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aussie scott21
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+xThe biggest crowd the AFL ever got at Stadium Australia was 72,000. It’s only happened a handful of times that they have had a crowd figure in excess of the SCG’s current capacity (48k). They’d be lucky to do it once per year. Most of the time when they hold a game there it would be about 50,000 at best. In their mind the AFL wants to hang on to ANZ for that one big game per year, or for a future sydney derby that draws a huge crowd. That’s a long way off, and it assumes the Giants will get popular.As for money for the Swans administration and training facilities, the AFL can pay for it themselves. What return does the taxpayer get for that? After cricket, Australian football can build bridges with India - INDIA New England News
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Davo1985
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"But the plain fact is that within a few years, no AFL game in Sydney will be able to be watched by a crowd of more than 48,000. The Giants might have to put aside their distaste for playing home finals at the SCG in order to maximize crowds, including any home final against the Swans. In NSW, as in Victoria, it might become a case of home state rather home ground finals."
That quote sums up I think why we have such a bloody obsession with crowds.
The afl would be happy to get rid of all their club's identities and geographical ground advantage etc just so they can sprout their voices off by announcing a bigger crowd figure at another location. They really are that petulant.
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Eldar
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Get fucked, let the Victorian government fund AFL.
Beaten by Eldar
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Burztur
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11th largest crowd outside of Victoria...
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Lastbroadcast
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The biggest crowd the AFL ever got at Stadium Australia was 72,000.
It’s only happened a handful of times that they have had a crowd figure in excess of the SCG’s current capacity (48k). They’d be lucky to do it once per year. Most of the time when they hold a game there it would be about 50,000 at best.
In their mind the AFL wants to hang on to ANZ for that one big game per year, or for a future sydney derby that draws a huge crowd. That’s a long way off, and it assumes the Giants will get popular.
As for money for the Swans administration and training facilities, the AFL can pay for it themselves. What return does the taxpayer get for that?
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aussie scott21
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I saw this article the other week. Didnt post it but it is probably more relevant now.  The Swans and Giants faced off at ANZ Stadium in the 2016 qualifying final THE AFL likes to think of itself as Australia’s game and when it comes to any of the football codes, using most of the usual indicators, it is a sentiment that is reasonably close to the mark. But a fortnight ago, when the AFL world gathered en masse in Sydney for its biggest annual non-football event, the 2017 NAB AFL Draft, the League was also served a jolting reminder about how far down the pecking order it is in New South Wales. The NSW state government announced the very same day that it was spending $2.3 billion to rebuild Allianz Stadium, which immediately abuts the SCG in Moore Park, and to all but rebuild ANZ Stadium, the 75,000-seat stadium that was initially built less than 20 years ago for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Add the new Western Sydney Stadium that is being built on the site of the former Parramatta Stadium, and that means three new sporting palaces for Sydney will open in the next few years, and more significantly, all rectangular and incapable of hosting AFL football, at least the 18-a-side version we have known and loved for 160 years. The AFL had lobbied, more out of hope than with any real degree of optimism, that the rebuilt ANZ Stadium would retain its oval configuration, so the option remained for staging really large drawing games such as a Sydney derby final or any final involving the Swans or Giants against a club with a large travelling supporter base, in a stadium that seats close to 75,000. Not surprisingly, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian didn’t buy into that one. The Olympic Stadium is the home of the NRL, the Wallabies and the Socceroos, who all play on rectangular-shaped fields. Pleasing the AFL won’t win votes for any political party at the next election. But there was a reasonable argument that some of that $2.3 billion should have been allocated to the SCG, where both the AFL and Cricket Australia had lobbied for the Brewongle and O’Reilly Stands, both built nearly four decades ago, to be razed then rebuilt. The oval-shaped field sports argued that the various shortcomings that determined that Allianz Stadium needed to be bulldozed and started over applied even more so to the western corner of the SCG. Those two grandstands pre-date the neighbouring Sydney Football Stadium by nearly 10 years. The rectangular-field sports will argue that the NSW government has fairly looked after the AFL (and cricket) in recent years, what with $45 million in 2010 to help redevelop Spotless Stadium as the match-day home for GWS and $97.5 million towards the rebuilt Bradman and Noble stands at the SCG. The Giants' home ground of Spotless Stadium was given a facelift. Picture: AFL Photos And there are countless new AFL-suitable oval fields and accompanying infrastructure sprouting up all over New South Wales, and with more to come. And the reason nearly the entire AFL community decamped to Western Sydney for the draft was due to the largesse of the NSW government. But the plain fact is that within a few years, no AFL game in Sydney will be able to be watched by a crowd of more than 48,000. The Giants might have to put aside their distaste for playing home finals at the SCG in order to maximize crowds, including any home final against the Swans. In NSW, as in Victoria, it might become a case of home state rather home ground finals. The AFL packs plenty of punch in the corridors of power on one side of what Professor Ian Turner once called the 'Barassi Line'. The other side? Well, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and commission chairman Richard Goyder still have some work to do.
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bohemia
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+xSydney chairman Andrew Pridham calls on funding help with Swans to lose out over stadium rebuild
THE AFL and the Swans are the big losers in Sydney’s $2 billion stadium rebuild. The first thing the code will be without is the venue which has hosted the 11 largest crowds outside Victoria in the game’s history. The red and white army won’t miss ANZ Stadium, but their club is in for a host of challenges in the coming years which include sharing their home ground with the Sydney Roosters, NSW Waratahs, State of Origin and possibly Sydney FC. The wear and tear alone will restrict their ability to train on their home ground. It’s a squeeze the Swans have been feeling for a long time as they fight for space in the most competitive sporting market in the world. Their practice ground opposite the SCG recently lost one of its wings to Sydney’s light rail project. The Swans are currently training at Sydney Grammar School, running around a heavy roller on their cricket pitch. But the biggest tightening the Swans will feel is in the State Government’s purse strings. They now find themselves well down the queue when it comes to the funding of any future developments at their home ground, including their much-desired training and administration centre. As CEO of the Australian division of Moelis and Company, Swans chairman Andrew Pridham knows how to make money but this could be the toughest assignment of his tenure. His wish list is sensibly modest — new grandstands at the SCG aren’t on it but a new $50 million HQ is. “Our training facility is one of the worst in the AFL,” Pridham said. “(That’s) when you consider the Swans are the biggest tenant at the SCG, we have the biggest supporter group of any sporting club in Australia with 1.2 million. We’re the biggest sporting club in NSW. It’s not unfair that we would look for government support.” The SCG Trust has a blueprint for the replacement of the Brewongle/Churchill and Bill O’Reilly Stands but the Swans aren’t particularly interested in any of them at the moment. “We have no desire for the Brewongle or the Bill O’Reilly stands to be redeveloped, that’s not on our agenda, we’ve never really pushed it,” Pridham said. “Our focus is about our training facilities and ovals so we can get a women’s team going. So we can keep our academy going and our indigenous program going and our senior team.” The Swans’ training and administration facility is way off the pace when it comes to most of the teams in the AFL. Fremantle is spending a staggering $100 million on their new complex and Essendon have a stunning set up at Tullamarine, complete with MCG and Etihad Stadium replicas on which to train. But Pridham and the Swans are aiming for around half that money. “In the context of this stadium strategy our needs are very, very modest,” Pridham said. “We are talking pennies compared to what’s going on elsewhere. We’re important to a lot of people in NSW so we want that reflected. We can’t get a women’s team and grow our academy until we’ve got the facilities. But equally important is we need ovals to train on.” The swans can tell someone who cares. They have a 2.5 billion media deal. Stop going cap in hand to everyone else and pay your own way.
