Auckland’s stadium debate offers a variation on the same theme. Every few years, the idea of a world-class waterfront stadium reappears. With any public project, the central question is not whether it would be nice to have, but what we forgo to build it. Grand stadium visions return regularly to Auckland’s waterfront, even as councils struggle with the cost of maintaining what already exists. Film productions bring global attention to New Zealand but the public cost of attracting them is borne far beyond the set.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 14, 2026 22:33 UTC