John MacDonald: Temporary stand is a winner

Author: John MacDonald,
Publish Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2026, 12:37pm

Follow the podcast on

The 5000 extra seats take One NZ Stadium's capacity to 30,000. Photo / Anna Heath

I enjoyed the temporary seating set-up at One NZ Stadium on Saturday night so much, that I want to give it a name.

I’ll admit that, after being told by stadium boss Caroline Harvie-Teare that those of us in the temporary area would only have access to the internal hospitality and toilet facilities until 6pm, I had my doubts.

But I have to say, the experience was brilliant.

We were perched right on the try line and, like many other areas in the stadium, we were so close to the action.
The view was spectacular. Being at the south end of the stadium, we looked straight out to the rest of the crowd.

Granted, the weather was good and going outside to get a drink or go to the toilet wouldn’t have been much fun if it was raining.

But there were more than enough portaloos and topping-up our drinks was straightforward and relatively quick.

Well done too to NZS Group and everyone else involved in getting the seating in place.

I gather that, after 18 months of planning, engineering and building, they worked back-to-back shifts, handling 250 tonnes of equipment.

If anything, they did too good a job. Because stamping the feet wasn’t as effective as it was at Addington.

Nevertheless, even though it didn‘t sound like the old temporary set-up, all the scaffolding and strops certainly looked a bit like it.

Which is why I think stadium bosses should add a touch of nostalgia to the shiny new venue and name the 5,000 extra seats, when they’re needed, the Addington Stand.

LISTEN ABOVE