Austadiums Forum

After watching my Dragons showing Manly who's boss down in Woolongong, I headed back to my hotel room and turned on the TV to discover Mike Baird's Liberal Government was re-elected. And that got me thinking, what will happen to the numerous stadiums this state has, particularly Sydney's 3 biggest venues (Stadium Australia, Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Football Stadium) and if they will be upgraded. Everyone will argue about what stadium needs to be upgraded and rightfully so, but did the Baird government announce any stadium upgrades in his re-election bid? How much money is allocated? And what upgrades to the facilities would take place? Because I'm a Victorian resident I did not take much notice of the campaign promises by either side, and would like to see what was promised for any stadium in NSW.

They'll decide what stadium to spend the money on then Packer will swan in and say he wants the stadium, the result will be a billion dollar transfer payment to the fat c*** dressed as a stadium.

SFS, ANZ and Pirtek all need to be upgraded.

SFS to improve fan comfort with minimal or no increase in capacity.

ANZ to allow full morphing to rectangular format with capacity reduced to about 75k-78k.

and

Pirtek to the maximum capacity the existing infrastructure allows which is somewhere between 28k and 32k.

$600m for stadium upgrades from the Libs. The SCG Trust is wrangling to get the majority to rebuild the SFS completely, but the more likely scenario is $300m for ANZ, $200m for SFS and $100m for Pirtek. The unfunded piece is the ongoing master plan at the SCG. 1) Demolish the O'Reilly and replicate the Trumper Stand. 2) Rebuild the Brewongle & Churchill stands with a replica of the Northern Pavilion.

^^^ I thought ANZ were only after $250m and were prepared to put in $100m themselves if they could negotiate an extension to the contract.

Would be a bad deal, because it entrenches the weaknesses at other venues (esp. the SCG) with capacity caps.

What weaknesses?

Having one rectangular stadium at 83k (ANZ), one at 45k (Allianz) and one at 30k (Pirtek) seems a great mix to me.

Scott wrote:The unfunded piece is the ongoing master plan at the SCG. 1) Demolish the O'Reilly and replicate the Trumper Stand. 2) Rebuild the Brewongle & Churchill stands with a replica of the Northern Pavilion.

This is the interesting part for me. Considering the Noble/Bradman stand cost about $200m to rebuild, you'd think the Brewongle/Churchill might be around the same, perhaps a little less (demolition will be less complex), and then add another $150m or so for the O'Reilly rebuild - where is the SCG going to find $250m to do the job?

dibo wrote:Would be a bad deal, because it entrenches the weaknesses at other venues (esp. the SCG) with capacity caps.

If the Government is putting more money into ANZ then length of contract and conditions of contract could both be negotiated.

Boba Fett wrote:What weaknesses?

Having one rectangular stadium at 83k (ANZ), one at 45k (Allianz) and one at 30k (Pirtek) seems a great mix to me.

SCG is too small.

dibo wrote:

Boba Fett wrote:What weaknesses?

Having one rectangular stadium at 83k (ANZ), one at 45k (Allianz) and one at 30k (Pirtek) seems a great mix to me.

SCG is too small.

Of course, all those sold-out events the SCG has every year would justify your comment.

Oh wait...

The SCG is capacity constrained for Aussie Rules footy - the Swans have that many members that there are scarcely any tix available to average punters, so it's actually hard to get a ticket even with however many empty seats. As they're (finally!) bailing on Homebush, this will get worse - crowds actually want to go to the SCG, they don't want to go to Homebush.

So the same logic applies for expanding SCG as applies to Parramatta, except the Swans have been in this boat for years whereas Wanderers had the problem for a year and a half.

dibo wrote: the Swans have that many members that there are scarcely any tix available to average punters, so it's actually hard to get a ticket even with however many empty seats.

They could establish an authorised marketplace where season ticket holders can resell individual game tickets they can't use. But I suppose that would take the wind out of the calls to increase capacity.

DT has an article up saying ANZ is to "lose out" on funding with Moore Park and Parramatta to get new stadiums. I couldn't think of a worse result for the A-League and FFA. I'd put a link up but the article is behind a wall.

Summary from another site:

$800m for a 65k stadium on the Kippax site.

$100m to demolish Allianz and put a multipurpose venue there that could host concerts plus sport.

$400m for a new 35k stadium in Parramatta.

ANZ leasees be paid $135m over 15 years but need to release restrictions on other stadiums.

New major stadium authority to be established that controls all Moore Park venues, ANZ and Pirtek/replacement.

gyfox wrote:$800m for a 65k stadium on the Kippax site.

What problem are they solving?

gyfox wrote:$100m to demolish Allianz and put a multipurpose venue there that could host concerts plus sport.

What problem are they solving?

gyfox wrote:$400m for a new 35k stadium in Parramatta.

Cool.

gyfox wrote:ANZ leasees be paid $135m over 15 years but need to release restrictions on other stadiums.

Why does the NSW government sign these contracts?

gyfox wrote:New major stadium authority to be established that controls all Moore Park venues, ANZ and Pirtek/replacement.

Ah, that solves the competition problem. Don't let them.