SHIFTING GEARS
SPEEDWAY TO LEAVE WESTERN SPRINGS
Speedway is moving out of Western Springs to a site in Wiri near Auckland Airport. Cricket will almost certainly move in, with a new 15,000-20,000 capacity stadium.
Speedway is moving out of Western Springs. The roar of the cars is to end, and is set to be replaced by the thwack of leather on willow as the venue becomes an international cricket ground.
Mayor Phil Goff will today join with Speedway Promotions director Bill Buckley and Regional Facilities Auckland (RFA) boss Chris Brooks to sign an agreement to end 90 years of motorsport in the city-fringe location.
At the end of summer 2019-20, Speedway will move to a new purpose-built home near the airport.
The agreement breaks a deadlock between Auckland Council and Speedway Promotions and allows the council to proceed with its new major stadiums strategy.
Western Springs is proposed as the home for all forms of cricket, with a new oval playing field and new stands. It would remain a venue for concerts and the home of the Ponsonby Rugby Football Club.
This would allow the return to Auckland of a full schedule of international cricket fixtures.
Eden Park, in turn, would lose cricket but could host more concerts.
The move to a new site in South Auckland had previously been rejected by Speedway Promotions. As recently as March this year it was appealing to supporters to lobby council so it could stay at Western Springs. But with its lease at the park due to expire next year, the company went back to the council to reopen negotiations.
Goff told the Herald: “I’m delighted we’ve been able to get the discussions back on track, and I want to give credit to Speedway. This deal was done at their instigation.”
He confirmed that the new home for speedway would be Colin Dale Motorsport Park in Wiri, off Puhinui Rd, east of the airport.
“Colin Dale Park provides a longterm future for open-wheel speedway,” said Speedway Promotions codirector Greg Mosen. The precinct is already used for off-road racing, karting, BMX, motocross, remotecontrolled racing and jetsprint.
“Speedway needs to grow as a sport,” he said. “This will allow us to do that.”
Mayor Goff said: “Speedway has been constrained at the current site to 12 meetings a season. At the new site, away from any population centres, it should be able to do far more.”
With Speedway Promotions agreeing to go, the council will extend its lease by one year to allow time for the new site to be developed.
Brooks called the agreement “a really great outcome”.
Goff said the cost of the move was “probably $12 or $13 million”. He thought about $5m would come from RFA and $5m from council directly. Mosen acknowledged Speedway would pay some of the cost too.
Turning Western Springs into a cricket venue will require extra funding.
“There’s nothing in the budget for the development of an oval playing field,” said Clow. “Government will have to help with that.” The cost is not yet known.
The new cricket stadium would have a 15,000 to 20,000 capacity: “About the size of Hagley Park.”
NZ Cricket has long been keen on moving to Western Springs. Only three test matches have been played in Auckland in the last 10 years, due to Eden Park being judged too small.
But Auckland Cricket, which is based at Eden Park and uses the number two ground, is opposed to shifting. That disagreement will need to be resolved.
Clow said Speedway Promotions’ decision to move “unlocks the stadium strategy”. That strategy was developed by RFA with a focus on four venues. Western Springs is one of them. In addition to cricket, it would host Australian Rules Football, which was keen to expand into New Zealand.
The Eden Park Trust Board is keen on hosting more big concerts, and Clow said he hoped the departure of cricket would make that possible.
But it’s an interim step. In time, RFA favours a new “international stadium” somewhere near the downtown transport hub.
This is the stadium Goff has been promoting. Once it was built, Eden Park would be sold and the land used for housing.
But it’s not likely to happen anytime soon: There’s no money for a new stadium in the council’s new 2018-28 budget.
The third stadium in the strategy is Mt Smart, home to the Vodafone Warriors and currently the main venue for big concerts. The fourth stadium is the QBE Stadium in Albany, home to NZ Football and North Harbour Rugby.