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chillbilly
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Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham calls on funding help with Swans to lose out over stadium rebuild
THE AFL and the Swans are the big losers in Sydney’s $2 billion stadium rebuild. The first thing the code will be without is the venue which has hosted the 11 largest crowds outside Victoria in the game’s history. The red and white army won’t miss ANZ Stadium, but their club is in for a host of challenges in the coming years which include sharing their home ground with the Sydney Roosters, NSW Waratahs, State of Origin and possibly Sydney FC. The wear and tear alone will restrict their ability to train on their home ground. It’s a squeeze the Swans have been feeling for a long time as they fight for space in the most competitive sporting market in the world. Their practice ground opposite the SCG recently lost one of its wings to Sydney’s light rail project. The Swans are currently training at Sydney Grammar School, running around a heavy roller on their cricket pitch. But the biggest tightening the Swans will feel is in the State Government’s purse strings. They now find themselves well down the queue when it comes to the funding of any future developments at their home ground, including their much-desired training and administration centre. As CEO of the Australian division of Moelis and Company, Swans chairman Andrew Pridham knows how to make money but this could be the toughest assignment of his tenure. His wish list is sensibly modest — new grandstands at the SCG aren’t on it but a new $50 million HQ is. “Our training facility is one of the worst in the AFL,” Pridham said. “(That’s) when you consider the Swans are the biggest tenant at the SCG, we have the biggest supporter group of any sporting club in Australia with 1.2 million. We’re the biggest sporting club in NSW. It’s not unfair that we would look for government support.” The SCG Trust has a blueprint for the replacement of the Brewongle/Churchill and Bill O’Reilly Stands but the Swans aren’t particularly interested in any of them at the moment. “We have no desire for the Brewongle or the Bill O’Reilly stands to be redeveloped, that’s not on our agenda, we’ve never really pushed it,” Pridham said. “Our focus is about our training facilities and ovals so we can get a women’s team going. So we can keep our academy going and our indigenous program going and our senior team.” The Swans’ training and administration facility is way off the pace when it comes to most of the teams in the AFL. Fremantle is spending a staggering $100 million on their new complex and Essendon have a stunning set up at Tullamarine, complete with MCG and Etihad Stadium replicas on which to train. But Pridham and the Swans are aiming for around half that money. “In the context of this stadium strategy our needs are very, very modest,” Pridham said. “We are talking pennies compared to what’s going on elsewhere. We’re important to a lot of people in NSW so we want that reflected. We can’t get a women’s team and grow our academy until we’ve got the facilities. But equally important is we need ovals to train on.”
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aussie scott21
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There is a Chinese group that have proposed to build a stadium but FFA dont seem interested.
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aussie scott21
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Tap wealthy private and corporate donors to help fund new stadiumsAmid the debate regarding plans for new stadiums at Moore Park and Homebush, no one has considered alternatives to relying solely on government funding. It seems that no club or national organisation has been asked to contribute towards the capital costs. On the contrary, teams and sports are instead likely to be the recipient of compensation monies for having to move games away from their traditional home base, and for relocating their administration headquarters during construction. Elite sport plays a vital role in inspiring young Aussies to engage in sport, and major events need suitable stadiums. There are also established economic and social benefits driven by major sporting events. However, sports are becoming increasingly reliant on government funding and a culture of dependency exists in some sports. The "handout" culture mentality within sport needs to be curbed.  There is no reason why the SCG Trust couldn't fundraise to help cover the cost of rebuilding Allianz. Photo: Wolter PeetersThere is another way towards offsetting government's contribution for the new stadiums. It involves a pro-active funding partnership with sports fans, club members and their communities where government grants are conditional on project monies being raised via philanthropic and community donations. Examples exist. Earlier this year, Geelong AFL club unveiled its newly built $91 million Brownlow Stand at its Simonds Stadium home. Last Wednesday, the Western Australian Cricket Association announced a $150 million revamp of the WACA ground in Perth. Significantly, both projects are not solely reliant on government grants to fund them.  The ANZ Stadium in Homebush under construction for the Olympic games. Photo: Peter Morris PMZAs part of the funding mix, Geelong and the WACA have tapped into an under-utilised available resource – tax-deductible donations in support of these projects in partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation. Geelong raised $12 million in fundraising with the Sports Foundation for its new stand, while the WACA also aims to generate $12 million towards its project. Established by the federal government in 1986 to assist the development of sport, the Sports Foundation is the only body that can provide philanthropists and private and corporate donors with a tax deduction for donations to registered sports projects. Projects range from stadium redevelopments, clubroom and dressing room upgrades and team travel through to funding for state and national-standard athletes. In 2016-17, the Sports Foundation raised $44.75 million for sport – taking total monies raised over the past three years to more than $100 million. There is nothing preventing the SCG Trust, ANZ Stadium, the NRL, Football Federation Australia, Rugby Australia and their various member teams, which use the Sydney Football Stadium and ANZ Stadium as home grounds, from fundraising towards a portion of the capital costs with tax-deductible donations and philanthropic giving. The business, corporate and community networks within each organisation are vast, and they are passionate about sport. It is a matter of tapping into these existing groups. Government-philanthropic tax-deductible funding partnerships already exists within the arts. The NSW government has budgeted $244 million to help the Art Gallery of NSW build its Sydney Modern extension. But the funds are contingent on the gallery fundraising $100 million towards the project. Wealthy Sydney families have already donated $88 million for the new building. As the only body with deductible gift recipient status available to sport, the Sport Foundation stands ready to work with all parties to contribute to the stadiums' costs – just as government has partnered with the gallery. Monies saved via a fundraising partnership with stadium tenants can be directed by government to other needy grassroots community capital works sports projects. Philanthropic and community tax-deductible donations can and should play a major role in facility funding at the SFS and ANZ stadiums to reduce the drain on government funds. Patrick Walker is CEO of the Australian Sports Foundation.
