RNZ 2011 CEO Update – July 2008
The decisions as to where the RWC 2011 Quarter Finals and the Bronze Final will be played are going to be difficult. The ultimate decision-making authority for this rests with the board of Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) and will be influenced by the recommendations made by the board of RNZ 2011. The RWCL board meets in September and, if all goes according to plan, these allocation decisions will be made at that time and announced by RNZ 2011 soon after.
RWCL have indicated to us that they want the Bronze Final, which is the playoff between the beaten semi-finalists for 3rd place on the day before the Final, to be played either at the venue for the Final, Eden Park, or otherwise within or close to Auckland.
This is consistent with the approach taken for RWC 2003 and RWC 2007 and, mainly for logistical reasons, makes good sense. We are anticipating that there will be 30-35,000 overseas visitors and thousands of domestic visitors in the Auckland region for the Semi Finals and Final, being held at Eden Park. We need to ensure that we can cope with the resulting transport and accommodation demands, so we agree with RWCL’s approach to this issue.
Accordingly, subject to the regional hosting proposals coming in on 17 July, the likely venue options for the Bronze Final will be Eden Park, North Harbour Stadium on Auckland’s North Shore, or Waikato Stadium in Hamilton.
Each of the Quarter Finals will be played in larger New Zealand cities, rather than towns. We have no doubt that Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch will be expressing strong interest. Once again, part of the decision-making process requires both RNZ 2011 and RWCL to be certain that the host cities have the infrastructural strength to cope with the anticipated demands on the playing venue, training facilities, transport and accommodation.
RWCL have indicated to us that their preference is for two cities to be used, with each city hosting two Quarter Finals. This happened in Australia in 2003 where Melbourne and Brisbane both hosted two Quarter Finals before Sydney hosted the Semi Finals, Bronze Final and the RWC 2003 Final. In contrast, three venues were used last year in France, with Marseille hosting a double-header weekend and Cardiff and Paris hosting one Quarter Final each.
RNZ 2011’s position is that, whilst it is highly unlikely that we would seek to use four different cities for the Quarter Finals, we would prefer to wait to see what is in the regional hosting proposals due in mid July before we form a view about whether our preference would be to use two or three cities.
We advised the potential host regions that their hosting proposals will be assessed by us against criteria linked to RNZ 2011’s four strategic goals:
- Delivering an operationally excellent tournament;
- Achieving capacity crowds and achieving the budgeted financial result or better;
- Inspiring a nationwide Rugby World Cup festival; and
- Creating enduring benefits.
There are tensions between those strategic goals and, as a result, there is a delicate balancing exercise to be undertaken when we are assessing the various hosting proposals and venue allocation options. Each strategic goal is important in its own right and there is a significant inter-relationship between each. The challenge here, of course, is for both RNZ 2011 and RWCL, having undertaken that balancing exercise, to come up with the right allocation mix.
Whatever the outcome of this part of the Match and Team Allocation process, what we do know is that, when all the venues for all 48 tournament matches and 20 team bases have been decided and announced later next year there will be an excellent spread throughout New Zealand. A large percentage of New Zealanders will have relatively close access to the tournament and to the festival. This is critical for us and we will be working to that end over the next year or so.
Martin Snedden
Chief Executive, Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd
