Multi-purpose Adelaide CBD stadium concept revealed
Austadiums Austadiums
Wednesday 16th September 2020



Adelaide Venue Management has pitched a new 22,000-capacity stadium on the CBD’s Riverbank that includes a football pitch that can elevate to create an indoor arena.
A pitch videopitch video created by the authority that runs the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Convention Centre and Coopers Stadium, calls for a second major stadium in Adelaide to solve issues with existing facilities that are nearing the end of their useful lives.
The proposed arena, dubbed Riverbank Arena, is located on the edge of Adelaide’s CBD, tucked in on the riverfront, behind the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and train station, southwest of Adelaide Oval and adjacent the Adelaide Convention Centre.
The stadium features a capacity of 22,000 for rectangular sports such as football, rugby league and union. The football pitch can then rise up to cover the arena and reveal a lower bowl, able to host sports such as basketball and netball with a capacity of 15,000. Arena-style concerts will be able to attract up to 30,000 fans.
The video says the Adelaide Entertainment CentreAdelaide Entertainment Centre, Coopers StadiumCoopers Stadium and Priceline StadiumPriceline Stadium are all nearing the end of their useful lives, while the Entertainment Centre’s 10,000 capacity and netball centre’s 3,200 capacity is no longer sufficient.
It says the former 36ers home venue Adelaide ArenaAdelaide Arena has reached the end of its life and is no longer fit for professional basketball (the NBL team now plays at the Entertainment Centre) and while the Convention Centre is considered world-class, it lacks exhibition space.
The video also says the new roof recently installed at Memorial DriveMemorial Drive provides a short to mid-term fix, but a larger venue will deliver superior world-class tennis events.
It’s believed the pitch video was created last year and presented to the Government, and while a second major stadium for the city was put on the agenda earlier this year, Covid-19 put the plans on ice.
However, leading industry groups are now calling for the plans to be urgently reconsidered as the Reserve Bank called on states to deliver more stimulus to save and create jobs.
An accompanying business case forecasts 3200 direct and 5800 indirect jobs from such a project.







"In order to unlock the full potential of the South Australian growth agenda we must be competitive, strategic and future-thinking,” the pitch video states."
"Currently, our exiting venue infrastructure is unable to maintain current socio-economic benefits or create new growth opportunities for South Australia."
"SA is missing out and is no longer competitive."
It’s not the first time a new stadium has been proposed for the Riverbank precinct in Adelaide, with a business case for a new indoor stadium put forward in late 2018business case for a new indoor stadium put forward in late 2018, while a major redevelopment for Memorial Drivemajor redevelopment for Memorial Drive was also proposed earlier that same year.

Soccer boss still working on A-League team for Tasmania and new soccer stadium for Hobart
James Bresnehan, Mercury
September 23, 2020 4:55pm


TASMANIAN soccer boss Bob Gordon says the state’s push for an A-League team will ramp up next week when he meet with its financial backers and he is closing in on a greenfield site for a national-standard soccer stadium in Hobart.

President of Football Tasmania, Gordon said the coronavirus had shifted the landscape on Australian soccer but the pursuit of a Tasmanian team in the A-League was still on course.

It comes as the state secures a National Basketball League team to be based at a extensively refurbished Derwent Entertainment Centre and will start competing next year.

“I will be talking to the financial backers of the Tasmanian A-League team again next week, and they are still interested,” Gordon said.

“We are working proactively and cooperatively with the State Government about what needs to be done to make sure we’ve got the facilities where we could play A-League.”

Turning Launceston’s AFL venue UTas Stadium into a soccer-ready pitch was a priority.

“The first step is making sure York Park gets upgraded to rectangular stadium format like Marvel Stadium, where the seats come out into the ground so it’s rectangular,” Gordon said.

“That would allow us to play Matildas games in the lead up to the World Cup, as well as A-League games and Y-League games.

“It would be a lasting legacy for every sport that needs a rectangular stadium and it would also increase the seating for other sports as well.

“We will not get the World Cup unless we have a rectangular format stadium.

“We are still working on an option for a rectangular stadium for Hobart.”

A-League games would be played at both ends of the state.

“The proponents are keen on playing games in Hobart and Launceston, just from sheer economics, you get good crowds at both,” Gordon said.

“But we do need a rectangular stadium in Hobart and it wouldn’t just be for the A-League.

“It could be a concert venue for 12,000 or 13,000 people, and we’ve had an international rugby game down here and we occasionally get an NRL game, and it would be used for events like that.

“But you don’t get those unless you’ve got the facilities.”

Gordon said the A-League group identified seven potential sites for a Hobart soccer venue, and the shortlist had been reduced to three.

“It would be quite a modest investment compared with the billion dollars that’s been spent on York Park and Blundstone Arena,” he said.

“We’ve got three locations and we are still working through that process.”