Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Blues should leave Eden Park

It's probably sensible, don’t you think, for the Blues to consider leaving Eden Park for Mt Smart? 

It’s not going to fix the attendance issues, though they seem to be hoping it will. 

In the consultation they’re doing, the question they’re asking fans is whether moving to Mt Smart will make them “more or less likely to attend Blues Super Rugby [mens] home games”. 

The fans might say yes, but they won’t. 

Mt Smart is no better than Eden Park. 

It’s not easier to get to there with public transport, it’s about the same. If you drive you still have to find a park somewhere on the road, or on private property. 

You’re still exposed to the elements in the stand. You’re still paying for your beer and chips instead of getting them out of your kitchen. 

Maybe you could argue Mt Smart has a slight advantage in that you’re coming straight off the motorway instead of fighting to get down Dominion Road, but I don’t think that’s enough of a difference to supercharge the crowd. 

Maybe you could argue that because the Warriors and Auckland FC are there, fans form a habit, so they go because they know how to go. 

But again, I don’t think that’s the problem. 

I think the problem is Super Rugby 

You’re seeing poor turnout for Super Rugby regular season games around the country. 

6000 are turning up for Moana Pasifika games. 

13,000 for the Crusaders.   

11,000 for the Blues. 

11,000 in a 50,000 capacity stadium looks horrible. 11,000 in a 25,000 capacity stadium like Mt Smart looks less bad. 

But it's giving up, isn’t it? 

The Blues leaving the home of rugby is basically accepting that this is how it is, that the crowd size of 11,000 is simply how it's going to be. 

What they should really be doing is finding smart ways to get us to come to Super Rugby games again. 

Find ways to get families along. Eden Park's kid zone with the bouncy castle is the right kind of thinking. 

Find ways to get us excited about the game of rugby. I’m sorry, but it's a boring product. 

Unless they do that, crowds that only fill quarter of a stadium are the future, in which case, move to Mt Smart. 

A smaller stadium will hide the empty seats better. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Probably sensible. Don't you think for the Blues to consider
leaving Eden Park for Mount Smart. It's not going to
fix the attendance issues, though they seem to be hoping
it's going to fix the crowd. In the consultation, they're
asking a question of fans. They're asking them whether moving
to Mount Smart will make them quote more or less
likely to attend the Blue Super Rugby men's home games.
The fans may look at that and go yeah and

(00:21):
say yes, but they won't. Mount Smart is no better
than Eden Park. It's not easier to get there with
public transport. It's about the same. If you drive, you're
still going to have to find a car park somewhere
on the road or on private property. You're still going
to be exposed to the elements in the stand. You're
still going to be paying for your beer and your
chips instead of getting them out of your kitchen. Maybe
you could argue that Mount Smart has a slight advantage

(00:41):
in that you're coming straight off the motorway instead of
fighting to get down Dominion Road in a traffic jam.
But I don't think that's enough of a difference to
supercharge a crowd. Maybe you could argue that because the
Warriors and the Oakland Football Club are their form fans,
former habit, so they go because they know how to go.
But again, I don't think that's the problem. I think
the problem is just Super Rugby. Right. You're seeing poor

(01:02):
turnout for Super Rugby regular season around the country. Muana
pacifica six thousand turned up Crusaders one of their games.
Only thirteen thousand turned up Blues. Blues versus the Crusaders
one of the great matches, only eleven thousand turned up.
Now eleven thousand and a fifty thousand stadium looks horrible.
Eleven thousand in a twenty five thousand stadium like Mount Smart.

(01:25):
Mount Smart looks less bad. But it is giving up,
isn't it. I mean the Blues leaving the home of
rugby is basically accepting that this is now how it is,
that the crowd size of eleven thousand is simply how
it's going to be, and then they're downscaling accordingly. What
they really should be doing is finding smart ways to
get us to come to the Super Rugby games. Again,
I don't know, find ways to get the family along,

(01:46):
get the kid zone going like they do at Eden
Park with the bouncy castle. That kind of thing find
ways to get us excited about the game of rugby.
It's a boring product, make it less boring. Unless they
do that, crowds that only call to fill a stadium
are the future and absolutely move to Mount Smart Then
a smaller stadium is going to hide those empty seats
a whole lot better. For more from The Mic Asking Breakfast,

(02:08):
listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.