is
it just getting there? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I look Mount Smart if you took it, if you
took a visitor from overseas, because I just came back
from you called me in Vegas. I can't hardly reader
with the phone call. But I did go to a
couple of ice hockey games over there, and obviously we
went to Aldi Stadium for the Warriors. Man, that's next level,
like in terms of the stadium there, in terms of
what you can do in terms of the facilities. If
you took someone to Mount Smart, mildly embarrassing. And I've
(05:52):
got a very faithful group of fans in the AFC
and the Warriors. But if you take a step back
and look at that stadium, it's not great. And it's
in the middle of industrial Penrose, Southwunkland again, no bars,
no restaurants, no hotels. It's not serving anyone downtown. It's
not helping the city out at all. So look, they're
(06:15):
not great. I'm frustrated. You could probably tell Pioneers a
sports fan, it's frustrating to watch all this unfold and
it's you just end up yelling at the clouds. I
don't know. I don't know how we're going to fix it.
I don't know how what's going to happen. We'll probably
still be you'll ring me next year. We'll talk about this,
and the year after and the year after, and we'll
probably you could just press to repeat on my interview
(06:35):
who it'll be the same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, And so it feels like you're right, it needs vision,
it needs somebody. But the i mean billionaire oligarchs or
those with the resources to do something about this are
pretty thin on the ground, aren't they. So I mean,
you look at a place You've mentioned a couple of
places where you go, and Melbourne's a good example. There's
some magnificent venues to go and watch sport over there,
(06:59):
and most, most of not all of that has been
funded by state government. Right, they've decided, Okay, we want
to get people here. We'll put money into to venues
so they'll come. It just doesn't feel likely to you
that there will be any of that sort of vision
in the near future.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh God, it's going to have to take someone special
in terms of counsel to have the vision to do it,
because it will it will pay dividends, it will it
will pay dividends in central UK. And if you have
someone who comes in with a bit of vision, I
feel like it's probably going to have to be a
kind of private public partnership. I think there's going to
have to be someone like a Bill Foley. He'll go, hey,
I'll help out here to a degree. But who's going
(07:37):
to benefit the most from having a new stadia in
a sports precinc in downtown Auckland. It's going to be Auckland.
It's going to be all the hospitality, it's going to
be the tourism everything else. So they have to front
up and be involved and invest in the city. So
they say they want to invest in infrastructure, Oh whatever,
I mean. The Inner City rail Link is the biggest
(07:59):
joke that's ever been It's caused billions of dollars. They
can't even mow the burns. And as Gregor Paul mentioned
in his article, so you know I'm moving to christ Church.
You know what, that's the new That is the new
home of sport in New Zealand. It is. It's got
Hagley Oval when Takaha has finished, it's going to be
a covered stadium, perfect for football, built for rugby. You're
(08:19):
right on the sideline, You're not thirty meters back like
you are at Sky Stadium in Wellington. You know it's
it's going to be the news home of sport in
New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And that's it.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
That's it. I'm out. I'm done. I'm moving a christ Church.
I never thought i'd say that. I'll still support the chief.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Well, I don't have any more questions. Do you have
any more comments?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Sorry? Pinney, you can tell you've rung the wrong person
on this one. I have. You know, even the choice
of going to those two options, Key Park, they're completely
ignored the whin you'red quarter, the Tank Farm option, which
was the only pitch in there that took into count cricket,
and using Victoria Park as a cricket option, as making
(09:00):
that part of the sport's precinct with a stadium on
the Tank Farm, a smaller ten thousand seat stadium for
basketball ten and then building a walkway down to Victoria
Park where you could host international cricket on Victoria Park.
They were the only ones that fought through the whole vision,
yet they were ignored in favor of Key Park, which,
let's be honest, is never going to happen with the
(09:21):
fact they had to move railway tracks or build over
railway tracks. So I don't know this whole We've on
our Agenda podcast, Pony, we've banned any more discussions on
the Autumn stadium debate because it's just so tedious, it's
so boring, and nothing's ever going to happen, and it's
so frustrating as a sports stand to sit back and
(09:41):
watch the shambles.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, I'm glad the embargo doesn't doesn't extend to News
Talks MB's weekend sports show, Mike, it's been it's been
educational listening to your mate Andy, entertaining and in many
ways quite frustrating as well. So I'll tell my friends
in christ Church to expect your inquiry into some of
the some of the better real estate in that area
soon and hopefully we can hopefully we can catch up
(10:04):
again soon.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah, I go, Ma, We're coming to christ here for
Cavin christ Cherch.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Watch out, Mike Lane. What a legend of a man,
head of the alternative commentary collective forthright in his views,
extremely honest, authentic, and makes a lot of scenes. Doesn't
He makes a heck of a lot of scenes.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to news Talks at b weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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