Australian FIFA World Cup Stadia

[deejaybee]

First up, I'm new to posting here. G'day everyone!
I've snooping around here for a while however.

Okay, so this thread is meant to be all about what stadia that could be used/built where in Australia for the 2018/2022 World Cup. I know it is a long shot with the whole bid, but i'm very hopeful, i love football and it would be amazing to see it held here.

As far as I can recall, there needs to be at least ten stadiums with a capacity of at least 40,000 seats, with a final venue capacity of at least 80,000. And only one city is allowed to have two stadiums (that was the rule prior to 2006)
I've got twelve down, that are plausible enough in my opinion.



List of easy ones:

MCG (95,000+ seats)
Stadium Australia (83,500 seats, but I believe that it could be expanded to 85)
Lang Park (52,500 seats)

Obviously, these would all be upgraded to state of the art facilities (i.e. 10 years from now).


All the rest would need to be heavily upgraded or new stadiums.

Perth (im dreaming...65,000 footy oval)
Adelaide (again, dreaming...45,000 rect. stadium)
Newcastle EAS (extend Andrew Johns stand around both sides to meet with the new stand...i think that could be good for 50K, but isn't warranted)
Gold Coast (expanded Skilled Park 40-45,000)
Canberra (Bruce Stadium upgrade, add massive wrap-around tiers on the wings 40,000+)
Townsville (new stadium, or upgraded dairy farmers: 40,000)
Hobart (Rectangular/'olympic' stadium, near the botanical gardens 40,000)

And the 'second stadium' in either Sydney or Melbourne of course.
I'm favouring Docklands at the moment, as SFS I don't think could be made current enough, and MRS isn't going to be a realistic option. Rectangular config, 50,000.

Looking at the spread of the venues, I thought that the bid ought to have another one away from the East Coast, so I cancelled out Wollongong, Cairns or Geelong.

I looked at Darwin's projected demographics, and I was surprised to see that it was around 170,000 for 2021. Moreover, Northern Territory overall had a projected growth to 300,000. So I reckon it could be plausible to have a stadium in Darwin, 40,000 seats with half of them temporary in a way that they could be relocated to TIO oval post-cup. win-win for Darwin sport.
Also, it would be great from a tourist perspective, with all the "outback" appeal. Kakadu N.P, Uluru, etc.


Let me know of your opinions, and comments.

[beastjim]

Well firstly welcome to the site.

Secondly the Darwin idea is certainly interesting. One must remember though that it's not just about building a stadium. There needs to be supporting infrastructure as well such as accommodation capacity including a range of options from backpackers (probably covered well in Darwin) to 5 star for the FIFA big wigs, airports that can handle the expected number of passengers, communications lines (should be fine there TBH) ect as I am sure there are others as well. Not sure how well Darwin would be doing in those stakes. Tasmania/Hobart as well.

I am personally thinking atm that for the Gold Coast we would actually be more likely to see Carrara upgraded to the correct capacity/facilities then Skilled Park @ Robina. All depends on what it's design is and a possible Commonwealth Games bid as well. So very circumstantial.

Adelaide might get lucky with the new proposal over in the Adelaide Stadiums thread from the Liberals who are in opposition atm. However election is not due until March 2010, and well a quick look over the wiki page would suggest that they have little hope of making up enough ground. Big swing needed.

Thirdly the 2018/2022 world cup final thread has discussed alot of this, even if the more recent pages haven't. Might be nice to separate the ideas though.

[Egan]

Is this the eleventy billionth post where someone has stated their ideas on venues and cities to host the world cup

Our bid is so screwed at the moment, yet people are still positive enough to conjecture about the venues used.

[deejaybee]

Ah chin up!
Just because Adelaide and Perth are have their temporary (very optimistic lol) stadia issues, dont mean that its all gone.
I did a search for a threads on this area, but came up empty handed (unless im just a dropkick). I know there is a WC final one, but I thought that this would be off topic.

