With the World Rally Championships, Supercars, Rugby World Cup, Softball World Cup recently happened and the ASB Classic and Fifa Women’s World Cup next year, it feels like this is a golden era for international sporting events in New Zealand.

Things currently look so good because of Covid-19, which led to a number of events scheduled for 2021 being postponed to this year.

But while it all looks rosy now, there’s the real fear that from 2024 the cupboard will be bare, unless there is an urgent influx of money to finance further major events.

That’s because of a lack of funding for major events currently in place, increased competition from other cities around the world and a general rise in the costs in putting events on.

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“We’ve had a look at the landscape of the major events industry on a global basis and in the last six months we’ve seen Australian states put a significant amount of money into major events budgets, upwards of $150 million and using major events as a critical form of economic recovery,” Tātaki Auckland Unlimited head of major events Chris Simpson said.

“We’ve also noticed that a lot of the international rights holders, who own these big events, have increased…