Nick Sautner: Eden Park CEO on the declining attendance, revenue for the stadium

Declining stats for Auckland's Eden Park, as the number of major events coming to this country reduce. 

Revenue fell from $44.3 million in 2023 to $29.7 million in 2024 and major event attendance fell from 881 thousand to 540 thousand. 

Eden Park CEO Nick Sautner told Mike Hosking one of the factors to blame is the lack of seed funding. 

He says there’s been limited funds available from Auckland Unlimited and the central government, and they’ve missed out on a number of events over the last 12 months. 

Sautner says Eden Park went through a 125 year journey to get concerts, and now we’re in a situation where artists are bypassing New Zealand. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A lot of talk this week about the economic arrists,

(00:02):
business confidence, interest rates, all of that sort of stuff.
Eden Park might be at the point the end of
this because revenue has fallen from forty four million bit
over forty four million to twenty nine almost thirty million,
so it's gone down significantly. Major event attendance fell from
eight hundred and eighty one thousand people to five hundred
and forty. Now these eden Park CEO is Nick Shutaner,
who is will this Nick, very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning Mike, and thanks to your time.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Not at all. What's brought this about is that the
number of events? Is that the number of people attending
the number of events.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh, there's been a number of factors, Mike. As you're
aware that seed funding is critical to attract major events,
and you've seen over the last three years that eden
Park to secure the likes of Coldplay, Pink Billy, Joel, etc.
And then also the fee for Women's World Cup, Rugby
World Cups and Cricket World Cups. So there's been a

(00:52):
limited funds available for marklunlimited and also central government. There
hasn't been enough agility. We've missed out on a number
of events over the last twelve months. And I'm sitting
here in India today where a report has been released
by EUY talking about India's rising concert economy and a
new era of live entertainment. And it's concerning because we

(01:14):
want a city where people want to live, stay, playing, work.
Eden Park went through a five year journey or arguably
one hundred and twenty five year journey to get concerts
and now are in a situation where art is to
bypassing New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Are you losing when you say you're missing events, you're
missing events because New Zealand and kisn't up to it.
Or are your missing events to other centers within New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
No, it's missing events to the East Coast of Australia.
It's a competitive market for major events. People know the
concert economy and what it can deliver, whether it be
the employment opportunities, the social good, but just the general
tourism benefits. And we saw it with it was talked
about in detailed Taylor Swift and missing out. In recent

(01:56):
times we've seen Lady Gaga and not come to New Zealand.
What we need to do is have a major events
strategy for Auckland and New Zealand, along with the stadium
strategy for Auckland and New Zealands, and let's just get
on with it.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, I agree. Having said that Gargar is not coming,
I think for the same reason Swift doesn't coming, we
can't cope with it. Or would you argue differently.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'd argue differently. I mean, we've now put ourselves in
this situation. We've got a proven trek record of delivering
outstanding concert events. If anyone went to Coldplayer, Luke, Cohines,
Pink or indeed six sixty, they saw that Eden Park
is a fit for purpose, multi purpose stadium. When the
Coral opens, we're going to be seven minutes to town.
The capacity will get up to seventy thousand with some

(02:39):
minor modifications. So we are competitive with the East Coast
of Australia. But the real it is this Coast of
Australia has seed funding. Yes, there are other factors, and
I'm not denying that there's freight pass, the appeal of
playing cities. We've limited flights between say in Melbourne, Sydney
and Brisbane, but we've got to be in the.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Game in ten seconds or less. Why are you in India?

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Have an opportunity with the Rajasthan rules to assess the
feasibility of a new stadium, so it's engaged on an
advisory program. I've been here four days and it is
being phenomenal. It just demonstrates the opportunity for New Zealand
in this market.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Good stuff, Nick, go well with them. Nick Sautner, who
is the underhead of Eden Park.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
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