Anyway, I mostly wanted to float my ideas.

Yeah, Darwin certainly has obstacles, such as transport and airport capacity, also Hotels; but it shouldn't cost too much to sort out realistically. The infrastructure investment would benefit the area a great deal in the long run.

[warlock]

With the current upgrade newcastle doesn't have a stadium problem but would be lacking in infrastructure and transport for the wc.If other cities where to receive stadium funding newcastle should be pushing for infrastructure funding one proposal was to link the airport to the city via a ferry service with a canal to be built at the airport

[Jeffles]

Welcome aboard DJB. I say this with no offence specifically directed to you but one of the biggest reasons I want Australia's bid to be successful is so that threads like these will eventually come to an end.

[Anthony G]

Personally I like the Darwin idea. It shows thinking outside the square. Moving the temporary stands to TIO stadium is also a good idea as it is keeping the infrastructure in the state.
One point I think you missed is what would happen to the stadium after the WC? I doubt any of the footy codes would consider setting up a license in Darwin. (Although I have heard rumor of a combined Darwin-PNG NRL team).

Would another option be to upgrade TIO to 40k (Sorry not sure how big the ground is and if it does/ does not fit into FIFA requirements) Perhaps an upgrade to 20k with 20k temp seats which could be donated to regional NT grounds after the WC??

[Boba Fett]

Interesting ideas. Not sure that realistically either Hobart or Darwin would be seriously considered.

Also interesting that you prefer upgrading Docklands and Carrara rather than MRS and Skilled. WHy would you upgrade ovals when you have rectangular stadiums already in each of those cities? Particularly when MRS has been specifically designed with the capacity to be upgraded to around 50,000.

I would have thought SFS would be a perfect option, although agree that it would need significant upgrading, particularly with corporate facilities. Capacity is spot on at around 45,000.

[gyfox]

...interesting that you prefer upgrading Docklands and Carrara rather than MRS and Skilled. WHy would you upgrade ovals when you have rectangular stadiums already in each of those cities? Particularly when MRS has been specifically designed with the capacity to be upgraded to around 50,000.

Just a thought but maybe its because it sets the precedent for ovals and therefore helps the MCG as a final venue. It also gets the World Cup to pay for better AFL venues... not a bad lurk if you can swing it.

[Dasher39]

I've always maintained that this is my list of venues that we'd use and some of it seems to be supported by info we've heard in the press.

As for the One City, Two Stadiums "rule" I wouldn't be surprised if FIFA allow some movement in that, or that the FFA try to paint Sydney and Homebush as two separate cities (given the distance between them).

Melbourne
MCG
Swan Street (upgraded to 50,000)

Sydney
SFS
Stadium Australia

Brisbane
Suncorp Stadium

Gold Coast
Skilled Park (upgraded to 40k)

Townsville
Dairy Farmers Stadium (upgraded to 40k)

Newcastle
EnergyAustralia Stadium (upgraded to 45k)

Canberra
Canberra Stadium (upgraded to 40k)

Adelaide
NEW Stadium (50-60k capacity)

Perth
NEW Stadium (60k capacity)


That right there gives us 11 stadiums, more than enough to satisfy FIFA. We've already read that the FFA will include both MCG and Swan Street from Melbourne which leaves Docklands free for the AFL. So I'm not even considering the possibility of Docklands.

Given that the FIFA World Cup wants to provide a lasting legacy for Football in Australia, it'd also be stupid to upgrade Carrara at the expense of Skilled Park. I'd imagine Skilled Park is firmly in the FFA's plans.

We know there are plans (bot as yet no money) to fix the ends at EAS and bring it up to 40-45k as required and we've heard that Canberra Stadium are also very interested in redeveloping to be part of the bid.

I've never been to Suncorp, but is there any chance at all of any extra seats being added that might lift capacity to 60k? IIRC FIFA require Semi-Final Stadiums to be at least 60k and at the moment only the MCG and Stadium Oz meet that.

