Im personally of the opinion that the Olympic park is the place to focus on for major games, so id rather the money be spent there....
I dont know if its even possible for ANZ to be reshaped to any real effect or whether it should just be torn down. I reckon the capacity debate is a bit overstated; id rather a good 50-60k than a shitty 100k stadium.
And they should do more to provide transport links between their and Parramatta!! An easy connection like that (a tram line or something) would improve the pregame pubcrawl massively.
Agree here. The entire stadium plan was essentially cutting money to spend money and we'd still be left with some problems. The precinct might need a bit of work, but this is stuff that should come over years.
Rather that quality smaller stadium
I dont know what they can do to the end stands. I'd wish they knock it down and build a new stadium. I would not be reccommending their existing plans in this environment. That'd be nice to do what they claimed they wanted to do - good stuff - but anz overall probably does not need an upgrade
on public funds.
Someone just needs a game-day pub/entertainment place near the stadium worth going to. Its a big area they could probably build something.
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The realization dawned on me recently what was happening, which I outline in this post:
http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=445837
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They probably should leave the actual ANZ as it is. And the SFS. Rugby league crowds themselves have room to grow still.
Take a look round sydney - ANZ and SFS are on a level of their own. They are the best stadiums, I fail to see how they are in danger/require rebuilding (from a pragmatic and prudent point of view).
What they need to do, in line with the article, is essentially what I (and obviously others now/then) thought...and was gradually build up a select few stadia as required. Hey, they may decide it great to build a smaller stadium at liverpool or another location in 5 years time, one at Manly, I dont know.
But to throw all the eggs into one basket at this point in time, especially when they had to dent the money bag (and leave the purse empty, so to speak) seems strange.
Point being, things will only get better with stadia over time, not worse, now they have this new authority. I think the best option, and I could be 100% wrong to you, but it would be to build the light rail to the SFS. That would be better than building the new stadium first so long as they know where the new stadium will be one day, no sense having to eventually walk too far.
Should the NRL consider buying/leasing Stadium Australia?
With the Swans moving their finals to the the SCG for the next however many decades, the NRL could offer to contribute in the redesign/construction to make the stadium permanently rectangular.
I hope they look into it.
I don't know how the super trust would work but would it mean that clubs would have no leverage in negotiating stadium deals, similar to the issue with Stadiums Qld? Would the NRL have to step in and negotiate for all Sydney clubs?
I think it will just make managing deals so much easier if they were all able to come to the table at once; then the govt won't have to over estimate rent (i mean give a better deal than otherwise) because they know exactly the amount of costs involved, and more clubs using means less cost borne to each.
i can't believe that there was ever talk about building a 65k capacity venue at Moore Park, and releasing proposed plans such as building it on public land not belonging to the SCG Trust. f**king dumb in the extreme. what did they think was going to be the community reaction???
SFS needs an upgrade, but 35-40k is about right for that venue. It doesn't need to be bulldozed and replaced with a bigger facility.
I'm an inner city/west fella myself, and even I realise that funds should be spent on a Western Sydney facility. A 35-40k venue out there is absolutely important for both rugby league and football in the metropolitan.
Upgrade SFS.
Upgrade Parra or build a 35-40k facility further in Western Sydney with associated infrastructure investment to the venue.
Upgrade Stadium Australia to make it more suitable for rectangular sports. If it means reducing capacity to 70-75k, so be it.
Absolutely no f**kin' dome's on any facility. What a waste of f**kin' money. .
Special mention in my post to your post, plenty of golden common sense in that.
Basically my new overall position has changed. Look at the benefits Souths and Bulldogs have received from ANZ. Look at the matches that ANZ brings into this country by being 80k+. Its a template of sorts for other league clubs, is it not? And its something that should probably only be strengthened. May not get that ideal stadium everyone craves by knocking down ANZ, but one has to now lean heavily on fortifying ANZ as sydney's best stadium. Surely. And whats more, the NRL must be involved somehow in it. The running of the stadium I mean.
Im not saying go to it because its "second-best"....im saying some people, from attendees who moan about the seating, to commenter's, myself have not appreciated the thing -- and also, that given the govts position, people really have a chance to make ANZ what it should be. Ive sat on the sides before. Its bloody alright.
Sydney is not the ideal city, as many have mentioned, in terms of its layouts. Its not going to receive the typical treatment of CBD only stadia; sydney is its own city with its own solution. Parra is growing, the whole region is growing. They need parra and manly as well, somehow (manly not on public funds probably, ditto cronulla)....and they need light rail to sfs and a little bit of a spruce up. They need to get rid of the seat capping arrangement for other stadia, and they could very well pave the way for a future upgrade of the SFS (it could probably make much better use of the space internally in the stadium; i say gut it and re-do it: two rings of seats going all the way round).
I honestly think a new sfs would have just been somebody's play-thing first, and community-oriented second.
Go ANZ. Who cares, now. Lets play some footy.