Tap wealthy private and corporate donors to help fund new stadiums
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paulc
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+xIts pretty obvious that Bling FC needs a big name to get bums on seats. This wont happen under Arnie so their growth is stunted. Doesnt matter how many games they win. No one is turning up to see a Ninko or Bobo. No one cares. Arnold even got rid of Janko because he was getting too popular for his liking. Sure, he is gods gift to core fans but he does nothing to grow your base. Sydney FC needs a Crouch or Del Piero or Drogba. Not a Polish guy no one knows or Matt Simon, its the fan culture around SFC. Fair comments
In a resort somewhere
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aussie scott21
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No it won't come cheap but this is where they are now. No visa player who is anywhere near ADP will be cheap. Any marquee who is not near ADP will be considered a nobody and won't help the numbers.
I'm pretty sure he helped with their Facebook likes. Not sure if he helped financially. Probably via sponsorships. "That Australian team Del Perio played for"
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HeyItsRobbie
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+xIts pretty obvious that Bling FC needs a big name to get bums on seats. This wont happen under Arnie so their growth is stunted. Doesnt matter how many games they win. No one is turning up to see a Ninko or Bobo. No one cares. Arnold even got rid of Janko because he was getting too popular for his liking. Sure, he is gods gift to core fans but he does nothing to grow your base. Sydney FC needs a Crouch or Del Piero or Drogba. Not a Polish guy no one knows or Matt Simon, its the fan culture around SFC. and what makes you think those guys are going to come here without earning millions? should ask though, did sydney fc make much money when they had del piero or was it the opposite?
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aussie scott21
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Its pretty obvious that Bling FC needs a big name to get bums on seats. This wont happen under Arnie so their growth is stunted. Doesnt matter how many games they win. No one is turning up to see a Ninko or Bobo. No one cares.
Arnold even got rid of Janko because he was getting too popular for his liking.
Sure, he is gods gift to core fans but he does nothing to grow your base. Sydney FC needs a Crouch or Del Piero or Drogba. Not a Polish guy no one knows or Matt Simon, its the fan culture around SFC.
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aussie scott21
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No, Gladys, build it and they won’t comeThe NSW Government has announced it will knock down and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park at a cost of $700 million and the Olympic Stadium at Homebush, only 17 years old, at a cost of $1.6 billion. However, there is little ‘business case’ evidence that new stadiums would make a material difference to attendances at football games, although Sports Minister, Stuart Ayres argues, “With better quality facilities, more people will come and attend matches.” The politics are terrible for the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and her Government. Over 130,000 people have signed an online petition against the proposal in only two weeks. The ABC reported NSW and National MPs were outraged by the weapon handed to the Opposition, quoting one MP as saying, “Labor has a narrative they can use every day until the next election – ‘you can’t have that money for the school but you can have $2 billion on stadiums’.” Where is everybody? On a sunny Sunday, 21 March 2010, a couple of hundred football (aka soccer) fans waited on The Domain for the luxury coach carrying the Sydney FC team to arrive direct from the airport. The previous day in Melbourne, Sydney had won the A-League Grand Final on penalties after extra time when South Korean Byun Sung-hwan scored the winner. A stage had been erected, food trucks arrived and it was a chance to celebrate with the returning heroes. Sydney FC had completed an historic double, delivering the Championship to go with the Premier’s Plate for winning the league, but the obvious question was: where is everybody? In the following season, 2010/2011, the average home attendance was a dismal 8,014, half the number in the first season of 2005/2006. Fast forward seven years and Sydney had not won a trophy in the intervening period. The 2012 excitement of Alessandro Del Piero (record holder for playing the most games for Juventus and 92 caps for Italy) had come and gone. But now something far more special was happening. Sydney FC was playing the best football in its 13-year history. It was an enthralling season of exciting football built around player of the year, Milos Ninkovic. Sydney went on to hold the treble (including the FFA Cup) for the first time and broke records that may stand forever, including winning the league by an unbelievable 17 points. Yet in the middle of that winning 2016/2017 season, Round 19, only 8,380 turned up to watch the Wellington game, and the average main season home game attendance was 16,001. In Del Piero’s first year, 2012/2013, it reached a record average of 18,737. Sydney’s home ground of Allianz Stadium holds 45,500. Where is everybody? Here is football at the highest standard Australia is ever likely to muster, and in the country’s biggest city, the crowds are disappointingly small. What’s it like to watch games at Allianz Stadium? 
In a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald, the Chairman of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust, Tony Shepherd, wrote: “People who claim the stadium is perfectly fine clearly don’t go there. The venue is rusted, ageing and doesn’t meet modern safety standards.” Well, Mr Shepherd, I go there regularly. Watching Sydney FC at Allianz is one of my favourite activities. I am a Foundation Member and I have held a season ticket since 2005. I rarely miss a home game and sometimes travel to away games. I don’t sit in the corporate boxes but prefer the seats with the hoi polloi who sing the songs and love this Sydney team. I want to concentrate on the game, especially when Sydney is so enthrallingly good, rather than entertain guests or sip on champagne while eating canapes. The irony of Mr Shepherd’s claims is that the Trust’s website has a page of endorsements on the wonderful stadium. At the recent FFA Cup Final, I asked a few people near me whether they wanted a new stadium. All said the existing stadium is fine. Allianz is a rectangular field and fans sit close to the action. My season ticket is in the exact place I want. It’s near the halfway line, about 20 rows back under cover, behind where Graham Arnold prowls like an angry leopard. I can see him losing his temper, planning his moves, shouting at players. Heaven. Last year, the Stadium made a stunning improvement. At each end, massive video screens fill the space behind the goals. The replays are excellent, in crystal clear dimensions on the best screens at any ground I’ve attended (and I’ve been to the last three World Cups in Germany, South Africa and Brazil). The food is a poor effort, but that has little to do with the design of the Stadium. It could be significantly improved by realising not all football fans want weak beer for $9 to wash down a $6 meat pie. The toilets are bad and I understand facilities for people with physical disabilities are sub-standard, but they can surely be fixed. A season ticket for Sydney’s 14 homes games for an adult costs as little at $270. It’s far more expensive to watch Paul McCartney for two hours. A modest $20 a game is an entertainment bargain in this expensive city where it costs $70 to park in the CBD for a day. Australians love playing and watching soccer Soccer is by far the largest participation sport in Australia. Reports Roy Morgan Research: “Soccer has been the big winner of the new century so far, gaining almost 200,000 regular participants (up 46 percent to 623,000). Now the most-played competitive sport in Australia, in 2001 soccer was fourth on the list.” Soccer fans also love to watch the game live. The Socceroos recently attracted 77,060 to the final World Cup qualifying game against Honduras. An incredible 163,652 attended two friendly Arsenal games (v Sydney FC 80,432 and v Western Sydney Wanderers 83,221) in July 2017. That’s more than watch Arsenal at their home ground in London. The Liverpool game against Sydney FC in May 2017 drew 72,892, despite Liverpool including several retired players such as Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. An ageing Steve McManaman was an embarrassment. These games have no competitive meaning and no tension but the public flocks to them. There is simply no comparison with the excitement of a Sydney FC competition game from the reigning champions. Writing as someone who has followed Manchester United for 55 years, most of the fans at the Arsenal and Liverpool games show Euro snobbery and don’t realise how good the local game is. The first game of the 2016/2017 in the A-League was amazing. Sydney FC played Wanderers at ANZ Stadium and a record club crowd of 61,880 turned up. It was a fantastic atmosphere. A few months later, where is everybody? What’s the pool of available fans to attend regularly at Allianz? Sydney FC has only 13,613 members, and it needs a lot of walkups for a decent attendance. The average crowd in 2017/2018 to date is 