Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Timbo
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Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Future of Sydney’s ANZ Stadium under threat as big-money sports war heats up

John Lehmann Editor at Large
The Daily Telegraph
November 15, 2014 12:00AM

The future of Sydney’s Olympic stadium hangs in the balance, with powerbrokers launching a battle to decide where the city watches live sport for decades to come.

The powers behind Moore Park’s Allianz Stadium, soccer supremo Frank Lowy and western Sydney sports bosses are intensifying their lobbying in a move which could have grave consequences for Sydney Olympic Park’s ANZ Stadium.

ANZ Stadium is expected to soon reveal the details of its ambitious $350 million plan to modernise Sydney’s biggest sports venue.

Allianz, controlled by the government-appointed Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust, has also unveiled a $250 million master plan to transform the out-of-date 44,000 seat stadium into a hi-tech, fully-roofed entertainment facility.

Sport Minister Stuart Ayres is committed to pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into giving Sydney’s stadiums a much-needed upgrade.

But as Premier Mike Baird finalises where to invest, some of Sydney’s biggest names are deciding how best to tip the pot of gold their way.

The Trust is directed by a host of influential business operators, including its chairman Tony Shepherd, “Mr Olympics” Rod McGeoch, Destination NSW chairman and ex-News Ltd boss John Hartigan, top broadcaster Alan Jones and retail guru Katie Page.

The government is also feeling the squeeze from Lowy, one of Australia’s richest men, who is backing a push by Western Wanderers’ owner, Paul Lederer, to have a new Parramatta Stadium developed with at least 32,000 seats.

With Ayres being a Penrith boy, he wants to make sure the west doesn’t miss out and believes a modern stadium will be required to support population growth west of the M7.

The Penrith Panthers, driven by league heavy Phil Gould and ex-TAB chief Warren Wilson, have spied an opportunity to transform the 22,500 council-owned Penrith Stadium into a 30,000 seat venue.

Meanwhile, NRL boss Dave Smith has hardly been a vocal supporter of ANZ, while the Swans are almost certain to move games back to the SCG beyond 2016.

All of this spells danger for the future of Homebush’s 83,500-seat ANZ Stadium, which is operated by the Stadium Australia Group, chaired by Infrastructure Capital Group major shareholder John Clarke. Former ACTU vice-president Michael Easson is also on the three-member board, along with stadium CEO Daryl Kerry.

The key is Parramatta. If the government agrees to significantly increase its capacity, the ANZ operators could demand the government pay out the remaining 17 years on their lease and run the stadium itself.

It has leverage to force this outcome under an agreement signed in 1996 with the government before the stadium was built. It compels the government to “negotiate in good faith” with ANZ to ensure there is no “material adverse effect” if the government lifts the capacity above 25,000 of any stadium within 50km of Homebush.

If the government took back ANZ, one option would be to knock down Allianz and build a new 70,000-seat stadium at Moore Park and then turn ANZ Stadium into apartments.

In one further twist, a consortium led by Page, Gerry Harvey and John Singleton are about to take possession of the Entertainment Quarter next to Allianz and they have big plans.

When I recently asked Singleton to name one thing that could be done to improve Sydney, his response was short: “Blow up Homebush”.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/o ... abc8c4df8f

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If there is one thing that the AFL, ARU, NRL, FFA and CA agree on is that ANZ Stadium is jack of all trades and master of none. Nobody particularly likes playing there, the fact that its capacity is what it is and that it's on a rail-line is really all that keeps people there.

However, its gradient means its sightlines are less than ordinary and if you're on the top-deck then you watch the whole game on the big screen.

It's capacity is really only tested by Wallaby vs. All-Black matches, NSW Origin games and NRL Grand Finals.

Future upgrades to the SCG could see it break the 50,000 capacity mark for AFL and high-40,000s for cricket with the sightcreens in. This is more than sufficient for the Swans, and for any potential GWS semi-final matches. The Sydney Thunder could easily move across to the Showground, and if CA wants international matches in the Western Suburbs, the odd T20 could be played at the Showground too - the match against South Africa the other night attracted just 24,000 people which could comfortably be accomodated there and would have a better atmosphere there with a crowd of that size.

