KEY POINTS:
Organisers hope a forum taking place this week will pave the way for an Auckland bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Arpass, the body in charge of sport strategy in greater Auckland, is hosting a meeting of representatives from Sparc, the Ministry of Economic Development, National Sports Organisations and Auckland's councils.
The aim is to press home the need for an integrated approach to building high-performance sport facilities and programmes in the region.
Arpass strategy director Kelvyn Eglinton believes a Commonwealth Games bid could provide the catalyst for a long-overdue revamp of the city's sports facilities. If it achieved anything, the Rugby World Cup stadium debate proved that, for a modern city, Auckland has third-world facilities, planning processes and infrastructure.
"We don't want this to be an Auckland versus Canterbury thing but a Commonwealth Games bid would give a focus for the region and the country in general," Eglinton said. "What we're saying is, as a country we can't afford to do this twice. We need to sort out the sporting infrastructure in this country once - and we need to do it right.
"What's best for the country? We currently have close on a third of the population living in greater Auckland - and more than half the country's people living north of Taupo, within a three-hour drive."
If Auckland decides to bid, and the Government is preparing a return on investment report for any proposal, then it would be in competition with Christchurch, after the South Island city indicated earlier this year that it would apply to host the Games.
Sport and Recreation Minister Trevor Mallard said at the time that the primary question was whether New Zealand should bid at all for the 2018 sports carnival which, despite its size, was second-rate by world sports standards.
He said: "We haven't decided what the New Zealand bid is and how to pay for it if that occurs.
"I think we wouldn't want to be at the point that we'd never have a Commonwealth Games in New Zealand."