15,793 but that includes the Sydney home derby at 36,057. The worry is that Sydney has found a new attendance level of about 15,000 for regular games despite playing such excellent football. Only 10,044 watched Sydney play Brisbane recently. A new stadium of 30,000 or 45,000 will have masses of empty seats except at one or two games a year. What about the rugby and league crowds? Allianz is shared with rugby league’s Sydney Roosters and rugby’s NSW Waratahs. In 2017, the NSW Waratahs recorded the lowest crowd in its 21-year history, 10,555 on 26 April 2017. The average for the season was 14,500. In the 11 main season games played by the Sydney Roosters NRL team at Allianz in 2016/2017, the average attendance was 13,971. Worse, what happens during the rebuilding? When it was first announced that Allianz Stadium would be knocked down and rebuilt, the three major tenants said in a statement in April 2016: “When teams are displaced from their established home ground, the impact is negative and of a long-term nature. Some clubs never recover.” Exactly. The Government has indicated it may compensate the clubs while the new stadium is built. Western Sydney Wanderers may continue to suffer from their move away from Parramatta Stadium during its reconstruction. Wanderers now play at Spotless Stadium at Homebush in front of 8,000 people and the fan experience is a shadow of its former glory. What will Sydney do during the rebuild, perish the thought? Three seasons at either Leichhardt Oval in Sydney inner west, Jubilee Oval down south in Kogarah or maybe the Sydney Cricket Ground. Every choice will alienate a large section of the fan base, and neither of the suburban grounds has much parking. Sydney fans from the north will not want to drive to Kogarah, Leichardt is in the crowded inner city with its traffic problems (and building of WestConnex) and the SCG would be a dust bowl of oval-shaped sadness. Little players kicking a ball in the distance on a field where nobody has played soccer for a good reason for many years. Where to from here? Last year, I noticed a small panel of plasterboard near my seat was coming unstuck. I advised Sydney FC and was told that they were only a tenant, and no money is being spent on the stadium because it is likely to be torn down. Little wonder it is ‘rusty and ageing’. All buildings, especially a public stadium built from steel, need maintenance. Mr Shepherd’s article outlined the safety, dressing room and toilet facilities that need fixing. Okay, fix them, maintain the place and find a better use for most of the $700 million. If fans are not turning up to watch the best Sydney FC team in its history, despite the obvious popularity of soccer, a new stadium will do little to improve the numbers. Graham Hand is Managing Editor of the free financial newsletter, Cuffelinks. Cuffelinks publishes insights from market professionals with a focus on investing and superannuation.
No, Gladys, build it and they won't come - Cuffelinks
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aussie scott21
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Premier Berejiklian's Sydney stadium math doesn't stack upThe reaction of Premier Gladys Berejiklian to the stadium protests quite stuns me. She is a fine woman, who I have known personally for 25 years, and for my money has been a great minister, and good Premier ... right up until the issue of the stadiums came up. See, while you were out, it was announced that on top of having knocked down Parramatta Stadium to build a bigger one, her government is also going to knock down both the Olympic Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadiums. All up – while so many publicly funded sectors of the community are crying out for succour – three fine, working stadiums, all within coo-ee of each other in Sydney, are to be knocked down, and rebuilt for around $3 billion. Why Peter FitzSimons is against rebuilding Sydney's stadiumsThe NSW government announced it would be spending $2 billion to reconstruct two of Sydney's major sports stadiums. Fitz lays out his response. I wrote a piece 10 days ago, and started a petition against it saying the bleeding obvious: there is wasteful extravagance, there is ludicrous extravagance, and then there is #StadiumSplurge. And the NSW public overwhelming feels the same, as witness talkback, letters to the editor, and a stunning 140,000 people signing the petition at last count. (As a measure, when I did a similar petition, against the Tom Waterhouse gambling ads extravaganza on the league broadcasts, we got 20,000 signatures over six weeks – and even that helped impress the government enough that the policy was changed.) Back to the Premier's response to the outcry. She has, reportedly, decided to stay the course, telling the Tele, "It is easier not to do anything, and not to build anything. But you can't make decisions thinking about being a premier for this year and next year."  A supplied rendering of one of Sydney's proposed stadiums. Her basic theme is the economic benefits of the exercise, consistent with her previous contention that the next two stadiums must be done, as they will generate about $1 billion in revenue annually. "So if you actually take that assumption over two years," she has said, "we're paying back their cost." Premier Berejiklian? You cannot be serious. I have seen correspondence from your parliamentary colleagues making that claim to outraged constituents, but the fact that you make it, is simply gobsmacking. To begin with, the operative number is not what the new stadiums will generate in profits – it is the difference between what the current stadiums are generating now, and what the new stadiums will generate when completed. To be remotely justifiable, those extra profits would have to pay back the extra $2 billion, yes? And you are seriously maintaining that will be done in two years? For your numbers to stack up, you need on average an extra 100,000 people a week, every week, to be turning up to those stadiums, and spending an extra $200 a week, all of which goes into the coffers of the NSW government. Can that possibly be your serious contention? If so, please release the figures. Show us the estimates! And please explain where these 100,000 extra people are coming from, at a time when – here are some numbers of my own – the NRL crowds at the Olympic Stadium, this last season, were at an average of 14,410 in the venue that now holds 83,500 seat venue. Ditto, the SFS, where average NRL crowds were just a smidgen under 14,000. The needs of NRL are often cited as why we need the new stadiums, and all the focus is on the Grand Finals, and the possibility that instead of taking those finals to the nation's biggest market, of Sydney, they'll take them to the third-biggest market, Brissie. (Doesn't sound likely to me, but still.) Either way, grand finals are one thing, but in the meat and potatoes of the regular season the average NRL crowds are under 15,000. So nowis the time to build three new stadiums, for $3 billion?  Here we go again: ANZ Stadium in Homebush while still being built for the 2000 Games. Photo: Peter Morris PMZ I repeat, we surely need to see your numbers to justify it. And while you're at it, if the numbers are actually so great, please explain how, as reported in The Australian there is a "cabinet minute pointing out that the benefit-cost ratio for the projects was well under 1, meaning they would not generate more money than their cost to the state's economy." If the numbers are genuinely so strong, Premier, why does that same report in the Oz note that both your Treasurer and your Finance Minister are against it, in the company of seven Cabinet Ministers, to go with more and more of the back-bench who are now perilously close to open revolt? And if all is hunky-dory, why are some of those same Cabinet Ministers clearly leaking against your government? I repeat: you can build those three stadiums again for $3 billion, or you can win another term. But you cannot do both. And your successor as leader will be the one who stands up most strongly against this madness. Unless, of course, and we all hope so, you listen to the public yourself and stop this. In the arts, as in sportNot that you care, but I also like Tony Shepherd, the Chair of the SCG Trust, and know him reasonably well. A good operator, honest, and well connected, he is behind many major works including the Harbour Tunnel, and among other things is the Chair of the Western Sydney Giants. He knows how to get things done, and my only query is, who must pay for it? Here, for example, were his words at the launch of the plans for Rooty Hill RSL Club Performing Arts Centre, a fortnight ago. "This is a magnificent performing arts centre," he said, "which will excite and draw people from Western Sydney and beyond. It is being built without a cent from the taxpayer and is providing the community with a facility it desperately wants and needs," Mr Shepherd said. "As the former chairman of the National Commission of Audit, [that] there's not a cent of government money in there makes me really happy. Truly happy." Fair enough. But here's the question, Tony. If it makes you happy that taxpayer didn't have to kick in a cent, for a useful and necessary arts centre, and that's one of your key arbiters of personal satisfaction, how can you be in such strong support of knocking down the relatively popular, and modern, Sydney Football Stadium, for a lazy 800 million dollars of taxpayer money? All when, just 18 months ago, the Baird government deemed that an entirely unnecessary exercise? What am I missing?