If the above mentioned 70,000 seat stadium at Moore Park were to come to fruition, that would be the ideal venue for Wallabies Tests, the NRL Grand Final and State of Origin Matches. Allianz was built marginally before the modern stadium boom, and is badly lacking in facilities such as club seats and corporate facilities. Its gradient is only slightly better than ANZ, but not a lot. If they were to build a state of the art stadium - in my head, it's based on the Houston Texans' NRG Stadium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRG_Stadium) - it creates a wonderful sports precinct on the edge of the city, walking distance from all of the pubs and bars in Paddington, as opposed to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that is Homebush. The new light-rail line connecting Moore Park to Central would make access significantly better as well.

If this new precinct was to be coupled with a new ~32,000 seat stadium at Parramatta for the Wanderers, Eels and perhaps the Tigers, Panthers and Bulldogs then Sydney is in much better shape sports wise - Parramatta is a much better spot with pubs, bars and restaurants as opposed to Homebush. Clubs can choose to keep playing out of venues such as Penrith, Campbelltown and co. but it's up to them to find the money to fund them.

The southern and northern Sydney clubs are largely left out here, but it seems we are approaching a period of ground rationalisation. Also, you have to wonder how long all of Sydney's NRL clubs can last in Sydney - its no secret the league wants a few to move on, and the venue rationalisation could be the final straw in getting a club like the Sharks or Tigers to move to Wellington or the like.

There is plenty of precedent for abandoning modern facilities when they aren't up to scratch - the Atlanta Braves are leaving the 1996 Olympic stadium which is not up to their standards, and the Washington Redskins are abandoning the 17 year old 90,000 seat FedExField because of similar reasons to ANZ - poor sightlines, location away from amenties and transport and general dissatisfaction with the overall experience by the fanbase.

I think because of its less than 20 year age, and its capacity its always assumed that ANZ will be a survivor of the impeding ground rationalisation being faced by Sydney, but really should that be the case? Nobody likes playing there, no fans like going there and there is surely an economic case that could be made that crowds would increase with major facilities at Moore Park and Parramatta.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Timbo wrote: as opposed to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that is Homebush.
You haven't actually been out to Sydney Olympic Park lately, have you?

Not saying ANZ can't be improved - I would be turning into a proper rectangular stadium as it always should have been since the Olympics. But slagging off the area is just showing your ignorance. Trying doing some research before making silly statements like this.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

Post by Boba Fett »

Of course there's a future for ANZ Stadium. A city the size of Sydney should easily have the demand for

1 x 85k stadium (ANZ)
2 x 50k stadiums (one rectangular, one oval - Allianz and the SCG)
1 x 35k stadium ( a properly redeveloped Parramatta Stadium)

And then a variety of smaller stadiums that can be developed and run by private enterprises if anyone feels the need.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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SFS shouldn't be 70k - its regular tenants frankly don't need a bigger stadium, they need a better stadium. Something like the present-day Eastlands would be perfect. Frankly, the MRS would be better than what they've got. Parramatta with something like the MRS would also be perfect. Meanwhile, Homebush with a Wembley on it would be a sight to behold.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Going on average attendances for League, Football, Aussie Rules, Kick n Clap:

SCG capacity is perfect for the Swans. A slight bump to 50,000 removes any need for Homebush.

SFS capacity is 25 - 30k over supplied.

Parra is 5-10k under supplied.

Burb grounds for league are well supplied for capacity, but under supplied for facilities and general amenity.

Homebush is suitable capacity - for f**k all events. NRL Grand Final, SOO, Bloodyslow Cup. Those are the 3 you bank.

The NSW government needs to wake up and understand that Mr Market is not saying fewer big stadiums, it's saying more smaller better stadiums. Rationalisation doesn't work if you're aiming for decentralisation. Especially not on a city with water in the middle.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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dibo wrote:SFS shouldn't be 70k - its regular tenants frankly don't need a bigger stadium, they need a better stadium. Something like the present-day Eastlands would be perfect. Frankly, the MRS would be better than what they've got. Parramatta with something like the MRS would also be perfect. Meanwhile, Homebush with a Wembley on it would be a sight to behold.
I think there's some requirement for the height to be quite low at the northern end (visual impact on Paddington or something?), so maybe a design similar to Dublin's Aviva Stadium could work. I think a capacity of 45-50k is about right, particularly if they can make it look and feel lively when the stadium is only at half capacity (which is simply about seating allocation being managed well).

