this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
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This Italian stadium is what NZ really lacks when it comes to footie grounds, they're right on top of the action! We're only a small poor country so have always tended to build dual purpose until recently but rectangular stadiums for rectangular fields are just sooooo much better.
Stadio Olympico is a great stadium. Very walkable from the centre of Rome too.
The new stadium in Christchurch will be a lot more like Dunedin's covered stadium so that's a step in the right direction. There's a big fight in Auckland at the moment to make a rectangular football focussed ground down in the city itself.*
Cricket NZ is pushing heavily for their favoured option which is an upgrade to Eden Park so every 3-4 years when India tours they can pack out 45-50k for a couple of T20 Internationals. But nobody wants to play or watch test cricket at Eden Park and there just aren't that many games of cricket in NZ that warrant a stadium that big. Of course that means in future we might miss out on hosting world cups but it is what it is.
Another option is for the football ground to have some expandability but in my view that inevitably ruins the whole benefit of a rectangular stadium so hopefully it doesn't come to that.
*Ie what the Labour Government offered to build for around NZ$500m or something way back in time for the 2011 RWC, but Aucklanders thumbed their nose at the idea in favour of upgrading Eden Park again.
And even though I love seeing the ABs scrum super dominant, god I hate scrum penalties.