For the second week in a row, our team is preparing to make history at Eden Park.
Last week, we announced that Bruno Mars will perform three concerts here next March, including a Sunday show that would not have been possible under our previous planning rules.
This week, our focus has shifted from one of the world’s biggest artists to one of New Zealand’s most passionately supported teams.
On Sunday, thousands of rugby league fans will fill Eden Park as the One NZ Warriors take on the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL) finals series. It will be the first NRL finals match hosted here and has the potential to become the largest rugby league crowd New Zealand has ever seen – 47,363 people watched the Kiwis play Australia in the 1988 Rugby League World Cup final at Eden Park.
For the Eden Park team, the opportunity isn’t simply about welcoming a bigger crowd; it is about taking an occasion that already means so much to Warriors supporter and thinking about how we can bring Eden Park alive around it.
Warriors fans have built something incredibly special around their team – a passionate and unmistakable culture that has become one of the great stories in New Zealand sport. This is their finals campaign, their team and their occasion, and our role at Eden Park is to provide the stage and create the opportunity for even more supporters to be part of it.
That means thinking beyond what happens on the field and considering the entire experience from the moment people arrive. From 1.00pm on Sunday, our Outer Oval will become a Warriors fan zone with live music, entertainment, activities, food and beverages, creating a place where supporters can come together and build the atmosphere well before kick-off.
For me, that is an increasingly important part of what a major stadium should offer. The experience of attending a major event doesn’t begin when you scan your ticket at the gate, and it doesn’t end when the final whistle blows. Irrespective of whether it’s a sporting event or concert, fans increasingly want to be part of the anticipation that builds around a major occasion – meeting friends, having something to eat or drink and soaking up the atmosphere as thousands of people come together for a shared experience.
Our outer oval provides a unique opportunity to create that experience. Sitting right beside the hallowed turf, this space is the perfect spot for a fan zone, complementing Kingsland and the surrounding neighbourhood that allow the atmosphere to extend beyond our gates.
The timing of Sunday’s game couldn’t be better. Coming just one week after the opening of the City Rail Link, supporters from across Auckland will have another way to travel to Kingsland and Eden Park. This connectivity gives people the opportunity to arrive earlier, spend time in the precinct and enjoy the build-up, while also helping our city move large numbers of people efficiently to and from major events.
There is also something particularly exciting about having only seven days to bring all of this together. Since the match was confirmed, our team has been working closely with the Warriors and the NRL across ticketing, transport, security, broadcast, hospitality, fan experience and venue operations to ensure the experience feels unmistakably Warriors.
I’ve truly valued the opportunity to get to know the Warriors team better, understand how they operate and, importantly, understand what matters to their supporters. Our responsibility isn’t simply to open the gates and provide a field, it is to take the character and energy that Warriors fans bring and give them the space to make Eden Park their own.
This is one of the things I enjoy most about what we do. Our diverse event calendar means we welcome very different sports teams, artists, audiences and communities, and each brings its own identity, expectations and energy. Our role is to understand what matters to them and think differently about how we use the stadium and surrounding precinct to create an experience that feels like it belongs to the people who are here.
On Sunday, that means thousands of passionate Wahs fans packing our stands and gathering on the Outer Oval, with the atmosphere building throughout the afternoon and all the way to kick-off.
For one afternoon, Eden Park becomes the Wah-Den of Eden – and I can’t wait to see it come alive.