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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But *WHO* is going to put 40,000 people in to the SFS each week? Sydney FC are good for 16k, NRL fixtures averaged ~15k in 2014.

There may be an argument for a venue with that capacity in Sydney, but people are just assuming it should be at Moore Park because it's there.

Would the SFS have been built to over 40k capacity if homebush existed at the time? There wouldn't have been a reason in the world to go over 20k.

The Sydney market isn't pointing in one direction. It has an appetite for two products. 1) Mega event and 2) something personal, community oriented. There's no evidence that Sydney has a unitary desire to follow a single city franchise in any of the rectangular codes, but there's plenty of evidence that they want their local teams.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Thinking just on football terms, I don't think it's at all impossible that down the track we have up to 5 teams in Sydney - Sydney FC (pretty much Sydney City), Wanderers, a northside team (if NSO were done up), a Campbelltown/Liverpool team and a Southern Sydney team. It ticks off the player bases and gives a local footprint to each (allowing each to have the sort of targeted community work that NRL clubs do well and that A-League clubs do abysmally).

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

Post by gyfox »

Do you need to put 40k in SFS every week when the venue is already paid for or do you just need to get enough income from its regular tenants games to pay for operation and maintenance of the venue? It then can serve for major events for its various tenants that draw closer to its capacity and for mid level representative games.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

Post by Orel Puppington »

The real problem with ANZ stadium is the seating layout, the 6th deck is too high and viewing from there, even for an NRL GF is crap, the North and South ends are piss poor for all events, but the biggest problem by a mile is the retractable seating, which is a pain for management and the AFL to have used.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Orel Puppington wrote:the 6th deck is too high and viewing from there, even for an NRL GF is crap
But that's going to be a problem if you have a large capacity stadium where the majority of the seating is on the sides, yeah?

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

Post by dibo »

The design is circular - it's a circle about 240m across, which helpfully has every seat fit inside the 190m-from-the-farthest-corner-flag mark for FIFA compliance, but the distance from the fence to the centre of the field lengthways means that you can't stack it up as high at the end. Were the ends closer in, you'd be able to build taller stands there with decent sightlines and trim off the top of the sides.

This of course ignores that the first use was for the Olympics, where (for us at least) raw capacity was king.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Yeah, I get your point of having a more equal distribution of seating (i.e. more at the ends and few at the sides), but that doesn't match the market demand. Far more people want to sit along the sides than at the ends (regardless of how near or far the ends are). The reality is that if you want a big capacity stadium, there are going to be a fair number of seats that are going to be a long way away from the action.

Having said that, it would be worth seeing what could be done about pulling the ends in and converting it into as good a rectangular stadium as possible for a reasonable amount of money.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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Rebuild the ends closer. That gets you an initial 110,000 capacity stadium where 30% was temporary and simply vanished post Olympics, then a further 40,000 seats of the entire lower bowl being reconstructed. You're left with 40,000 of the original stadium still standing. Standing in its utterly sh*t position to watch sport.

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

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Re: Is there a future for ANZ Stadium?

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dibo wrote:Thinking just on football terms, I don't think it's at all impossible that down the track we have up to 5 teams in Sydney - Sydney FC (pretty much Sydney City), Wanderers, a northside team (if NSO were done up), a Campbelltown/Liverpool team and a Southern Sydney team. It ticks off the player bases and gives a local footprint to each (allowing each to have the sort of targeted community work that NRL clubs do well and that A-League clubs do abysmally).
The obvious gap is Illawarra.

Wanderers as a brand has traction. I think trying to carve out a piece and calling it Campbelltown is getting way too cute.

We've seen it tried in other codes and bomb. Cronulla were started to dilute St George, ended up with a basketcase. The Woodville Warriors in the SANFL were brought in to dilute Port Adelaide's power base (no pun intended), ended in a merger with West Torrens. The VFL snatched the big VFA clubs to dilute the VFA and we end up dragging North Melbourne along kicking and screaming.

But in relation to stadium requirements, it's clear that what we're advocating for here fits in to "boutique" stadiums far more snugly than that big piece of crap near a train somewhere.

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