Park name not guaranteed for Cup

The sale of naming rights to Eden Park will not guarantee the sponsor naming rights to the showpiece venue for the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

The Eden Park Trust Board is not ruling out a sale of the naming rights to raise money to redevelop Eden Park from a 47,500-seat stadium to 55,000 or 60,000 seats.

Board chief executive John Alexander told the Herald on Sunday that he would hate to see the internationally recognised name Eden Park go after 105 years "but if we are desperate we will have to consider it".

But last night Therese Walsh, NZRFU general manager of corporate services, warned any would-be sponsors about cashing in during the Rugby World Cup.

She said New Zealand had guaranteed clean stadiums free of advertising and the sale of naming rights would be irrelevant for the Rugby World Cup organisation during the tournament.

Therese Walsh said with six years to go it was uncertain how the World Cup organisation would refer to the venues, including Wellington's Westpac Stadium and Jade Stadium in Christchurch.

"World Cup have basically the rights to the venues during that time and they need to determine who their suite of sponsors are and what the issues are with any particular stadium.

"In Australia [at the 2003 Rugby World Cup], for example, there was a mixture of retaining names and referring to some as something different," Therese Walsh said.

The rugby union is today meeting members of the trust board, Auckland Rugby Union and Auckland City Council to "touch base" for the first time since winning the right to host the tournament 10 days ago.

Similar meetings are planned in Wellington and Christchurch this week.

Therese Walsh said a cornerstone of the New Zealand bid for the Rugby World Cup was an upgrade of Eden Park and although the rugby union had promised the construction of a temporary stand to seat 55,000 as a minimum, it was also interested in a permanent redevelopment.

The board is looking at two options, both involving the extension of the main ASB Bank north stand to replace the small northeast stand.

The first option would see the construction of a large temporary stand above the west stand, raising the capacity to 55,000 at a cost of $45 million. The second option, costing about $100 million, would replace the south and southwest stands to raise the stadium's capacity to 60,000.

Therese Walsh said the first job was to put together the entity and structure to run the cup in conjunction with the Government, but the redevelopment of Eden Park was "high on the list of things to do".

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said the Eden Park redevelopment should be a national project for the Government with the council providing associated work around the park and street access.

Eden Park is largely self-funding. It received a $10 million council loan in 1988 towards a $100 million grandstand and floodlight development.

The board received cheap interest for five years at a cost of $650,000 before the loan reverted to a commercial interest rate.