Bob Harvey: We want more than a hangover after the Cup

Eden Park should impress our visitors. Photo / Richard Robinson

Opinion

Auckland's mayors toured the upgraded Eden Park Stadium recently. We all said such a magnificent facility needed to show itself off to the world. And I wondered why the Government pulled the plug on a bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

For the last five years we have been breaking our backs to get world class infrastructure in place for the Rugby World Cup. The whole of Auckland's rail line will be duplicated with state-of-the-art rail stations at Newmarket and New Lynn.

Public transport ticketing will be integrated. An entire motorway and bridge have been constructed in Mangere. The excitement is building.

But once the party is over there is nothing else on the horizon. This city doesn't need the legacy of Beijing in China. Right now, its architecturally astonishing Bird's Nest stadium serves only as the Happy Ice and Snow Season snow park.

After that it will be converted into a shopping centre. That is fine for China, for its economy knows no bounds and doesn't have to compete for the development dollar. We do, and will always have to.

That's why we should look at Hackney in London. Its 2012 Olympic Games stadium is going to be one of that city's most important regeneration projects.

London understands the business of legacy. It is using this one truly great event to give a new future to its most depressed suburbs and inject new life into local economies.

Young people will see new opportunities to be medical specialists, coaches, managers, publicists, fitness trainers, elite technicians, psychologists, facilities operators and managers. Sport really is an industry, and it is real, far beyond being an athlete.

Even a little Commonwealth Games legacy initiative, like the continued support for sports club development in Victoria, Australia, doesn't seem to be in the picture here. It's as if New Zealand has just caught a huge fish, knows it's going to land it in the boat, but is too afraid to put the line in the water to hook another one.

If you want to see the long-term economic benefits of big-scale sporting infrastructure, look at Auckland's waterfront.

In the mid-1980s, the then Labour Government passed legislation to enable the construction of the American Express America's Cup basin.

It was a highly significant project, built so we could propose hosting the America's Cup. More than 20 years later, we have a greatly intensified harbour edge. The world's best match racing teams come to our shores to test their skills and machines against ours.

For the last two months we have seen huge global publicity, television, and national pride as - yet again - the New Zealand team won against the world. That's 20 years of economic legacy from one Government having a vision.

The other part of that legacy is a world-beating marine industry for competition yachts, superyachts, and marine technology that isn't just based in Auckland but across the North Island's main centres. There is a proven relationship between infrastructure, sporting events, Government intervention and long-term economic gain.

That is the opportunity we have just said no to collectively. I respect fully that as a country we are strapped for cash and have to make strictly financial decisions. But we are already running a severe risk that next year's huge party will leave us with a hangover, and not the common wealth we deserve.

* Bob Harvey is Mayor of Waitakere.