A-League side Wellington Phoenix "could move to Lower Hutt after the council announced plans for a new purpose-built football stadium" in the Lower Hutt suburb of Petone, according to the APNZ. Wellington has made "only a conditional commitment to move to the new 12,000 to 15,000-seat stadium, which would be built at the Petone Recreation Ground site." Phoenix Chair Rob Morrison and co-Owner Gareth Morgan said that the new stadium was an "exciting and financially attractive model that could help secure the ongoing financial viability of the club." Morrison said that Westpac Stadium was a "great ground for larger games, but did not work financially" when the club was averaging crowds of 7,000-8,000 (APNZ, 2/18). In Wellington, Paul Easton wrote the Petone Arena "is a joint project by Phoenix owners Welnix and Hutt City Council's Community Facilities Trust." The stadium is estimated to cost NZ$48M ($40M) -- with NZ$25M of that "to come from Lower Hutt ratepayers." If all goes ahead as planned, "construction could start as early as next year." Trust Chair Alister Skene said, "We want the Nix running out to ... a full stadium as they start their 2016-17 campaign." Morgan said, "We have to reinvent the game-day experience, and the start of that process is a stadium ... where the fans get up and personal with the players." The Community Facilities Trust is a council-controlled organization "and will not be putting up money." Its role "will be to arrange community and corporate fundraising," while Hutt City Council ratepayers will be asked for about NZ$25M. It was too early to say how the NZ$25M would be raised, "but the community would be consulted through the Annual Plan process" (FAIRFAX NZ NEWS, 2/18).
