I get the anger, but I don’t see how this is “league getting screwed”
We only have two matches a year that are guaranteed sell outs at ANZ.
For 95% of games at ANZ it’s going to be an improved venue.
To me this is much more Sydney getting screwed than rugby league.
SCG trust needs dismantling
Well - this probably won't happen but the fact it being spoken about is good
If the SCG trust want $700M government money then handing over the management of it to Venues NSW should be debated
I'm more than happy to leave Allianz alone and spend all the money on ANZ for a demo and re-build
Labor to overhaul SCG Trust after Berejiklian commits to new stadium
By Jacob Saulwick
30 March 2018 — 6:29pm
The state opposition would end the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust’s 142-year dominion over sporting facilities in Moore Park, according to Labor’s sports spokeswoman.
The Berejiklian Government’s decision this week to commit to a $730 million new stadium at Moore Park, and renovate ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park at a cost of $810 million has led to a focus on the role of the SCG Trust, which a year ago looked likely to be left with little from a potential stadium bonanza.
But in the 11 months since former premier Mike Baird said he would prioritise Olympic Park over a new stadium at Moore Park, the SCG Trust has managed to successfully argue that the 30-year-old Allianz Stadium presents a safety and security case to be replaced.
This analysis was agreed to by the advisory agency Infrastructure NSW. Summaries for a business case of a new stadium released on Thursday agreed that a new 40,000-45,000 seat facility at Moore Park represented better value than refurbishing the existing stadium.
According to Labor’s Lynda Voltz, however, other sporting facilities in Sydney have been disadvantaged by not having independent boards argue their case.
“It creates a completely unequal playing field in the events market to have the SCG Trust sitting outside a single venues board operating every other state venue,” said Ms Vltz.
Ms Voltz said it did not make sense to give other state-owned venues managed by the government entity Venues NSW - ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park, the new Parramatta Stadium, WIN Stadium in the Illawarra, and the McDonald Jones Stadium, and the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in the Hunter – their own trusts as well.
The SCG Trust should therefore be folded into Venues NSW, she said.
“The SCG Trust should be incorporated into that single venue strategy,” she said.
“It wouldn’t exist.”
Merging the SCG Trust with other entities managing elite sporting venues in NSW was proposed by former premier Mike Baird in late 2015. But the policy has since been dropped, with Ms Berejiklian confirming on Thursday it was not her plan.
The Labor Party opposes the proposal to build a new stadium at Moore Park.
The chairman of the SCG Trust, Tony Shepherd, said it was not his role to comment on governance issue. “That is the decision of the government of the day, that is their right,” Mr Shepherd said.
“The only thing I would say that in any arrangement a government makes we need to ensure that the rights of our members who have supported the trust for many years and are principal source of revenue,” he said.
Mr Shepherd welcomed the involvement of Infrastructure NSW in providing the case for upgraded stadium infrastructure.
“The government has commissioned an independent expert assessment and arrived at its decision having taken the best advice and we support them,” he said.
Under Ms Berejiklian’s policy announced on Thursday, Allianz Stadium will be knocked down toward the end of the year and replaced by a new stadium by March 2022. ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park, which was to be also replaced by an entirely new stadium under her previous policy, will be refurbished between 2019 and 2022.
A position on the SCG Trust has long been coveted by the state’s sporting, business and political elite. Radio 2GB’s Alan Jones, who has been credited by Labor leader Luke Foley and former premier Mike Baird’s staff as having changed the government’s position on stadium funding, has been a trustee for 30 years.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...n-commits-to-new-stadium-20180330-p4z75q.html
