The Wellington Phoenix have been stunned by initial ticket sales to its Sky Stadium match in Wellington on 22 May, when they face rivals Western United on home soil for the first time in 433 days.
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“Initial ticket sales are strong; it was actually the strongest ticket sales over a four-day period that the Club has ever recorded outside of a home Finals match,” said Dome.
Following the announcement that the Phoenix would travel back to New Zealand later this month to play matches in Wellington and Auckland, the club launched ticket sales for this match last Friday – beginning with a Members pre-sale event held through the weekend before opening up sales to the general public on Monday.
Wellington Phoenix General Manager, David Dome, says there has been an excellent response from the New Zealand public to date.
“Initial ticket sales are strong; it was actually the strongest ticket sales over a four-day period that the Club has ever recorded outside of a home Finals match,” said Dome.
“We’ve missed our fans and it looks like they’ve missed us as well, so it’s a solid start for the Club and shows that the New Zealand public is behind us and our return home.”
Wellington Phoenix captain Ulises Davila says that the players are excited at being able to play in front of their home fans again after a 14-month absence.
“It’s nice to go home, to play in front of the fans at Sky Stadium – it’s our home and we felt very confident playing here the last season,” said Davila.
“So it’ll be really nice to go back there and play a couple of games [in NZ]; I hope we can win and we can get in the top six”.
Sky Stadium Chief Executive, Shane Harmon, hopes that the turn-out to the Wellington match will be record-setting.
“Ticket sales point to the largest Phoenix crowd at Sky Stadium in a decade and if the trend continues, we could challenge the regular season record Wellington crowd of 18,345 from 2007,” said Harmon.
“This is going to be a homecoming that transcends sport and one of those occasions that people will remember for years – so we encourage fans to buy tickets early.”
Dome says that the Club has another ambitious attendance target to mind too.
“If we can get over 20,336 people attending this match it’ll set the A-League’s single-game attendance record for this season, topping the recent Sydney Derby; that’d be an amazing achievement for the Club.
“So we’re asking for anyone who loves what the Phoenix football club means to Wellington – and the sacrifice we made this year in having to base ourselves in Wollongong all season – to come along and support our boys on the night, in what’s arguably our most important match of the season.”
The Wellington Phoenix takes on Western United at Sky Stadium, Wellington on 22 May 2021 from 4pm. Tickets are available at www.ticketek.co.nz/phoenix
