The number of tickets sold so far for this weekend's Wellington Sevens tournament is well below expectations, organisers say.
Sevens fans in Wellington last year. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Fewer than 13,000 tickets have been sold since September - that is the same number as were sold on the first day tickets went on sale for last year's event.
New Zealand Rugby has an agreement to host the Sevens until 2019, but Wellington's role as host city expires this year.
General manager of the event, Steve Dunbar, said he was hoping for a late boost in sales, but with the Wellington contract up this year, he said the event's future was up in the air.
"We've made a lot of changes following on from the 2014 and 2015 tournaments - there's lots of ways that we'll measure the success of this tournament.
"We'll get feedback from World Rugby and then we'll look at what's best for the tournament and that will take a couple of months."
He said it would take about two months to decide whether to keep it in the capital.
Changes made this year included bringing the tournament forward to the end of January and playing on a Saturday and Sunday instead of the traditional Friday and Saturday.
The event was also promoted as a part of a package that also included the Wellington Cup horse race meeting.
Organisers also cut the cost of tickets and offered more packages.
Could Wellington be calling time on the Sevens? Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson