KEY POINTS:
Rugby World Cup organisers feared in December that New Zealand could lose the hosting rights for the 2011 event, official papers show.
New Zealand lost sub-hosting rights to the 2003 Rugby World Cup after failing to guarantee advertising-free stadiums. Australia went on to host the event on its
own.
In the run-up to Christmas, Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee put the cat among the pigeons with a suggestion that the main venue for the 2011 cup be Mt Smart Stadium rather than Eden Park.
This prompted an immediate and stern response from Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden.
"Any delay to the Eden Park redevelopment project at this critical, and very late, stage will only serve to call into question our ability to host the event and potentially put that privilege at serious risk.
"Any reopening of the debate on alternative venues at this point would severely damage New Zealand's credibility in both the eyes of the IRB [International Rugby Board] and the rugby world," Mr Snedden said in a letter to Rugby World Cup Minister Clayton Cosgrove on December 14.
Similar warnings were made to the chief executives of the regional council and Auckland City Council, all of which were included in documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act.
The documents show Mr Lee put a proposal "very late in the piece" to Mr Cosgrove on December 11 for the Government to take a fresh look at upgrading the ARC-owned Mt Smart Stadium as the main venue for the cup and a venue for hosting a Commonwealth Games. Mt Smart was considered in 2006 when the Government looked at alternatives sites to Eden Park and opted for a new waterfront stadium.
The ARC played a key role in rejecting the waterfront proposal, which led the Government to go back to Eden Park in November 2006.
In his December proposal, Mr Lee said the high and escalating cost and limited legacy of redeveloping Eden Park made Mt Smart a more cost-effective and more attractive long-term option for the region.
Mr Cosgrove reacted to Mr Snedden's worries by writing to Mr Lee and rejecting the Mt Smart proposal.
The minister quoted Mr Snedden's concerns about putting New Zealand's hosting rights at risk, queried the ability to redevelop Mt Smart by 2011 and said the Eden Park redevelopment was "now too advanced to contemplate other options".
The documents also show that resource consent concerns were behind the cost of upgrading Eden Park rising from $197 million in May 2007 to $241 million in December.
The board approved additional design options to avoid another round of public notification.