Premier Berejiklian's Sydney stadium math doesn't stack up
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aussie scott21
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NSW must build stadiums or be left at the mercy of football codesIn the 17 years since the Sydney Olympics, every Australian capital city with major sports content, except Sydney, has rebuilt old stadiums or constructed new ones. Allianz Stadium, on the edge of Sydney's CBD, will no longer be guaranteed safe after 2018, while ANZ Stadium at Homebush in the city's west has been a compromised facility since it was built for the 2000 Games.  New digs: An artist's impression of what the new Allianz Stadium will look like. The stadium is built entirely on SCG Trust lands. Photo: SuppliedShould the NSW government cancel its plan to spend $2 billion rebuilding both stadiums, Sydney will be left with three facilities suitable for AFL (SCG, ANZ and the Giants' boutique stadium at Homebush) and two rectangular stadiums for rugby league, rugby union and soccer (an unsafe Allianz and a 30,000-seater at Parramatta). This will leave Sydney in last place in the race among Australian capitals to stage major sporting events, such as grand finals, State of Origin matches, Bledisloe Cups and soccer's World Cup events.  Lights up: An artist's impression of a new Allianz stadium during a Roosters game. Furthermore, the NSW capital will not compete on the world stage for events such as the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup, the 2025 British and Irish Lions Tour, the 2027 Rugby World Cup, along with top music events. The NSW government will be at the mercy of the major football codes, rather than the reverse. When the ARU was forced to decide between the Melbourne Rebels and the Perth-based Western Force to cut from its SANZAAR competition, the Victorian government told the code it would not release any money from its well-funded major events budget if the Rebels were axed. Faced with no government support for Bledisloe Cup matches and visiting international teams for possibly a decade in Australia's second-biggest city, the ARU yielded to the Victorian government. If, however, the NSW government reneges on its two stadia rebuild, the NRL will withdraw from the agreement to stage the next 25 grand finals in Sydney. With former Queensland premier Peter Beattie expected to replace John Grant as chair of the ARL Commission in February, NRL grand finals will be shopped around the country, with Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium a likely venue. The Queensland government has become more aggressive in the past five years bidding for events.  Big show: An artist's impression of a new Allianz stadium during a Waratahs game. Photo: SuppliedNSW has already lost to Queensland the status as dominant rugby league state, being beaten on most indices of success. The trend will continue unless fans of the Eels, Bulldogs, Wests Tigers and Rabbitohs fill modern rectangular stadiums, allowing these clubs to spend gate receipts on junior development. Perth, with a new stadium and minus an elite rugby union tenant, will also join the bidding race. Western Australia is in the process of spending over $1 billion on a new sporting precinct. Sydney has been under threat for more than a decade from Melbourne's easily accessible infrastructure, centring on the 100,000-seat MCG and justifying its self-proclaimed status as the sporting capital of the known universe. As Destinations NSW chair John Hartigan says, "Sydney's position as the gateway to Australia is under threat from the twofold restrictions imposed by the limitations of Sydney airport [a curfew and shortage of slots] and the lack of facilities to attract world class events." Hartigan points out that it will take 10 to 12 years to build a second airport at Badgerys Creek and the difficulties of attracting events to the city will compound in that time, should the two stadia not be built. Tourism has moved from a tier-two revenue earner to tier-one status in Australia, particularly with the decline in mining. Tourism is worth $33.2 billion a year to the NSW economy and it supports 164,000 jobs and more than 96,000 businesses in NSW rely on the sector.  Here we go again: ANZ Stadium in Homebush while still being built for the 2000 Games. Photo: Peter Morris PMZ ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium, even in their current, inadequate states, host 200 major men's and women's fixtures across five codes every year and both venues attract 3.5 million people per year to major events and a total 17 million precinct visitors. Allianz and ANZ, inject more than $1 billion into the NSW economy every year, meaning the initial $2 billion government investment is repaid in two years. If the state government doesn't invest in these facilities, it puts at risk the supply of critical revenue to NSW that funds schools and hospitals, as well as the jobs of one in 23 people who rely on the events sector. NSW Sports Minister Stuart Ayres has pointed out the $2 billion stadia rebuild is a mere 1 per cent of the $200 billion the state government will invest in health and education over the period ANZ and Allianz are being rebuilt. In other words, the 30-year investment in new stadiums is critical, not only for the long-term success of the visitor economy, but it helps fund health and education services all over the state. Political football has already resulted in two key infrastructure projects in Australia – Melbourne's East-West Link and Perth's Freight Link – being cancelled because of electoral backlash. Transport experts say both will inevitably be built at a massively higher cost. Kicking a hard decision down the road, like the NSW government's investment in the two stadia, only hurts the economy in the long run.
