Dana Johannsen: Wellington Sevens in dire need of speedy fix

The difficulty promoters are having getting bums on seats in the Cake Tin confirms what we already knew about the Wellington Sevens - it has never been about the rugby. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's biggest costume party of the year appears to be in danger of losing its billing.

Ticket sales for next year's Wellington Sevens have been so poor (less than half the 30,000 two-day passes had been sold at last check) that organisers have slashed prices to try to woo the punters back. For a tournament that has traditionally sold out in minutes, the waning interest from fans over the past two years is a worrying trend for the event.

Even KC and the Sunshine Band don't want to be a part of it. And they don't get invited anywhere these days.

The growing indifference to the tournament comes at a time when there should be more interest than ever in the sevens circuit. With the sport set to debut at the Rio Olympics in 2016, competition over the next 18 months is set to intensify as the increased resources nations are now throwing at their sevens programmes begins to bear fruit.

The difficulty promoters are having getting bums on seats in the Cake Tin confirms what we already knew about the Wellington Sevens - it has never been about the rugby. The competition in the stands to come up with the most hilarious/creative/ironic outfit and getting among the carnage on the concourse hold far more interest for the "revellers". Up until the past couple of years, that is.

While organisers are hopeful reducing ticket prices will be the answer to luring back the fans, that appears unlikely to be the case with Auckland finally getting its act together when it comes to hosting major events.

The Wellington tournament is now competing for fans with, among other events, the NRL Nines - a show that is one up on the sevens as it features both booze and big names.

Next year the sevens are also competing for the sports fans' dollar with the Cricket World Cup, coming to a town near you.

Resurrecting the tired sevens tournament is not going to be easy, but organisers will need to come up with a solution quickly before another enterprising New Zealand city gets in on the action.

So after the big show Chicago made of embracing the All Blacks and all things New Zealand rugby - a welcome message on an electronic billboard, Richie McCaw going to the ice hockey, Kieran Read stealing a cop's horse, Richie McCaw going to the basketball, a big gala dinner - we still end up getting mistaken for Australians. They wish Chicago, they wish.

To save any future confusion, we'll break it down for you: Australian Rugby = Wallabies, yellow jerseys, voracious whatsapp users, rotate coaches on a regular basis. New Zealand Rugby = All Blacks, world champions, have an actual team manager.

This could just be the Halloween punch talking, but I have a sneaking suspicion Kieran Foran could end up at the Warriors. The Warriors have denied the Kiwis captain is coming to the club after team owner Eric Watson tweeted a welcome message to Foran. But if their recent track record of communications is anything to go by, a denial means Foran is a sure-fire signing.