This story first appeared on RNZ.
A soft turnout for Saturday’s All Blacks game against Argentina is probably a reflection of the state of Wellington’s economy, an economist says.
There was a 25,000 crowd for the game, which was the lowest level recorded in Wellington since the All Blacks took on Fiji in 2002 at Westpac Trust Stadium, or since they played Argentina at Athletic Park in 1997, Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said.
He said the 72 percent capacity was also the worst since the second test versus Australia in August 2021, which was moved last minute from Perth because of the trans-Tasman bubble closing.
“For that game, turnout was only 50 percent of capacity, given the very limited lead-in time and the fact Eden Park had hosted the same game the week before to a sell-out crowd. Before that it was the 60 percent capacity turnout for All Blacks vs Tonga at Mt Smart, and then it takes until the test vs Fiji at Carisbrook in Dunedin in July 2011 to get a lower turnout again - 62 percent.”
He said it was probably a reflection of the Wellington economy rather than the country as a whole, because the All Blacks’ tests against England in Dunedin and Auckland in July effectively sold out.
“But as money becomes tighter, and Wellington faces a triple-hit of higher interest rates, a shift to working from home and public sector cost savings - hitting both private sector consultants in the city and the public sector workforce, with pressure hitting households hard, people are looking at ways to limit spending, and entertainment spending is a key area where households might pull back spending from.”
He said as households cut back on spending things that were “nice to have” would be the first to be cut.
“The tourist travel, the sport games. Not only do you have to pay for those but all the other things - you probably need to pay for parking, dinner out, drinks and chips at the stadium... it’s not just a more expensive ticket, it’s a more expensive everything.
“Staying at home, having dinner at home and having Sky, especially if you’re one of those households where one gets Sky and three families come around and watch together, that’s probably not an unattractive option at the moment.”
He said it would be interesting to see how attendance stacked up at the next game in Auckland.
“On one hand, you could see more people going because they’ve just beaten us and we’re looking to get revenge... it’s been 30 years since we were beaten at Eden Park, we might see a few more people. But people might be tight on money and not go as well.”
Olsen said he had attended Saturday’s game and it was notable that the crowd number was not flashed up on screen like it normally would have been.
- - RNZ