When it comes to attracting headline music acts, Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin is punching well above its demographic weight, writes Murray Stott.
Dreams of a waterfront stadium in Auckland have been revived, despite this being an economic dead duck, and Eden Park has become an economic white elephant.
What happens in our largest city regarding stadium bookings is of import here in Dunedin, given most headline acts and/or consumer shows will either book, or have, an Auckland presence.
Eden Park's chief executive has outlined the benefits of his stadium's location and logistics ability in terms of hosting large concerts, along with their extra revenue potential - $7million earnings from a major concert versus only $4million from an All Black test.
A number of barriers to entry remain, such as injunctions from neighbours.
A $10million sound curtain purchased at the time of the Rugby World Cup remains in expensive storage. I have experienced first hand how these sound curtains work when in Sydney for the 1983 Paul Dainty-promoted David Bowie concert at the Sydney Showgounds.
Forsyth Barr Stadium's roof negates such local objections.
A major problem remains: large concerts for headline acts, capable of filling Eden Park's capacity of 50,000, are not on the entertainment industry radar, for Auckland.
Stadium rock is now more of a memory than a means of putting bums on seats. Long gone are the days when we would get 60,000 in Christchurch for U2 and Dire Straits and when Western Springs hosted 60,000 fans for Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, much less the nearly 80,000 for David Bowie back in 1983.
The Auckland Council bought 10,000 permanent seats for its Mt Smart stadium before the Rolling Stones concert in 2015, thus increasing the seating capacity of the venue to 47,000, although only 37,000 turned up on the night.
This was in contrast to 2006, when a capacity 50,000 fans turned up on two concurrent nights to see the iconic band at Western Springs. Eden Park might best be advised to plot another way forward.
Not only are large concert attendances now in decline, the ability to hedge with a booking model for two nights of 12,000 against one at 25,000 is now demonstrably the preferred booking option for today's market-leading promoters.
Auckland's Vector Arena has the perfect undercover venue for this preferred model. Perhaps this is why the world's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, which also owns Ticketmaster - worldwide turnover $US8billion ($NZ11.4billion)-plus per annum - acquired the management rights to this venue last November.
Its commitment to this arena is evidenced by the proposed name change to Spark Arena next April, given it is easer to sell concert tickets from a mobile phone network, than from a matrix of smart-power meters.
Clearly, if Live Nation hasn't yet wooed Eden Park for bookings, given its worldwide management portfolio of more than 2000 acts, including Madonna, Fleetwood Mac, Iron Maiden and U2, then it would appear 50,000 headline-act sellouts at Eden Park will remain only a dream.
Conversely, Dunedin's Forsyth Bar Stadium is punching well above its demographic weight, against much larger, but more fragmented, Auckland.
It staged a Fleetwood Mac concert attracting 37,000 people on a Wednesday night and is exploring the prospect of staging a soon-to-be-announced concert expected to attract a record gate of 38,000. Dunedin, therefore, is creating its own positively charged dynamic for one-off sellout concerts.
Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive Terry Davies has established a good working relationship with Live Nation, and the stadium is bathing in the glory of the Highlanders' outstanding winning performances.
Global marketing correlations support the notion of stadium home-team wins resulting in increased attendances.
DVML has also now formed a commercial partnership with Allied Press Ltd (publisher of the ODT) in putting on The Great Kiwi Home and Living Show, for which, I understand, local businesses are eagerly booking space to show their products and services.
This exhibition will have the ability to cover market sectors from indoor and outdoor home and leisure products to the motoring and marine sectors, and has the real prospect of ongoing commercial success, given there is a gap in the Dunedin market for such an exposition.
Such a partnership is a logical move for both parties. Consider London's iconic Daily Mail Ideal Home Show; Christchurch Star's Home Show and long-running Daily Post Home Show at Rotorua, which I visited last week, to witness the show's high energy.
The formula of consumer exhibitions forming successful media partnerships is long proven. A show like this caters for our offline tactile requirements of being able to smell the leather, feel the heat and taste the sausage.
And while ratepayers remain in the red over the Forsyth Barr Stadium build, astute management has put it on the map of blue skies with major concert promoters and they are vigorously exploring all options to ensure the facility never becomes relegated to white elephant status like Eden Park - in a fashion similar to the Highlanders thrashing the Blues.
-Murray Stott is a trademark agent and global sponsorship broker.
