Perth's Indoor Stadium could host major Cycling Events
The Western Australian Sports Trust are hoping that the new envisioned indoor stadium proposed for Perth will enable it to gain significant cycling events to Perth.
The General Manager of the Speed Dome Ross Peters explained to Austadiums.com that the venue would cater for large crowds and be serviced by public transport in a central location. Despite this, Cycling remains a low priority for Government in its tender process to create a major new entertainment arena for sports such as Tennis and Basketball.
The new multi-purpose stadium catering for cycling would offer significant advantages in its location and thus draw a significant crowd for a major event such as a world championship. "Its location in the eastern suburb of Midvale was detrimental to the success of the Speed Dome and there is little doubt that the new venue would be better patronised if located closer to the CBD"
Although a venue incorporating cycling would increase knowledge and spectator support of cycling in Western Australia, Ross Peters remains doubtful that the venue would be designed to allow a velodrome to be accommodated in the arena. "The Speed Dome remains a low priority on the State Sporting Facilities Plan for either refurbishment or replacement at present and therefore we are being extremely optimistic to expect cycling facilities to be considered for the Multi purpose stadium."
Through the development of world-class velodrome's in the eastern states, Peter's states they will be well prepared to develop a stadium that is cost effective unlike the Vodafone Arena. "An upgrading of an older velodrome has had to take place because the cost of holding events at the venue is excessive and apart from Commonwealth Games and World Cup events the velodrome is not appropriate for small cycling events".
Peters explains that it is the manual labour that is hampering Vodafone's effectiveness to become a cost effective venue. "Though partly mechanised it still requires a degree of manual labour...and that cost must then be re-couped by the venue and for anything less then a major international event this is always going to be difficult"
A new arena would bring new competitiveness in bids for major events to be hosted on Perth's shores. "We can not hold major events at the Speed Dome due to the facilities...I would not envisage this type of multi-purpose stadium would replace the only existing velodrome in the state... The role would be to accommodate major cycling events of large attendance and national/international profile"
