SKY Stadium
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It’s 2025 and people don’t get why NZ Cricket hosts white ball cricket at SKY Stadium, rather than at the home of cricket, the Basin Reserve.
Traditionalists will always prefer the Basin for all of its obvious charms, character, and history. But there is a range of obvious reasons why SKY Stadium is the more pragmatic option for ODIs and T20s.
- Like every other sport globally, cricket wants to please its broadcasters. The Mount Victoria Residents’ Ratepayers’ Association put paid to lights at the Basin in the late 1990s which was one reason the Railyards facility was built. TV channels like evening viewing numbers in all sports.
- Visual effect of crowd numbers. Sure, there will be comments about yellow seats, and the stadium needs to be at least half full to be a decent televised event. Even a couple of hundred on the back at the Basin looks great.
- Reality of crowd numbers. This is the big one. There has never been a crowd at the Stadium for an ODI or T20I less than the capacity of the Basin. Yes, even today. You might argue that that’s money grubbing to attract more punters, but it also means that thousands of extra people get to watch an match that would otherwise have been turned away at The Basin.
- Reality of seat colouring. IT IS IRRELEVANT. When you use the word yellow in criticising the venue you’ve lost the argument. It’s Wellington cricket’s version of Godwin’s Law.
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