Not anymore, Gladys must have asked him to pull his head in.
ANZ Stadium rebuild the priority: Ayres
NSW Sports Minister Stuart Ayres insists a remodelling of ANZ Stadium as the city's premier rectangular ground is the number one priority for the state government.
Mr Ayres also suggested the government could also set aside more than the originally proposed $1.6 billion for their stadia strategy last year.
Speaking at the NRL's finals captain's call on Monday, Mr Ayres said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is not wedded to the figure allotted by her predecessor Mike Baird in 2016.
"She says there is capacity for that envelope to be expanded, but it needs to be part of a coherent strategy. We know we've got to invest in more than one stadium," Mr Ayres said.
"This is not a contest between ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium.
It's about making sure that we get the right suite of sporting facilities across Sydney that service all of our sports.
"That means we've got to have the best main stadium, the best mid-sized stadiums, and it also means we've got to have facilities for emerging sports like netball and basketball."
Ayres comments come after reports the government could spend up to $3 billion over ten years on sites at Homebush and Moore Park, as well as Penrith and the SCG.
"We've got to be able to make sure we invest in facilities in our growing west," he said.
"Over two million people will live west of M7 (motorway) by 2036. We simply can't ignore that population as we plan out our stadia plan."
Ayres also confirmed the new 30,000-set Parramatta Stadium is in the final stages of beginning construction and is on track to open by May 2019.
However ANZ Stadium is set to take up the bulk of their budgeted finances, with up to $700 million used to transform the venue into a world-class facility for rectangular sports.
There have recently been suggestions Allianz Stadium could receive a bigger injection and be given the nod to rebuild ahead of the Homebush site.
Ayres admits the state could lose at least one NRL grand final during the construction of both ANZ and Allianz, with the event possibly moved to Brisbane or the SCG.
"There's probably not enough facilities around Sydney to be able to maintain all the premium content if both of the stadiums are offline at the same time," Ayres said.
"It's a pretty big call to say we don't want the NRL grand final in NSW. It's a pretty big call to say that we don't have a 50,000-seat stadium to host State of Origin.
"It's a pretty big call to turn your back on some of the biggest music acts in the world if you can't supply a venue large enough to host them.
"So there's a lot of content issues at play as we make this decision, and it's important we map out the stadium sequence over a long enough period of time to make the investment viable."
http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/09/05/03/36/anz-stadium-rebuild-the-priority-ayres
What i took out of this piece.
Both stadiums need to get done, we must make sure there is enough money for both.
Also looks like having both ANZ and Alliance out of order at the same time is not advisable due to content loss during that period.
ANZ is priority.
