$40-45 Million Soccer Specific Stadium - Petone Phoenix

Actually it would be walking distance for me so less of a pain in the arse but I'd still prefer it where Westpac is or near that.

The only thing Westpac stadium has going for it is location. Newton would be a nightmare to get to and petone??? Guessing they are angling towards Memorial park. That place is a cluster luck on a Saturday morning for kids games traffic wise although it is relatively close to a rail
Line.

Everyone agrees the stadium is shift for all codes using it other than the once a year AFL so the obvious is to redevelop within the confines of the existing ground thereby allowing all the existing infrastructure to remain.

Reality is , this is not much more than a play by Fenix to get the stadium to up there game!

A pedant writes: back in the day, there was actually a train station at Hutt Park raceway.

Cheers for the poll. But it should be worded would you travel from Wellington for a proper football stadium?. Because that is really the trade off. I expect stuff will probably run a poll on this story eventually anyway. 

Who pays for the free train tickets? Welnix? So they build a new stadium to save on costs but then have to subsidise transport? You'd have to put more trains on probably too on a Sunday or Saturday because you'd have a heap more people taking them, so that's an even greater cost. As for families in the CBD, well if you count Karori, Island Bay, Miramar, Haitaitai, Kilbirnie, and so on I think you'll find there's a few. 

they did it in auckland last night. They work with the rail line and work out a deal were they get cheaper prices compared to the public. Which is incorporated into the ticket price. Back when I used to go to the hurricanes it was free trains for ticket holders. But that was like 2002 I think.

simple they drive or catch public transport. What they are probably doing now the excuses are really weak. It's not like anyone is walking from miramar as it is. Maybe I am just ashamed at Phoenix fans not willing to put the extra bit of effort to get a proper football stadium.

Sigh. But factoring in connecting times you're adding probably an extra half hour each way to get public transport from somewhere like Miramar. I'd say an extra hour onto the round trip would put quite a few people off. Every thing that makes it slightly harder for casuals to turn up will impact on gate takings. I doubt that a better stadium experience would make up for that in numbers.

well it would probably be the at the Weltec cricket grounds I would say. Pretty much 5 mins from Ava or 10 from Petone. Some great bars on Jackson st as well.

But this is what you are missing.  The Phoenix fans will go wherever it is, I suspect more than attended some Knights games traveled from here last night to Auckland.  The Phoenix fans alone are not enough to make this a success, it's engaging the public and the public need it to be easier.

They won't know what a Soccer specific stadium offers if they never attend.  I work with people that have never seen Jackson street so the chances they would suddenly decide to go to football in Petone?

I think you underestimate how much a professional sports team and stadium in The Hutt Valley would be on the community. I would expect a lot of new casuals to turn up from the Hutt Valley just because of that. I could be wrong though, but nothing exciting like the prospect of this has really happened in the Hutt valley....ever.

It would either be Memorial Park or a new, from scratch near Petone station where there is alot of free land.

I very much doubt it would be Petone Rec.

...and picking up a fraction of the Hutt population (a fraction of the total region) at the expense of the rest of the region makes no economic sense.

Petone rec is pretty close to the station as it is. You would have people coming from Wellington getting off at Petone and people from Upper Hutt rail line getting off at Ava it would actually split up the commute rush on both lines quite nicely.they could get a football stadium and quite a sizable car park into the area that Petone Rec takes up. That could be used by Weltec students during the week. Build a training facility that the Phoenix and the students of Wel Tec could use for sports sciences as well as local football teams. A real pig in the sky idea but I was born in the Hutt so I am very bias but I really see the Petone Rec working out nicely and the way the crowds are going at Westpac stadium it is either this or the death of the Wellington Phoenix, sorry to put it in such blunt terms. A stadium owned by the Phoenix is nothing but profit after the building costs are paid for. Which I would suspect the Hutt city council would get behind, the boost to the local economy, especially Jackson st would be huge on game day.

Where the stadium is now is perfect...apart from the fact that the stadium is to big and to far from the pitch.

At present the stadium is close to pubs ( trax , bencher , old bailey) , Courtney Place , McDonalds ETC  and above all its easy to get to. I have mates that catch the train from up the coast and they find it fairly easy to get to the game and I come from Wainuiomata and have to catch a bus and a train and its not a big hassle to be honest even on Sundays when public transport is reduced.

 

I don't think anyone disagrees with the positives of the Phoenix owning the stadium.  The problem is that is not a panacea if it is then located somewhere that will restrict access for the people they need to fill it.

5000 of this lot????


We'd need FrankieMac to translate what they were singing, as he is the only person from London/England. Then they might duff us up. No thanks.

Now here's a fan who went out of his way and caught 2 forms of public transport. How did you ever survive that journey of danger and peril.

of course someone on the board of Westpac stadium/city council would say that, they don't want the Hutt city council reaping the benefits.

You are still ignoring the point. 

1, The existing fan base do that/will do that now. 

2, The exisiting fan base isn't economically viable.

So the core 5-6k of supporters will go to all Wellington region nix games. For some this might mean an extra 15-20min drive to Petone. Big fuckin deal. If the season tickets have free public transport then that will help. Why are people upset ?

I would venture a guess that most of the supporters who attend home games are not from Wellington Central. I know that there is a lot of nix supporters in the Hutt because after the game the traffic is heavy coming home.