NSW must build stadiums or be left at the mercy of football codes
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P&R will fix it 2.0
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Sydney stadium development sparks debate over costs, but do the leagues and clubs even deserve them?Updated Amid the outrage about the "astronomical price tag" and the tub-thumping of the Stop the Stadiums campaigners, the most significant question about Sydney's proposed $2.5 billion venue redevelopment has been lost. Ask not whether Sydney can afford better places to play rugby league, football and rugby. Ask whether the leagues who administer those sports and the clubs who play them deserve palatial new homes. More than a decade ago, as a Victorian working in the Sydney media, the plan now embraced by the NSW Government seemed as obvious as the rain pouring through the roof at the Sydney Football Stadium. As I wrote then, the Olympic Stadium was famed for a few great moments but despised by week-to-week fans of all codes because of its lack of intimacy and atmosphere. Thus it must kick the AFL to the kerbside and become a rectangle if it was to attract larger crowds for NRL and possibly A-League and Super Rugby games. The SFS and Parramatta Stadium were laughably outdated by contemporary standards, a common problem with the bland cookie cutter stadiums built in the 1980s. Knock them down and build modern facilities that would not only cater for existing crowds but attract more fans and corporate clients. That it took so long for the NSW Government and the various stakeholders to reach this seemingly obvious conclusion says much about the byzantine nature of Sydney sports politics. The SCG Trust is mistrusted and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority lacks authority. Meanwhile sports not only fight each other but also among themselves because clubs have opposing interests. The outcome — lots of grandstanding but few new grandstands. Then there was ingrained resistance of the Sydney public. The self-defeating arguments that Sydney has "unique geographical problems", "rugby league is a TV game", "we've got better things to do" and "we love our suburban grounds — although we don't actually go to them". It was this can't-do attitude, even more than the governmental dithering and petty squabbling between stadium operators that surprised me when I dared suggest Sydney fans deserved better stadiums. Back then, however, I assumed the various codes would unlock their potential or heighten demand and crowds would increase. Just as — Sydney sports fans will hate to hear — the AFL had done when it moved from relatively poorly populated suburban venues to impressive new or refurbished stadiums. There is compelling evidence that better stadiums help improve attendances. But even as the NSW Government ticks every box on the stadium wish list, it is hard to make a case that the three codes that would benefit from redevelopment have done enough to grow their games and, in turn, justify such extravagant expenditure. The historic bungling by Sydney's three rectangular codes is exemplified by how the AFL's savvy lobbyists snatched the lion's share of stadium funding from under their noses. The NRL, FFA and ARU, or their predecessors, stood by as the southern interlopers occupied the Olympic Stadium, won funding for the redevelopment of the SCG and built Blacktown Olympic Park (subsequently abandoned) and the Showgrounds Stadium. All while NRL clubs were getting meagre grants to put another lick of paint on crumbling suburban fortresses attended by relatively meagre crowds. The NRL has made some attempts to take its sport beyond its hard-core constituency and grow the game. Membership models have improved somewhat and some blockbuster games have been initiated. Yet rugby league won't cut the cord with the self-interested club war lords, muck-raking media crisis merchants and underworld figures who cast a pall over a brilliant game now played close to its optimal level. A game with big stadium potential is thus retarded by its small-minded suburban past. After a promising start, the A-League has stagnated, even as the standard of the games improve. The Western Sydney Wanderers' belated inclusion and inevitable popularity made the case for a new Parramatta Stadium compelling. But the current lack of momentum invites scepticism Sydney FC would fill a flexible new SFS in "championship", "club" or even "wet day against the Wellington Phoenix" mode. Rugby? You can understand why former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons initiated an anti-stadiums petition that has more than 120,000 signatories. To a Waratahs fan, investing in anything more than a new shoe box to accommodate dwindling crowds would seem an indulgence. FitzSimons has pushed predictable populist buttons by suggesting $2.5 billion would be better spent on hospitals, schools and other infrastructure. The argument is valid, perhaps even inarguable, although I suspect it would not seem so compelling had stadium building commenced earlier and expenditure been spread over many years. Instead the one fat, seemingly extravagant $2.5 billion price tag is an easy target for those who believe Sydney had its chance to get better stadiums when it built new venues at Moore Park and Parramatta and won the Sydney Olympics and blew it. No do-overs! The irony is that Sydneysiders have long been ridiculed for their fickle sporting allegiance. Now some are passionate about a sporting cause — they are determined to ensure their city does not have better stadiums. Meanwhile thousands nestle into comfortable seats with superb sightlines at Adelaide Oval, the MCG, Lang Park and, soon, the new Perth Stadium and enjoy the game.
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Kamaryn
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The SCG Trust, Union, AFL and Sydney FC are going to cost us getting any new stadium (i.e. ANZ as well as Allianz). Pretty damn annoyed.
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Burztur
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+xLuke Foley got it right on Radio National.there is NO case to knock down and rebuild Sydney Football Stadium. (Aka Allianz) It is hardly ever full for any code.He highlighted that the SCG Trust are unelected and would get the benefit of government money.No to a knockdown and rebuild of Allianz. I think the SFS need to be fined a tremendous amount of money for hosting so many events at such a dangerous site. The fine should be $700m and we can then use those funds for the rebuild :)
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Paul01
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Luke Foley got it right on Radio National.
there is NO case to knock down and rebuild Sydney Football Stadium. (Aka Allianz)
It is hardly ever full for any code.
He highlighted that the SCG Trust are unelected and would get the benefit of government money.
No to a knockdown and rebuild of Allianz.
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P&R will fix it 2.0
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Sydney stadiums debate shows sport's political power is not what it once was - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) OpinionSydney stadiums debate shows sport's political power is not what it once was By David Rowe, Western Sydney University Updated Less than two decades after Sydney hosted the Olympics, its sports infrastructure is back in the national consciousness. The New South Wales Government has come in for heavy criticism over its plan to knock down and rebuild the Olympic Stadium in Sydney's west and the Sydney Football Stadium, which sits in the east alongside the Sydney Cricket Ground. The cost? Somewhere above $2 billion. Suddenly, the media-sport-politics machine cranked up in earnest. A debate beyond the fieldSydney Morning Herald columnist and sport aficionado Peter FitzSimons reported that his article criticising the decision elicited the strongest reaction to anything that he had written in the paper over three decades. There followed a change.org petition and a welter of unfavourable publicity reaching well beyond Sydney. Even the NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, broke out of the state political freezer to press his criticisms on national radio. This was, for Mr Foley, a matter of west versus east, education and health versus big sport, and the State Government pandering to its elite mates on the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust. Its trustees include the influential broadcaster Alan Jones and uber-conservative businessman Maurice Newman. Sport Minister Stuart Ayres had, by then, rolled out the familiar justifications that Sydney was falling behind the likes of Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in its big event infrastructure.
This was not just a matter of civic pride, but of jobs in the event sector. And, in any case, Mr Ayres claimed the cost was only 1 per cent of planned five-year expenditure on health and education. The sport-friendly local tabloid, The Daily Telegraph, editorially supported him with the unequivocal opinion: "Spending $2 billion on revamping our sports stadiums is a good thing." Judging by the amplified negative response, this riposte was finding the going hard. Is sport's political power fading?What does all this claim and counter-claim over public investment in infrastructure tell us about sport, politics and economics? First, it appears that sport does not have quite the privileged place at the front of the public trough queue it once occupied.