I'd imagine if they could bring it up to 60k then it would be in line for one of the Semi-Finals.

Perth and Adelaide are still the great unknowns. I have no doubt that the FFA (Buckley and Lowy) are all over the respective Governments to ensure they at least commit to a stadium for the World Cup. We know it'll be an election issue in SA (too bad that election is 3 months after the bid must be lodged) and we know a fair majority of Adelaideians are in favour of a new City Stadium.

Perth is a worry though. They were right on track until they changed Governments and that threw a massive spanner in the works.

I am confident that Adelaide and Perth will sort themselves out. Lowy and Rudd will make sure of that because after all this investment they will not put forward a bid that isn't capable of winning.

Our transport and accommodation infrastructure is probably then our biggest concern. I'd imagine Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and maybe even the GC could all handle the traffic with relative ease (in terms of Airports and Accomm).

But Lowy is a man that will not accept second best and I have the utmost faith in him that he will present the best bid that Australia is capable of that will include everything that we seem to be worried about.

[deejaybee]

Actually, I went with Docklands because its got the highest seated capacity in Rectangular mode. It would have at least 5,000 more seats than the SFS, which would need a whole lot more work done on it (extending the 'roof', corporate facilities, and they would probably have to take out most of those new seats that are at the front of the pitch, as it no longer meets the World Cup standard). Etihad won't need much of an improvement at all structure-wise, but the Latrobe street side could benefit from more investment (not looking its best atm, but that's bound to change anyway due to the plethora of construction).

Also, I chose it in favour of MRS because to get there via Public Transport, all of the options require you to walk right past the MCG, which perhaps wouldn't go down all that well with the fans if you had say a Germany V England match at the MRS. That was just a thought, but also the Melbourne City Council would probably prefer for the CBD to be the centre and to have the Docklands precinct involved with the WC circus.

I'd also imagine that for the GC, Skilled would be far better suited for redevelopment than Carrara.

[Rob]

The issue isn't finding stadiums. You can invent mythical stadiums in all sorts of places and say that it meets FIFA criteria.

The issue is who's going to pay for them.

Although Townsville would be in doubt regardless simply because the surrounding infrastructure (i.e accommodation, transport links) isn't there. Cairns would probably fit, but would be considered to be too far away to have a positive impact on Townsville hosting matches.

[gyfox]

I've never been to Suncorp, but is there any chance at all of any extra seats being added that might lift capacity to 60k? IIRC FIFA require Semi-Final Stadiums to be at least 60k and at the moment only the MCG and Stadium Oz meet that.

I'd imagine if they could bring it up to 60k then it would be in line for one of the Semi-Finals.

Group stage stadiums have to be 40k but semi final stadiums are now required to be min 66K. I still think that Suncorp should be upgraded to that if possible so that semi finals can be Suncorp & MCG or Suncorp and Stadium Australia depending on who gets the final.

PS. There is some chat going around that Group stage stadiums may need to be 44k but we will all find out when FIFA release their stadium requirements in May.

[gyfox]

The issue isn't finding stadiums. You can invent mythical stadiums in all sorts of places and say that it meets FIFA criteria.

The issue is who's going to pay for them.

Although Townsville would be in doubt regardless simply because the surrounding infrastructure (i.e accommodation, transport links) isn't there. Cairns would probably fit, but would be considered to be too far away to have a positive impact on Townsville hosting matches.

The only way I think that remote locations could be used is if they are given all games in a group except Game 6 that has to be played at the same time as the other Group decider, Game 5. To do this they would need to have huge capital investment in accommodation. Even Perth would struggle having 4 teams fans there for 2 weeks.

[Egan]

Dasher if you think Lowy can convince Barnett to build a 60.000 seat stadium.

I want what you are on...

Barnett will probably snub him off, won't want anything to do with it. Rudd will have to pay for it.