ARC forms committee after Beckham failure

The Auckland Regional Council has decided to try to avoid a repeat of the David Beckham flop - by forming a committee.

The new committee will directly oversee the operations of Mt Smart Stadium, which lost $1.79 million last December when it staged the LA Galaxy v Oceania All Stars soccer match, starring Beckham.

It will take responsibility for the stadium from the parks and heritage committee, under the chairmanship of Sandra Coney, which looks after 26 regional parks.

It also means scrapping the in-house Mt Smart Advisory Group.

Members of the group were Ms Coney, ARC chairman Mike Lee, deputy chairman Michael Barnett and ARC chief executive Peter Winder, parks general manager Lance Vervoort, who was chairman of the group, and stadium group manager John Lynch.

Mr Lee said it was last convened in April 2008, when it received a briefing on the LA Galaxy proposal from the Auckland City Council.

After that briefing, Mr Vervoort reported to the council that the group recommended the proposal as a good opportunity for the stadium to move into a promotional mode, as it seemed likely to bring promotional benefits to the ARC and stadium and a healthy financial return.

Later, the council approved the stadium promoting and underwriting the event.

But Mr Lee told the Herald: "I nor any of the councillors had any operational or indeed advisory role in running the LA Galaxy event nor in critical commercial negotiations leading up to the event."

Alarmed at the loss on the event, Mr Lee called Auditor-General Kevin Brady to investigate its planning and management.

The report is expected mid-April but meanwhile Mr Vervoort and Mr Lynch resigned last week and Mr Winder held an internal review.

One of his suggestions was to form a committee of four council members - Mr Lee, Bill Burrill, Paul Walbran and Mr Barnett as its chairman.

Outside members will be appointed when their skills in business and the entertainment and events industry are needed.

Mr Winder said that compared with the advisory group, the Mt Smart committee would be far more formal as a decision making body and would focus on tight control of the stadium, which is valued at $43 million.

"It's one of a range of actions I have taken across council as a whole as well as Mt Smart Stadium to ensure we learn from the LA Galaxy experience and that it's never repeated," said Mr Winder.

"It will improve council's oversight of Mt Smart Stadium and operations."