Fran O'Sullivan: Auckland weak link in cup preparations

Websites are listing Queen's Wharf as the main festival site even though it is far from ready. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Remember the national excitement when five years ago, the New Zealand rugby bosses and Helen Clark's Government announced New Zealand would mount a bid to host Rugby World Cup 2011?

The Kiwi tournament would be different to its international predecessors. The bid partners promised a "stadium of four million" and an "all rugby" experience, an environment where the players could perform at their very best, rugby facilities that would be excellent and close at hand and a tournament based on traditional rugby values.

There was much more - a tournament for visiting fans, superb broadcasting coverage and a unique commercial partnership between rugby and the Government.

Six months later the International Rugby Union bought into the dream.

Rugby-mad Kiwis rejoiced - New Zealand was away. For Kiwis who are not rugby fans there was still an upside: the economic benefits that would flow through to the country as the upside of hosting the world's third-largest sporting event.

But while the rest of the country has since demonstrated it has the ability to creatively leverage a class sporting opportunity, New Zealand's prime commercial hub - Auckland - still can't get its act together.

Even before this week's kerfuffle over the grandiosely named "party central", there had been plenty of historic tensions. First, over former Sports Minister Trevor Mallard's proposal to build a stunning waterfront stadium with the help of a big dob of Government cash.

Divisions between the Auckland Regional Council and the Auckland City Council scuppered that plan. Tensions rose again when the Eden Park board bid for Government money to expand the stadium to host the major RWC matches.

The scuffle over broadcasting rights was finally settled when the Government approved an option for all three Auckland-based television networks to share in the television coverage.

There was another sour note when stories emerged over how greedy Aucklanders wanted to stiff the visitors by charging them exorbitant rates for accommodation.

But nothing beats the madness of the bizarre wrangling over plans to host a major Auckland CBD fan zone - "party central" - at Queens Wharf.

I've never been a fan of this particular proposal. It always seemed that lurking in the background, the Prime Minister was keen to make a political point that his Government could succeed in getting a classy new structure on one of the prime Auckland finger wharves for Rugby World Cup - whereas Labour couldn't.

Despite this week's kerfuffle, official websites are still advertising the "stunningly located" Queens Wharf as the festival venue for RWC 2011 - the main fanzone site capable of hosting up to 20,000 people and the focus for a mass public celebration around the opening ceremony and match. But at issue is why the Government and the Auckland Regional Council would go down this path in the first place when there were other options. Aotea Centre for one had earlier been earmarked by Auckland City Council as a fanzone. There are other options: The events centre already under way in Halsey St and Vector Arena.

Fundamentally, a decision needs to be made, and fast, so that the World Rugby Cup organisers can get on with preparing for the tournament and leave the way clear for the incoming Auckland Council and its waterfront agency to make considered decisions on what is the best use for this stellar piece of Auckland real estate (Queens Wharf). The economic upside is compelling. In the depths of the global financial crisis it appeared as if rugby fans might be too cash-strapped to travel to New Zealand from vast distances.

But indications are that about 70,000 international visitors will arrive next year for the rugby tournament, topping the 65,000 who visited Australia for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. A report on that tournament estimated it generated A$494 million ($610 million) in additional industry sales in the Australian economy from 48 matches spread across 10 cities.

Nearly 5000 additional full and part-time jobs were created and the tournament was estimated to have contributed an additional A$289 million to additional gross domestic product to the Australian economy.

It is worth doing this well. There is still the issue of what to do about the cruise ships. Right now the simplest option might seem to be to flossy up one of the sheds into a temporary cruise ship terminal to host three tournament-dedicated cruise ships contracted to provide accommodation for 5500 fans who have purchased through the official travel programme. The ships will boost accommodation during the quarter-finals, semifinals and final peak. Two will berth in Wellington and one in Christchurch for the quarter-finals. But all three cruise ships will travel to Auckland for the semifinals and final.

It's unclear that Auckland does need to build a new terminal to cope with this influx. Or that Queens Wharf is the best site for a fully fledged cruise terminal to service the industry.

But this is surely a decision for the new Auckland Council - not the Government and a regional body that will go out of existence within four months.