Eden Park boss on addressing New Zealand's live sport problem

By: Joel Kulasingham

Eden Park chief executive Nick Sautner has urged New Zealand sport bosses to find solutions to one of the biggest worries facing the industry at the moment – the falling numbers of Kiwis watching live sport.

The sports industry, both locally and internationally, has found itself having to battle against dwindling attendances in an attention economy where all genres of entertainment are in aggressive competition for a finite amount of eyeballs – or in the case of live events, bums to put on increasingly empty seats.

The rise of streaming and the advancement of TV technology have made things like cinemas and live sport less attractive and worthwhile to the public.

But Sautner says there's nothing that beats the thrill and sense of community that live sport can bring, and there is clearly still a huge demand for such events as shown by a strong Auckland crowd of about 15,000 that turned up to the Wellington Phoenix's win over Melbourne City last Saturday.

"We need to get some diversity in our content," Sautner told Radio Sport Breakfast. "We are the national stadium. And we see that there are now aspirations from our fans to see more than just cricket and rugby played in our facilities. So we're delighted with our last two years of [Wellington] Phoenix content and look towards hosting further fixtures in the coming years.

"We've exceeded their average in Wellington in all four fixtures."

Eden Park, the country's largest stadium operator, booked another loss last year, largely due to the loss of revenue from sports events. According to the 2019 Eden Park Trust annual report, the yearly crowd numbers from sports events plummeted from 332,200 to 269,400.

Eden Park is currently exploring ways of expanding to concerts and other events.

Sautner says, from the stadium's point of view, sports events are still profitable but there are things that are out of their control like ticket prices, something he says they're trying to work on with their sports partners.

"There's no question those games are profitable," he said. "The more people that attend the venue does see the secondary revenue streams, whether it'd be merchandise or food and beverage or some of the other revenues that we derive from attendance.

"[There are] a number of our member areas we're introducing, whether it'd be new food and beverage options, craft beers, or cocktails on tap, or even blended ice-cream for families to come and experience a food offering and make it a day out. We are in the entertainment space and we're looking to create experiences.