Photo: Tom Grut
A group representing businesses near Auckland's Eden Park say concerts are significantly more profitable than sporting events.
The stadium's current planning rules allow just 12 concerts a year, but the rules are more flexible for sports.
The government has announced it will investigate whether the rules are too restrictive.
Dominion Road Business Association manager Garry Holmes told Morning Report that sporting events had very little impact on businesses.
"Interestingly the sporting events, the stats we have... actually don't make an impact at all. Sometimes the actual spending goes down. It's the concerts that make the difference."
By comparison, he said concerts were massive.
"Concerts at Eden Park are an absolute economic boon for the businesses in the area. As an example, with Coldplay last year we saw an increase of 38 percent in spending compared to a typical Saturday night," he explained.
"What we find is when we do have a concert at Eden Park, the restaurants are busy, the shops around the area are busy. That's why, for businesses who have had it tough for the last four or five years, we want to encourage that as much as possible."
Locals were also generally supportive of more concerts.
"I think I'd be pleased to see more events there. It's a nice walkable distance for us and it would be nice to see major artists come to New Zealand," one Mount Eden resident said.
"I'm okay with [more events] because really the crowds are pretty good. Lots of people park around us, but they come back and just jump in their cars and go," said another.
Others were less enthusiastic.
"Look, I think it needs to pay for itself and it needs to be sustainable, but it is an intrusion when you're constantly unable to get out of or get into your street because of the traffic restrictions," said one resident.
Eden Park Residents Association spokesperson Shona Tagg told RNZ she expected most residents would welcome more flexible rules.
"Our members want more concerts, they want more games, they want more events of different sorts at Eden Park.
"They feel as though the current operating ways for Eden Park can be quite restrictive and more events and access to more things is only a great thing with this amazing asset."
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