Rugby World Cup rules mean temporary seating at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin will have to be in place for each game of the tournament, whether it is needed or not.
That rule will mean an extra cost for Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML), which runs the stadium, as some of the seating will be hired, and high demand for temporary seating during the world cup means prices will be at a premium.
DVML chief executive David Davies yesterday said the Rugby World Cup contract, signed well before he was hired to run the stadium, included a rule every stadium in New Zealand had to have maximum seating capacity for every game.
That meant Forsyth Barr Stadium would have more than 30,000 seats in place for the Scotland v Georgia game, as well as Italy v Ireland and the game between England and either Uruguay or Romania, whether ticket sales reached that number or not.
Mr Davies said it was not known how much having all seats in place would cost, as the contract for providing temporary, or "relocatable", seating had not been completed.
The stadium would own a percentage of the relocatable seating, but the rest would be hired, and the final decisions on those issues were yet to be confirmed.
Mr Davies said he understood demand for temporary seating during the world cup was such that some would be brought in from Australia.
"It's always going to be costly when you have seats in," he said.
