MEDIA RELEASE
13 February 2008
Eden Park prepares for this weekend’s double header

The Eden Park Trust Board and its event partners have made changes to help ensure cricket and rugby fans have a great experience at Friday’s ODI against England and Saturday’s opening Super 14 game.

Trust Board General Manager, Murray Reade says he regrets that patrons had to endure lengthy queues at last week’s Twenty20 International, and says his team is committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

“On behalf of the Eden Park Trust Board and the Park’s management team, I extend our sincere apologies to those patrons who experienced long queues.

“Eden Park is this country’s largest stadium and has proven procedures in place to deal with large crowds. However, it’s clear these procedures weren’t working efficiently last week,” Murray Reade said.

The Trust Board, in conjunction with its event partners – NZ Cricket, Ticketek, Red Badge Security and Michael O’Brien Catering – has reviewed last week’s event in detail, and concluded that more staff and streamlined ticketing and entry procedures would have avoided the delays.

“We acknowledge that collecting tickets wasn’t as straight forward as it could have been and that staffing levels for the food and beverage outlets were also less than optimal for a crowd of nearly 30,000,” Mr Reade added.

Staffing has been increased for this weekend’s fixtures, and there will be additional directional signage to ensure patrons can easily find the correct gate.

All food and beverage facilities will be open and fully staffed, and in response to feedback, menus in some areas have been extended to include healthy options.

Game plan
Eden Park patrons are encouraged to take advantage of free train travel to and from the Park. Integrated ticketing was offered for the first time at last week’s Twenty20 and provides all match ticket holders with free transport from all train stations to Kingsland Station.

Information on getting to the game can be found on the Eden Park website www.edenpark.co.nz or by contacting MAXX on 09 366 6400 or visiting www.maxx.co.nz

The Black Caps play England in the third one day international on Friday, 15 February at 2pm, and the Blues and Chiefs kick off the 2008 Super 14 season on Saturday, 16 February at 7.35pm. Gates open at 12.30pm on Friday and 5pm on Saturday.

Ends

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