- August 10, 2018
- Posted by: SportsV
- Categories: Event News, Home News, Industry News, News, Press Releases
New Zealand’s national stadium, Eden Park, has jumped into the rapidly growing world of ‘electronic’ gaming by teaming up with the country’s longest running and largest esports event organiser, Ping Zero.
Ping Zero has been building a community of gamers for over 15 years and last year’s 40-hour LAN event attracted over 300 gamers.
The three-day LAN event, Ping Zero 51, will be held at Eden Park from 14-16 September and will accommodate all game genres and styles from casual to competitive gaming including two international tournaments.
Ping Zero Managing Director, Conrad Ware, said:
We are excited to bring our next gaming event Ping Zero 51 to Eden Park. Hosting two international tournaments we will see some of New Zealand’s top players attending. This state-of-the-art facility is the perfect match to host New Zealand’s largest esport LAN. We’d like to thank the Eden Park Trust for giving Ping Zero the opportunity to bring esports to New Zealand’s national stadium.
Eden Park CEO, Nick Sautner, commented:
Eden Park is iconic and at the centre of many special memories for both Kiwis and visitors to our country. Auckland’s unprecedented growth in recent years demonstrates the city’s global appeal and diverse communities.
Eden Park is committed to making the stadium available for all of Auckland and New Zealand, not solely for supporters of rugby and cricket.
The emergence of esports as a legitimate event worldwide highlights the need for stadium diversification. In addition, cultural, arts and music events will attract new audiences who may have never attended a rugby or cricket match at Eden Park, all whilst delivering significant economic benefits to the community.
About Eden Park
Eden Park is New Zealand’s national stadium and a globally-iconic arena, located in central Auckland.
Its rich history and profile is unmatched by any other stadium in the country. From its beginnings as a cricket ground in 1903, Eden Park became the primary venue for major summer and winter sport in Auckland when in 1913, the owner, Auckland Cricket, leased winter use of the ground to Auckland Rugby.
A Deed of Trust establishing Auckland Cricket and Auckland Rugby as the beneficial owners of Eden Park was signed in 1926 and has since been enshrined in legislation. Most notably remembered for hosting the 1987 and 2011 Rugby World Cup Finals, Eden Park remains the home of both Auckland Cricket and Auckland Rugby as it has been for more than a century.
Eden Park Trust operates as a statutory not-for-profit body corporate, registered as a charitable trust with the Charities Commission. Its objectives are to promote, operate and develop Eden Park as a high quality multi-purpose stadium for the use and benefit of rugby and cricket as well as other sporting codes and other recreational, musical, and cultural events for the benefit of the public of the Auckland region.
Each year, more than half a million sports and entertainment fans from around the world visit Eden Park. The stadium successfully hosts sell-out crowds of up to 50,000 on match days and hosts more than 1,000 non-match day functions per year.
Make sure to check out the interview we ran with Eden Park CEO, Nick Sautner, earlier this year by clicking on the image below.
