Fifa needs a lot more room.
The world football governing body hands back Dunedin Stadium at midnight tomorrow after hosting six Women’s World Cup games here.
Our house of glass will revert to Forsyth Barr Stadium just in time for Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup fixture.
The All Blacks beat Australia 38-7 in the opening game of the series to secure the trophy for another year, so the Wallabies have a lot of work to do to bridge the gap.
But not as much work as the 500-plus contractors who will work around the clock in shifts to put the venue back the way it was.
Turns out there is a lot more to do than just switching out the goal posts and painting new lines on the grass.
Fifa bring a lot of stuff.
For a start there are the 19 porticoms which need removing from the broadcast compound.
There are media tribunes and temporary platforms which have to come down and 34 internal camera positions which need dismantling as well.
And add to that the thousands and thousands of kilometres of cabling.
Also on the to-do list is the 800 seats which need to be reinstalled.
There are 31 internal banners which will be reinstated with a crane and another four to hang up outside.
The canvas covering the LED 3D sign will have to come down and all the stadium memorabilia will need to be reinstalled.
Work started an hour after the last game between the Netherlands and Vietnam wrapped up on Tuesday night.
It has all been worth it, though.
The event attracted a total attendance of 75,690 across all six matches, while the Fifa fan festival area saw 13,068 visitors across the two weekends it was open.
But the most staggering number was the number of eyeballs on the city, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive Terry Davies said.
"We are waiting for some broadcast numbers ... but we are talking a billion plus," he said.
Davies said it was easy to underestimate "the ability this competition had to get out and into people’s homes around the world".
The stadium was a hit with Fifa’s top brass as well.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino attended the opening game in Dunedin and his comment was "what a stadium, it is absolutely suited for our product".
