New Sky Stadium CEO Warrick Dent keen to bring Sevens back to Wellington

Bringing the Sevens back to the capital is an option on the table for the stadium’s new chief executive.

Warrick Dent is replacing Shane Harmon as the chief executive of Sky Stadium - the latter departing after a decade.

Dent told Newstalk ZB the Wellington Sevens was well-liked in the past, and he is keen on resurrecting it or bringing an event of similar size to the capital.

“It was a really popular event in Wellington in the past and I’m sure that if there’s an opportunity for an event such as that or other events and sporting events to come to Wellington, we will look at those with great interest.”

He acknowledged it was a tough economic climate with the cost of living hitting everyone hard - but Dent said he was keen to work with key event partners to “keep delivering great content”.

“Wellingtonians love to get out to events, whether those are sporting events, music events, cultural events but also we’re very aware that no one’s isolated or insulated from the current economic challenges we have …. And I think if you deliver great event content and unique events, people will continue to attend those events.”

The Sevens was last held in the Capital in 2017 and moved to Hamilton in 2018.

In December last year, New Zealand was dropped from the list of destinations by the Sevens World Series in favour of more “iconic” destinations.

New Zealand’s final event as hosts was in January 2023 when the event returned to Hamilton for the first time since 2020.

However, a focus on driving fan and commercial growth on the newly formatted World Sevens Series was the driving factor behind World Rugby opting not to return to New Zealand beyond the 2023 tournament.

“The future series is focused on driving fan and commercial growth, enabling greater investment to be put back into the rugby sevens ecosystem for the benefit of all participating unions, teams and players,” a spokesperson said in January.

World Rugby would not provide further detail as to why the New Zealand leg would be scrapped while discussions were ongoing with other prospective hosts.

Phil Sprey, a former concert promoter who brought the likes of Elton John to the Capital, told the Herald he thought the glory days of the Sevens were long gone and “a lot of changes” would be needed to consider bringing them back.

“Overzealous policing killed the party atmosphere of the Sevens and looking at domestic rugby, it doesn’t attract the audiences that it used to - the whole game needs to be kicked back to life.”

World Rugby has been contacted for further comment on the Sevens.

Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.