Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Nick Sautner: Eden Park Chief Executive on the boost in funds for large-scale events

Transcript

Nick Sautner: Eden Park Chief Executive on the boost in funds for large-scale events · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the government seventy million dollars supercharged. The events and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: tourism funded includes forty million that's ring fence to lure
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the likes of Taylor Swift and Coldplays and Pearl Jams
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: from twenty twenty six. Nixt Saortner is Eden Park CEO.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: To react, Nick, good.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Morning, Good morning Ryan, Thanks for your time.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Could you put that money into context? How does it
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: compare with past funds and our competitors.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Well, we welcome the PM's announcement yesterday. This is great
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: news for business. Historically, music content hasn't been available to
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: attract funding from central government, so it hasn't been available
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: for us to go out and secure content. Globally, it's
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: been focused more on the sports and major event content
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: like World Cup. So this is a paradigm cheft for us.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: It makes us competitive with the East Coast of Australia.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Similar funds are available in the likes of Britain and
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Sydney and Melbourne, so and we Eden Park is uniquely
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: positioned now capitalize on this opportunity.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Nick, who's on your wish list?
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Well, for me personally, any concert that we've seen at
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Eden Park has been magnificent. When you look at Pink Billy, Joel, Coldplay,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Duns and Roses, they've all been phenomenal and already the
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: local businesses are pumped as you can imagine after COVID
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: there has been a challenge for the hospitality sector. Only
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: two weekends ago. You look at what we're able to
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: deliver with the likes of the sold out all Black
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: tests at the Fortress. Some of the local businesses said
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: it was their biggest day ever in terms of hospitality spend.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: So this is a great announcement. Since the Rugby World
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Cup at Eden Park, we've delivered over a billion dollars
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: of gendp benefit of Auckland and yeah, we're very excited
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: with the announcement.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Can we be realistic and just a really quick question
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: but if we had this fund, would it have been
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: enough to get the lights of Pearl Jam and Taylor Swift.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Well, Pearl Jam's previously come the likes of Taylor Swift.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: It's a competitive market, but now we are a genuine
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: player against the East Coast of Australia. So promoters now
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: know and I can assure you I was in contact
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: with a number of promoters last night making them aware
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: that this is available and saying, get your application in,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: tell us what you want. We want a city that
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: people want to live, stay, play and work and artists
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: can benefit now from this fund.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: You've got any names you want to drop?
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Ah? Well, how good would it be if Spice Gills reformed?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Next all the Eden Park's CEO. For more from Early
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge, Listen live to news Talks.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio