COMMENT: So, not content with Eden Park with all its history and associated sports heritage, some folk think we need a new stadium, but while we're contemplating the hole in the ground on the waterfront like the good climate change sceptics that we are, let me offer an alternative venue. A floating stadium.
Unencumbered by a need to be tethered to the land and able to be deployed at a moment's notice to the far reaches of New Zealand's southernmost provinces, there's something in it for everyone.
I've been on Google and eBay and hopefully you may agree that I've done some sums. The size of a full-size rugby football field is 144m x70m (10080sq metres). The size of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier is 332.9m long and 77 metres wide, easily big enough to support a full-size rugby field.
The latest aircraft carriers go for upwards to $13 billion but I'm sure we could find a decommissioned one on eBay or Gumtree for a bit less. Painted black and covered in silver ferns, this floating stadium would be able to travel around the country creating much benefit to the provinces.
Nelson, Westport and Bluff for a start would be able to view top class rugby games from the comfort of their beaches, even from their armchairs if they had a view of the coast and binoculars.