Mr Echave said the music festival was desperately looking at options and would like to stay in the city, where 75 per cent of its audience was Auckland based.
"One way or another we will make the event work. Where we make it work is the only uncertainty.
"We certainly have had some serious approaches from the likes of Wellington and Christchurch to take the event elsewhere," he said.
Mr Echave said the festival looked at Albert Park before the Domain came up as a possible new location. The idea was not supported by council, but it was now being put back on the table, he said.
"We are going into a lengthy resource consent process where there are a number of stakeholders including the university and so on, and I don't know if we have got the time," Mr Echave said.
Ateed general manager of external relations Steve Armitage said the Auckland Lantern Festival's resource consent for Albert Park expired at the conclusion of the 2015 event.
"After reviewing the 2015 festival, with input from operational partners like the Police and Auckland Transport, Ateed concluded that the crowd density this popular festival attracts has reached a level that poses health, safety and traffic risks in the Albert Park location.
"Ateed and its event partner Asia New Zealand Foundation are now looking at moving the festival to a new location. The Auckland Domain is currently our preferred venue, and Ateed is proposing to move the festival there. Ateed is currently talking to a range of stakeholders about this intended move.
Mr Armitage said Ateed appreciates that the Laneway Festival has also expressed an interest in moving to the Auckland Domain. and has no objection.
"Any major event in the Domain would need resource consent and the permission of the Auckland Domain Committee as the land owner representative," he said.
This afternoon, the council's Auckland Domain Committee will discuss the two events.
A council report has suggested the Domain as a new home for the events, but one council leader is opposed to the public park and home of the Auckland War Memorial Museum being fenced off for a commercial event such as the Laneway Festival.
Waitemata Local Board chairman Shale Chambers said the Domain had been closed to the public only twice for fireworks displays as part of the Auckland Arts Festival, but would make a perfect home for the Lantern Festival, a free public event.
The Lantern Festival has been held at Albert Park since 2000 and has become one of the city's biggest and most popular cultural events. But it has become a victim of its own success with large night-time crowds cramming into the park and resulting traffic problems.
Silo Park at Wynyard Quarter is the third venue for the Laneway Festival after Britomart in 2010 and Aotea Square in 2011.
About 12,000 people attended the 2014 event, but organisers must find a new home as work starts on the first residential development at Wynyard Quarter.
The report said the Domain was suited to meet a growing demand for city-based events, but the planning rules permitted only three large-scale events.
They included Christmas in the Park and the Auckland Arts Festival, suggesting only one further large-scale event could be held.
The Domain has 19 artificial wickets, making it the largest and most used cricket ground in Auckland.
It is also heavily used by football over summer and by rugby, football and league during winter.
Guidelines for events have been developed for Victoria Park and it is recommended similar event guidelines be developed for the Domain.