This is what you all wanted. A new Football stadium. Now you whinge because of an extra 30min max transport.

Key point being that he's a fan, and obviously enough of one to be posting on these forums on a Sunday afternoon. The people who will be put off are the casuals and they're who we need to start turning up more, not less. Look, I think the Nix having their own purpose built stadium would be awesome but if it was out of the CBD I seriously think it would have a negative impact on crowd sizes. I can't stand this "if they aren't willing to put up with a bit of travel/bad weather/sunday night kickoffs/bad overpriced drinks and food/whatever then screw them cause they aren't real fans" attitude that occasionally pops up round here. We should do everything we can to encourage the general public to come to games, not just act like they're inferior because they aren't willing to put up with the same hardships as the fanatics.

 

I get your points I just don't agree with them, I am not ignoring them they make sense but this is a gamble either way stick with Westpac stadium which is a horrible game day experience, compared to how close I was at eden park last night or move and hope for more interest in the club with a WSW type stadium packed and metres from the pitch. What I am saying is nothing cool like this has ever happened in the Hutt since the speed way and even that was before my time. this I'll pull in more. Plus I bet a lot of people will come from far around to see a proper football stadium in the Wellington Region.I could be far off with my predictions and you could be right. The only "casuals" going now are from walking distance which I very much doubt. My point of a car park on the Hut rec grounds as well and the surrounding area will still gt the casuals coming from Wellington. It will actually probably be easier for them than paying for parking near the stadium.  This crazy commute you talk about from Wellington was not a problem for my dad and I going to athletic park when I was a kid. I get everyone's points I am in no way ignoring them just putting forward why Petone gets my vote. 

Edit : I take back the speedway comment , All blacks played a friendly game against lions/Canterbury last year.... Yeah that's about it.

I think petone has been bantered around as it's a different council to deal with in terms of consent etc. 

Why can't the basin be used? 

Seriously I think it's a ploy to twist arms. The newish guy in charge at the Westpac has already done lots to improve the stadium experience, but it's going to take time to make these improvements.

I've never understood how Kiwi's are incapable of designing something functional but I guess they never factored in that "soccer" might take off.

In a perfect world we'd have a little stadium next to the Westpac, (15 thousand max but able to be extended), I remember going to the McAlpine and the Reebok stadiums soon after they were built and thought how good they were. 

Welnix would  need a few million to do this and whatever Morgan says, if he can't cough up for  a Marquee player or two he ain't going to build a new stadium - he's bluffing.

Better look at some sort of retro-fit. People going on about the weather and the need for a roof - but I can only remember a handful of matches where it was so cold that it was uncomfortable.

To make money they need to try and loosen the grip of Spotless - they do the stadium or the Nix no favors.

10 years from now  if we can stay in the A league and probably get out of Oceania - then we might look at a football stadium. Then you might get some investment from abroad, (probably dubious), particularly when they are making it harder for crooks and villians to stay in more established leagues. 

Look at a retrofit option as rather than starting from scratch it's the only option that makes sense. 

your still talking about a oval ground though which is part of the problem in my opinion. Plus no train station nearby is a real killer. Now if Wellington extended the railway to the airport like it should of done years ago we could be talking.

Its also oval, worse public transport options, uncovered (mostly) and its the provincial cricket team's homeground. Doesn't have a dropin pitch like the stadium either so the cricket block would get ruined by football, and it would be a potential injury hazard to footballers too

 

way better for cricket than the caketin though

 

it shouldn't of been a problem anyway. They should of designed Westpac Stadium to be a specialized rugby crowd which is a football ground as well. The stadium was sold out for rugby games for the 1st few years. Rugby should of always been the stadiums priority in the 1st placed the All Blacks games are the biggest money maker for that place. Don't know why they thought they were going to get 36k in for cricket games on the regular. But that was a stuff up years ago. Maybe the Phoenix and WRFU should just butt heads and get it transformed. With Newtown park being a temporary venue for the year, but you would miss out on 2 sell out All Black tests In that time which is a massive money maker for that stadium. At this point they can right it off as a cricket ground, couldn't even get decent numbers against India. Basin Reserve is where everyone wants to watch cricket in Wellington, instead of being in concrete and plastic isles. I believe building at Petone Rec you could have stands on both sides and a grassy mould at one end of the ground for the standing faithful. 

Sorry to hijack the thread but this is the most exciting prospect to happen since the rising of the Phoenix and the Hutt Valley in a long time.

Screw the grassy knoll.  We want roofs.

Haha yeah good call. Another point I want to reemphasize is how far away you are from the game. With 55 inch HDTV's being quite affordable. It is really a put off going to the cake tin and the players are smaller than they would be on your tv. I want to be meters away from the game. So the opposition cant think over the chanting. 

Oops double post.

Any Phoenix fans from Hutt Valley that are in favour of a stadium in Petone. Email the Hutt City Council at [email protected] and let them know. 

I dunno man,Gareth Morgan is someone that likes to get things done. His main complaint is how far you are from the pitch and Westpac stadium aint going to change that anytime soon. The WRFU could get behind it as well so you have Lions matches at the new stadium as well.

In an ideal world it'd be across from the stadium, where all those logs are. 15000 and rectangular. Big games we just shift across the road. I'm sure the lions would use it too. 

So many obstacles to overcome for that to happen though. But in a dream world, it would be brilliant.