Grounds
The Hurricanes play the majority of their home matches at the 34,500 capacity Westpac Stadium on Wellington's waterfront. The stadium is affectionately known as The Cake-Tin throughout New Zealand due to its shape, although the locals refer to it as The Stadium. It was opened in 2000 to replace Athletic Park, where the team had been previously based. Yarrow Stadium (25,000) (formerly Rugby Park) in New Plymouth, Arena Manawatu (formerly the Showgrounds) in Palmerston North and McLean Park in Napier have also played host to Hurricanes matches.
In the initial years of the competition the Hurricanes played once, or occasionally twice, away from their Wellington base depending on whether they had five or six games per year. Such a policy was welcomed given the large geographic area that the team is drawn from and helped generate the teams following. However, in recent years the team has seldom ventured from Wellington with the team's board citing full crowds in the Westpac Stadium, less than full venues in the provincial centres and the impact on revenue generated by the team for the constituent unions, despite the expansion to 14 and now 15 teams meaning two additional games per year.
Read more about this topic: Hurricanes (rugby Union)
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