Whereas once there would have been a great deal of flowery language about sport's unchallenged place in Australian hearts, the justification for the funding priority given to two large enclosed sport spaces has been almost entirely economic. In Australia, as elsewhere in the world (especially North America), cities have been drawn into a place-marketing competition in which private sport concerns demand public subsidies. If governments don't stump up the cash through building facilities, offering tax incentives and other inducements, sport franchises and signature events threaten to relocate. In Sydney's case, one threat is that it may lose major events like the NRL grand final if it does not do what is expected of it by those who run the game. That many locals seem prepared to run that risk suggests that sport cannot simply appeal to its intrinsic worth as a substitute for reasoned argument. But, if there is some well-founded scepticism about sport being unimpeachably good for the soul, it also seems that many people have become wary of the case that it is beneficial for the wallet. 'Cavalier' attitudes to public moneyThe seemingly hard-headed world of sport event economics has been frequently exposed as a fantasy island of rubbery figures, optimistic projections and misleading extrapolations. Building sport infrastructure has become enmeshed with all the other contentious projects that are currently underway in Sydney. The best known of these is the $17 billion (and rising) WestConnex road network expansion.
The Australian auditor-general has been highly critical of the cavalier way in which public funds were committed at the behest of governments and interest groups. Public transport advocates have bemoaned its lost opportunities. The information-light argument that has been made for the Sydney stadium rebuilds has, it appears, a similar level of substance to WestConnex. substituting "sport and jobs" for the "roads and jobs" mantra has been met with much cynicism, especially when more imaginative, lower-key ways of spending $2 billion on sport and other socially beneficial areas are being canvassed. Building up suburban, community-based sport facilities, reducing junior sport registration costs, advancing school classroom renovation timetables and restoring the embattled technical and further education system have all been suggested as better ways of spending on the public good out of the proceeds of privatisation. Working out who should benefit from public funding inevitably raises questions of need and privilege. The NSW Coalition Government's efforts to keep both sides of town happy across the east-west divide has left it uncomfortably astride the M4 motorway that it is widening in the name of WestConnex. Sport stadium debates, like the contests they stage, can be unpredictable affairs. The fate of governments may stand or fall with the grandstands. David Rowe is emeritus professor of cultural research at Western Sydney University's Institute for Culture and Society. Originally published in The Conversation
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aussie scott21
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'Dear XX': Minister reveals key complaints over $2.5b stadium planSports Minister Stuart Ayres has zeroed in on two key complaints about his controversial $2.5 billion sports stadium announcement in arming government MPs with information to respond to public concerns. MPs were emailed template letters and talking points on the policy on Friday as community debate over the merits of the spending intensified following the announcement by Mr Ayres and Premier Gladys Berejiklian a week earlier. Sydney stadiums cost could build half an OlympicsThe $2.5 billion plan to knock down and rebuild ANZ, Allianz and Parramatta stadiums is being met with rising opposition. The government has announced it will demolish and rebuild ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, Allianz Stadium at Moore Park and Parramatta Stadium. About $2 billion of that will be spent on ANZ and Allianz, sparking criticism from some quarters, including the state opposition, which has said the money would be better spent on health and education.  Tony Shepherd said Allianz Stadium "doesn't meet modern safety standards". Photo: Wolter PeetersMinisters commonly issue talking points and "standard letters" to MPs after a major announcement. The letters issued by Mr Ayres seek to address the specific concerns about the cost of the policy and the proposal to knock down and rebuild Allianz.
A letter for constituents with an "issue with cost" portrays the spending as "an investment into our vital tourism industry, which is worth $33.2 billion per year to the NSW economy and supports more than 160,000 jobs". A letter designed for those with an "issue with replacing Allianz Stadium" argues: "To compete globally and attract national and international events, our stadiums must have the most modern facilities that offer a great experience for fans".  Sports Minister Stuart Ayres has sent MPs talking points and standard letters to respond to concerns about the stadium plan. Photo: Daniel Munoz"This investment will drive growth in the visitor economy, realise the economic and social benefits of a strong cultural and sporting sector, and support liveability for the people of NSW," it says. A third letter is described as for "general" use. Mr Ayres said: "Of course I provide information to MPs on public policy." The public backlash has prompted the chairman of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust Tony Shepherd to defend the plan for Allianz – also known as the Sydney Football Stadium – which is under his control. In an opinion piece for Fairfax Media, Mr Shepherd describes the plan as a "bold announcement to fix problems created in the 1980s". Echoing comments previously made by Mr Ayres about a lack of women's toilets and food outlets, Mr Shepherd said the stadium was "built in a different era". "Back then it hosted only male players, a time when your average league player was a labourer, a milkman or garbo who played footy on the weekend," he said. Mr Shepherd said the stadium "doesn't meet modern safety standards, the venue is rusted and ageing" and unfit to be simply renovated.
'Dear XX': Minister reveals key complaints over $2.5b stadium plan
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aussie scott21
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it sucks Cox. Not a fan.
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aussie scott21
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Heather McNab, CENtRAL THE original architect of Allianz Stadium has called for the sporting structure to be saved amid a furious debate over the State Government’s controversial decision to knock it down. Professor Philip Cox, who designed the landmark stadium in 1986 as part of the Government’s Bicentennial project, is supporting a growing campaign to save the landmark stadium from being demolished. “It is a fine building of the 20th century and an icon of Sydney which should be preserved,” Prof Cox told Central Sydney.  Professor Philip Cox has called for Allianz Stadium to be preserved.Prof Cox’s comments follow the Government’s decision to knock down and rebuild both Allianz and ANZ stadiums at a cost of $2.3 billion. The announcement has attracted significant criticism from the community, multiple levels of government and reportedly even within Ms Berejiklian’s own cabinet. Calls have been made for the money to be invested in more sporting fields around the state.  NSW govt defends stadium rebuilds Lord Mayor Clover Moore praised the stadium’s design. “Allianz Stadium’s beautiful warping curves have graced our skyline since 1988 and perfectly complement the Sydney Cricket Ground,” she said. “Much of this process has been hidden from the public. We have not seen the business case for this project, nor reasons why the Government wants to embark on a $2.5 billion spending spree, rather than undertaking sensible and significantly cheaper refurbishments,” she said.  Philip Cox was the original architect of Allianz Stadium which was designed for a Bicentennial project in 1986 and built in 1988.An online petition calling on the government to scrap the decision has garnered more than 114,000 signatures. Heffron state Labor MP Ron Hoenig called on Sports Minister Stuart Ayres to provide a business case, Environment Impact Statement and to undertake an independent expert assessment, possibly with Prof Cox. Mr Ayres hit back at critics of the plan this week. “If we don’t invest in these facilities, we put at risk that critical revenue supply for our state and the jobs of one in 23 people who rely on the events sector,” he said.  Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney Clover Moore praised the stadium’s design.“The Sydney Football Stadium no longer meets modern standards. The structure and age of the building would not allow a refurbishment to deliver the required improvements,” he said. NRL boss Todd Greenberg has also threatened to pull the code’s grand final out of NSW if the state government doesn’t follow through.
