Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: This Eden Park news hasn’t come a day too soon

Given how much of a tease we've had about the Eden Park news today, it's completely understandable if the excitement levels aren't where they should be.

 But let's be clear - this is really big news on two fronts.

The first, obviously, is the State of Origin game. This is the first time since 1987 that the Aussies have allowed a State of Origin match out of the country, and the first time ever that it's coming to New Zealand.

We are a big rugby league nation, and that game - even if it kicks off at some ridiculous hour like 9:30 or 10:00 in the evening - will sell out pretty quickly.

Which means I’m not sure how much international money it's actually going to bring in, because surely we’re going to snap up the tickets ourselves before any Aussies can get them. But it will be an event.

And if it gets New Zealand a step closer to being considered a serious contender for a second NRL team, that can’t be a bad thing, can it?

The second announcement, though, is the one I think is actually bigger. We get very fizzy about the State of Origin, but the rule changes around Eden Park matter more because they’re bigger than one event - they’re long‑term.

It was always ridiculous that Eden Park couldn’t host a sporting event on a Sunday, and that weekday sports events had to be wrapped up by 9:30pm, which would have put a huge 'no' on hosting the State of Origin game on a Wednesday.

It was equally silly that Eden Park could only ever have 12 concerts a year, delivered by only six artists, and that any one month could host no more than four concerts.

Now, it’s 12 big concerts, 20 medium-sized concerts, any day of the week, up to eight hours, and not always needing to go through the full consent process. I understand that residents need to be considered, and I’m genuinely grateful to those who have been so generous. But this change was necessary.

If we don’t want Eden Park sitting empty most days of the week waiting for a ratepayer bailout like in the old days - if we want it to actually earn its way - then this is how we do it. And it hasn’t come a day too soon.

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