Manawatu chief executive Hadyn Smith said Manawatu rugby had a connection with the Highlanders, with Johnny Leota and Hayden Triggs playing for the southern franchise this year, and he could envisage selling out FMG Stadium in Palmerston North if the Highlanders played there.
"We have an insatiable appetite for top-class rugby here and our people can't get enough of it," Smith said.
"We have an $8.5 million complex here and it is not being used enough. We've tried for Hurricanes games and to get a second-tier test and they are not coming, so we thought: Why not try for something else?"
Smith said the idea would work only if there were Manawatu players in the Highlanders squad, and he acknowledged it was thinking outside the square.
All Super 14 games played in Palmerston North had attracted crowds of 13,000 or more, and he said if the Highlanders played the Hurricanes there he would all but guarantee a sell-out.
He said the Manawatu union would have to make a financial guarantee to the Highlanders but he did not know what that would be.
The proposal was not a snub to the Hurricanes franchise but was just a reality in the professional era.
The city still supported the Hurricanes team, he said.
The stadium, which was formerly the Palmerston North showgrounds, could hold 15,000.
Rugby was on a roll in the region, and gate sales were strong.
More than 5000 tickets had been sold by yesterday for tonight's match against Southland, and game day was a real event, he said, with other attractions on show.
On the field, Manawatu has made a great start to the season, with an upset 25-24 win over Canterbury last Saturday.
The Hurricanes played all their games at Westpac Stadium in Wellington this year and are set to play only one game outside the capital next year.
But that is likely to be in either New Plymouth or Napier, as Palmerston North hosted a game against the Sharks last year.
Palmerston North was also keen to host a game at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Smith said.
Highlanders chief executive Richard Reid told the Otago Daily Times last night Manawatu's offer would be discussed at a board meeting later this month.
