Hamilton will replace Wellington as the location of the annual New Zealand Sevens tournament from 2018 onwards.
The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise, having been forecast from some time. Wellington has hosted the tournament since 2000, but had seen declining crowds in recent years.
Hamilton mayor Andrew King was understandably excited.
“The financial reward for the city is huge,” said King.
“Hamilton City Council is making the stadium available for a weekend where it would have been empty. There is no risk or cost for the rate payers.”
Having seen less and less people come to the event in recent years, Wellington mayor Justin Lester admitted that a change had to be made.
“The Sevens has been a big part of recent Wellington history, but it was time for the event to move on. The feedback we’d been getting from the public was that the event in Wellington seemed to have lost its allure,” Lester said.
“Wellingtonians have been voting with their feet in the last few years and we’ve seen the result in dwindling crowd numbers and lower ticket sales. It might be that the best thing is for the event to get a fresh start somewhere else and re-invent itself.
“For us, Wellington’s events calendar needs to be constantly evolving to keep people’s interest and this decision gives us an opportunity to refresh our events and look at new opportunities.
“We’ll now be focused on developing new events that highlight the things we most love about our city – from our growing tech sector, our sports, our strong arts and culture scene and our world class food and drink offerings.”
Nigel Cass, New Zealand Rugby’s Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, was enthusiastic about the change.
“Hamilton and the Waikato region are rugby mad and we’re looking forward to introducing international sevens to the local community and for visiting fans from around New Zealand to experience the heart of rugby in New Zealand,” said Cass.
“We are confident our partners in Hamilton will deliver an exceptional tournament that fans will love on the weekend of 3 and 4 February.”
Cass said it wasn’t an easy decision to move the tournament way from Wellington, and paid tribute to those who had made it a success there in the past.
“We delivered 18 years of good times and great tournaments in the capital, thanks to the exceptional teams we worked with at Wellington City Council, WREDA, Westpac Stadium, Police, hospitality industry and our fantastic volunteers. I have nothing but praise for all those who contributed to the Wellington Sevens for almost two decades.”
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