Located in Auckland, New Zealand is a huge sports ground named the Eden Park which is used for cricket in summers and for rugby union in winters. The ground has yet hosted two Rugby World Cup Finals and a Rugby League World Cup.
The Eden Park was finished and available for sports in 1900 and has been home to Auckland Cricket since 1910. It has hosted many one-day cricket matches and international test matches since then. Other tenants of the ground include the Blues Super 14 team and Auckland Rugby Football Union. The ground has a capacity to seat 42,000 cricket fans and 47,500 cricket fans. This facility is the largest on amongst the various sports arenas in New Zealand. There are no standing areas in the stadium and temporary seating areas include the West Stand and the ASB Stand which are used for international rugby matches. Recently, the stadium is being redesigned to allow a seating capacity of 60,000 spectators. The re-development would replace the existing South and South West stands with a brand new three-tier South stand. The number of covered seats is to increase from 23,000 to 38,000. New facilities added at the south stand include an internal concourse which will run throughout the stadium to allow people to circulate the ground, corporate areas, and food and beverages outlets.
The Auckland City Council and Government of New Zealand announced in 2006 that Eden Park was being considered as a possibility for hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2011. This decision would be based on the possibility of a re-development process for the ground. Later on, the government also announced that it would help fund for the new stadium. The stadium has also been elected to host the Cricket World Cup to be held in 2015 that is going to be co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.
In 1926, a trust was set up to help manage the Park facilities. Eden Park has been serving since the past 107 years and has witnessed many memorable moments in both cricket and rugby worlds. The first ever match was played between Auckland and Australia in 1914. In 1952, Eden Park hosted its very forst test match.