Monday, October 09, 2006

Stand up for the boys in...

The capacity of Eden Park needs to be increased by 25% for the 2011 World Cup.

This is expected to cost NZD320 million - for which the NZ taxpayer and/or the ratepayers are being hit up (for some reason the NZRB are suddenly too poor to afford more than 10mil - they didn't seem to mention this when they bid for the cup?)

There does seem to be a simpler solution to increasing capacity - take all the seats out. I'd reckon this would provide comfortable standing for at least 25% more people. (UK soccer grounds had more than twice today's capacities before they went all-seater).

And if the players are expected to run around for 80 minutes, can't the spectators be expected to stand up for that long? Also, the NZRB would be able to save on having stewards to get people to sit down.

No comments: