'Passing the buck': Armageddon operator slams Auckland Council over showgrounds closure

An Armageddon fan dressed as a cosplayer from the anime show Bakugo at the 2020 Auckland Armageddon Expo. Photo / Kohika Creative

The organiser of a major pop-culture show has slammed the Auckland Council for "passing the buck" while a major events site, the Auckland Showgrounds, remains closed.

Bill Geradts, the owner and director of the popular Armageddon Expos, is angry and frustrated that the showgrounds are still closed with no sign of a resolution.

The site has been closed since June 30 while the owners, the Cornwall Park Trust Board, decide on its future. The board had proposed to lease the showgrounds to a film company, Auckland's Xytech Studio Management, in favour of an events-industry proposal.

Bill Geradts, founder of Armageddon Expo in New Zealand, with actors from the mockumentary horror comedy film What We Do In The Shadows. Photo / Supplied

Brent Spillane, managing director of XPO Exhibitions, challenged that decision in the High Court, arguing that 5ha of the 8.2ha site was protected for the use of trade shows, exhibitions and entertainment under the Cornwall Park Recreation & Endowment Act 1982. Justice Mary Peters agreed, saying that any filming or other activities on that portion should be secondary to that use.

Spillane's legal team has now asked for clarification to ensure any future lease does not cut out the events and exhibitions industry, and is waiting to hear if a request for a half-day hearing will be granted.

Brent Spillane, managing director of XPO Exhibitions. Photo / Dean Purcell

In the meantime major exhibitions worth millions of dollars to Auckland's economy, including the Food Show and Home Show, have been cancelled. Spillane says organisers of another 20 shows of various sizes, including Armageddon, are waiting to find out if their shows can go ahead between now and December.

Geradts blames the council for not doing more to keep the site operating. Auckland Mayor Phill Goff told the Herald that the council was powerless to direct the showgrounds' owners, the Cornwall Park Trust, about the site's future use provided it was consistent with rules set out in the Auckland Unitary Plan.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff says he is concerned at the potential loss of the Auckland Showgrounds as an events and exhibitions venue. Photo / Dean Purcell

He was concerned at the potential loss of the Auckland Showgrounds, Goff said, and earlier this year had spoken to the trust's chairwoman Adrienne Young-Cooper about the issue. She said the board would consider the council's concerns however it was bound by the terms of the trust deed to make a decision in the best interests of Cornwall Park.

But Geradts says lack of action by the council was not good enough and that it was "passing the buck". While the showgrounds remained closed, he and other event organisers were running out of time to let exhibitors know if planned shows would go ahead. Auckland would lose out on many millions of dollars of revenue as a result.

"We've looked at every option to move the show and it's just not possible. If we don't have the Auckland Showgrounds the Auckland Armageddon is dead in the water."

Geradts said Armageddon, scheduled for October, would feature a line-up of international celebrity guests including stars from Star Trek and Shaun of the Dead. But he would need to know within the next two weeks if the show could go ahead at the showgrounds.

Vikings at Armageddon Expo in Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

"I put the whole thing down to a failing of the council. They've just wiped their hands of it and said 'it's not our problem, its somebody else's issue,' which quite frankly is bulls**t," he said.

"They (the council) are happy for SkyCity to throw around a bunch of gambling machines nobody really needs to make a venue that's half the size of anything we actually needed in this country."

Geradts doesn't think the public realise how much the city needs the venue. He's been watching show organisers "scrambling around", transferring shows to other venues and city centres. Mid-sized shows work well in other venues but not major, large-scale events.

His company had estimated, some years ago, that Armageddon Expo alone was worth $14 million to the Auckland economy, a figure that would have increased since then. The shows also ran in Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga and Palmerston North but Auckland was by far the largest.

That economic benefit for Auckland was disappearing as event organisers transferred to other centres and smaller venues, he said.

"I'm surprised it's not a hot-bed issue for the Auckland mayoral race to be honest, considering it feels like it's going to go right down the gurgler."

Spillane said the exhibitions industry had tried to keep the showgrounds open on a temporary basis. XPO had pitched a proposal for a series of shows over a six-week period that would have earned the trust board $1.5m in revenue towards much-needed maintenance on the showgrounds. That proposal was rejected.

Large crowds at the Armageddon Expo 2020 in Auckland in 2020. Photo / Peter Meecham

The CEO of the Cornwall Park Trust Board, Murray Reade, said to date the board had been unable to conclude an arrangement with a new operator. The delay was in part due to High Court proceedings filed by Spillane, and a request to the Environment Court brought by the New Zealand Gift Trade Association seeking clarification of the allowed uses for the site.

"The board is continuing to consider its options for the site and remains in discussions with Xytech," he said. The board had also taken the opportunity to start on deferred maintenance work at the showgrounds.

But Spillane rejected any suggestion that he was the cause of the showgrounds' closure.

"They're blaming me for the pause, but I haven't paused anything. They could have the facility open," he said.

"If I had not done what I have done, this [the Auckland Showgrounds] would be a film studio."