Westpac Stadium, (formerly WestpacTrust Stadium, noncommercial name Wellington Regional Stadium) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to its shape and silver coloured external walls, it is colloquially known as The Cake-Tin to the locals and other New Zealanders. Fans of football (soccer) team Wellington Phoenix sometimes refer to the stadium as The Ring of Fire.
The stadium's bowl site size is 48,000 sq m.
The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situated close to major transport facilities (such as Wellington Railway Station) one kilometre north of the CBD. It was built on reclaimed railway land, which was surplus to requirements.
It was built to replace Athletic Park, which was no longer considered adequate for international events due to its location and state of disrepair. The stadium was also built to provide a larger-capacity venue for One Day International cricket events, due to the Basin Reserve ground losing such matches to larger stadia in other parts of the country.
The stadium also serves as a large-capacity venue for concerts.
Read more about Westpac Stadium: Facilities, Events, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the word stadium:
“The final upshot of thinking is the exercise of volition, and of this thought no longer forms a part; but belief is only a stadium of mental action, an effect upon our nature due to thought, which will influence future thinking.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)