Source: Radio New Zealand
Caleb Clarke of the Blues is tackled during the round three Super Rugby match between ACT Brumbies and Auckland Blues at GIO Stadium. Mark Nolan/Getty Images
The Blues want a bigger slice of Auckland’s sporting crowd – and the club’s new chief executive believes they can close the gap with the Warriors.
Both the Super Rugby and NRL seasons are underway with the Blues hosting matches at Eden Park and the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium.
The Warriors typically pull bigger crowds than the Blues. In 2025, the Warriors averaged almost 24,000 people through the gates for home games, with the Blues averaging around 15,000.
Josh Jacomb during the Blues v Chiefs, Super Rugby Pacific match, Eden Park. John Cowpland/Actionpress
Blues chief executive Karl Budge, the former boss of Auckland’s ASB Tennis Classic said the Warriors are on top in the oval ball battle, but the gap is closing.
“I think the Warriors are doing an unbelievably good job,” Budge told RNZ’s Morning Report.
“The entertainment experience at the Warriors games is absolutely brilliant. They’re doing a great job and something we can learn a lot from. The reality for us is we’re only about 20% behind where they are. Our first two games so far this season, we’ve hit 20,000 people through the gates.”
Blues chief executive Karl Budge. Supplied: SailGP
Eden Park has a capacity of about 45,000 with Mt Smart Stadium about 25,000. Budge said the size of the Blues home ground, which is a lot larger than any other Super Rugby stadium in New Zealand, brings unique challenges and opportunities.
“When you 20,000 at Eden Park, it does leave a lot of empty seats in a 45,000 seat stadium. But It’s a privilege to have a stadium the size of Eden Park and we’ve just got to put on a better entertainment experience to make sure that we can get north of that number of 25,000 people through the gate.
“We know we’ve got a long way to go to put on a complete entertainment offering, not just a rugby match.”
So what does a “complete entertainment offering” entail? Budge said it’s about finding the right balance for fans who have different ideas about what they want from a Super Rugby match.
“We’ve got to try and fuse our traditional rugby fan that likes listening to the game and focusing on the 80 minutes, with the new crowd that is very entertainment first,” Budge said.
“The rugby is almost a by-product of the entertainment experience. It’s first and foremost a social gathering and an opportunity to be part of something, a bit of community belonging. Those two things aren’t always perfectly aligned. So we’ve got to be really purposeful around the precincts that we create and try and make sure that the offering is giving everybody an opportunity to enjoy what they’re looking for.”
Budge said he’s seeing some positive results from some early initiatives from the Blues.
“Our kids zone that we partnered with Lego on is going great guns. We’ve almost sold that out for both the first two games.
“The corner, which is more of our entertainment first sort of party zone, that did sell out on Saturday night.”
Budge said was pleasing to see the new offerings starting to get some traction, but he said the Blues still have a “long way to go” to start regularly attracting crowds of 25,000 or more.
He said the cost of living and the current economic climate had to be taken into account and said pricing was something they are constantly reviewing.
“That’s something we’ve got to keep working on and looking at, how do we go and get family packages together that can be more affordable?
“The game this weekend (against Moana Pasifika), we’re playing on Sunday afternoon and kids go free. I think you can get an adult’s ticket for around the $20 to $30 mark, depending on where you want to sit. A beer will cost you $11, which I think is pretty competitive.”
The Blues celebrate with Rieko Ioane during the Blues v Waratahs, Super Rugby Pacific match, Eden Park, Auckland. Blake Armstrong /ActionPress
However, Budge said it wasn’t just about providing low budget options.
“I also look at what our customers are spending. We’ve done quite a lot of analysis around who our customers are and where they’re spending their money. And there’s a lot of them spending money on things like meal kit delivery services.
“So we know that there’s the ability to have luxury items if the customer sees value.”
Rugby’s rules often draw the ire of fans who bemoan confusing laws and the stop/start nature of some games.
The rules, as well as the Blues on field performances, are things Budge can’t control, but he said that’s no reason to give up chasing bigger crowds.
“Some of it is outside your control, but some of it is also about not hiding behind excuses and I think one of the benchmarks of the ASB Classic during that tenure was we didn’t let excuses mean we didn’t do our job.”
The Blues host cross town rivals Moana Pasifika at Eden Park on Sunday afternoon.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