Save my stadium: Allianz’s original architect Philip Cox joins debate over ‘icon of Sydney’ | News Local
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aussie scott21
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John Barilaro finds Sydney stadiums a tough sell to regional councilsActing NSW Premier John Barilaro found himself confronted with a tough crowd as he attempted to spruik the government's controversial $2.3 billion Sydney stadium policy to a room of mayors and councillors, many from the state's regional areas. Mr Barilaro was booed and heckled as he described the government's decision to knock down and rebuild both the Allianz Stadium at Moore Park and ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park. Delivering the keynote address to the annual NSW local government conference on Tuesday, he said the decision was not a "country versus city investment". Petition to scrap $2 billion stadium upgradeCritics of the plan to demolish and rebuild Sydney's main sporting stadiums are hoping a petition will help scrap the plan. Mr Barilaro, who is also the minister for regional development, made the remarks as part of a broader speech which endeavoured to sell the government's commitment to the bush. "We all know the [ANZ] stadium was built for a unique purpose, and that was the Sydney Olympics," Mr Barilaro told the conference. "What we are seeing now is an investment by the NSW government to build not just a stadium but a venue, to make sure Sydney remains, and NSW remains, a sporting destination, a venue destination, a tourism destination, which is important for the economy and growing jobs." But he was momentarily interrupted by booing and heckles of "waste of money" from some members of the audience, which was comprised of representatives from most of NSW's 128 councils, 95 of which are outside of Sydney. The government has faced considerable backlash over the revised stadium policy since announcing it last month. The announcement was a departure from the more modest $1.6 billion commitment made by former premier Mike Baird to upgrade the former Olympic stadium known as ANZ at Olympic Park, and spend leftover funds re-fitting the 30-year-old Allianz Stadium at Moore Park.  Leader of NSW National party John Barilaro has defended the government's controversial Sydney stadium rebuild policy as not a "city versus country investment". Photo: Kate GeraghtyLithgow Mayor Stephen Lesslie, an independent, said Mr Barilaro's remarks were met with "ripples of derisive laughter" at the conference. Cr Lesslie said in the Lithgow community the stadium policy was being "treated with contempt". "It's a complete waste of money. We've got rural fire services, dams, water, sewage, forests, all of these matters that city councils don't have to deal with and a small ratepayer base to draw on." Snowy Monaro Regional Council's mayor John Rooney said the money would be better spent on regional transport infrastructure. "It's just very unfortunate to be rebuilding relatively modern stadiums in Sydney when the transport needs of regional NSW are being neglected," he said. However, councillors from the NSW-Victorian border had a different view. Cr Gail Law said residents who lived inside the Federation Council local government area were "virtually Victorians" and could see the benefits of Melbourne's sporting culture. "I think if Sydney wants to stay with the game, they need to do that," she said. Federation council deputy mayor Shaun Whitechurch said "being down near the border we can see Melbourne is really going hard and attracting so much tourism". Mr Barilaro said the government had committed to investing $1.3 billion in regional NSW, in addition $300 million as part of a regional tourism fund.
John Barilaro finds Sydney stadiums a tough sell to regional councils
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aussie scott21
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NRL boss holds taxpayers to ransom over controversial $2billion stadium rebuild by threatening to move the Grand Final away from Sydney - so how much money is HE handing over?- NRL chief Todd Greenberg threatened to take the Grand Final away from Sydney
- Said league's commitment to New South Wales 'contingent' on stadium rebuild
- Controversial $2billion plan to build new stadiums under increasing pressure
By MAX MARGAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA PUBLISHED: 06:04 GMT, 5 December 2017 | UPDATED: 08:27 GMT, 5 December 2017 NRL chief Todd Greenberg says he will take the Grand Final away from Sydney unless the taxpayer-funded $2billion plan to build two new stadiums goes ahead. Mr Greenburg said the league's commitment to New South Wales was 'contingent' on the delivery of the state government's proposal to upgrade ANZ and Allianz Stadiums. 'That means a new stadium at Homebush Bay and a new stadium at Moore Park,' he told The Daily Telegraph. 'Without the stadium agreement, we would have to do the best thing by the game and take matches interstate. NRL chief Todd Greenberg (pictured) has threathened to take the Grand Final away from Sydney Mr Greenburg said the league's commitment to New South Wales was 'contingent' on the delivery of the under fire proposal to upgrade ANZ and Allianz Stadiums. The new design (pictured) for ANZ stadium will pull fans in much closer to the pitch 'We would need to do the best thing for the game and that means generating more revenue from the other states which are willing to pay to host [them].' The government's plan, announced last month, includes a new 45,000 seat arena to replace Allianz stadium at Moore Park by 2021. A 75,000 capacity stadium would also be built by 2022 after the 17-year-old Sydney Olympic Park facility is knocked down. But there is growing opposition for the plan, with the governments' political opponents and sports fans in general voicing their disapproval. The government's plan, announced last month, includes a new 45,000 seat arena to replace Allianz stadium. An artist's impression of the proposed rebuild is pictured 'Without the stadium agreement, we would have to do the best thing by the game and take matches interstate,' Mr Greenberg said NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley on Tuesday labelled the new spending proposed by the coalition government a 'monumental waste of taxpayer dollars'. Greens sports spokesman Justin Field said: 'The revelation the $2 billion cost is almost half of what was spent on all of the 2000 Olympics infrastructure show it's a terrible deal for the NSW taxpayer.' Meanwhile, an online petition protesting the plan has been signed by more people than the proposed new Olympic Stadium could hold. The petition, which was launched at the weekend, recommends $1 billion instead be spent improving grassroots facilities in communities across the state. As of Tuesday afternoon it had been signed just under 120,000 times.Todd Greenberg threat to pull NRL Grand Final from Sydney | Daily Mail Online
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Burztur
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Political suicide. Can see all those Lib and Nat MPs on marginal seats staging a revolt.
I'm all for a new rectangular ANZ but the way in which it has come about with Allianz etc is not going to sit well with the electorate.
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The Fans
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Complete insanity. bigger waste of money than the NBN.
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sydneyfc1987
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+xAs much as I love the need for football stadiums and infrastructure for sporting teams I TOTALLY OPPOSE this new plan by the State government. The previous plan and the dollar spend was more than adequate. They will get heavy opposition to this at the next state election. It's a move that shows a remarkable level of naivety. Thanks in no small part to the lockout laws, selling off of housing commission in inner Sydney ect, the NSW Libs has been labelled as a government puppeteered by property developers and wealthy elites. This move does little to change the public's opinion. Labor will almost certainly win the next election now, which imo is a shame because this government has finally got the ball rolling on a number of transport infrastructure projects that are two decades behind thanks to labor's previous stint.
(VAR) IS NAVY BLUE
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