He has a conflict of interest but......
don’t spend $800 million on changing ANZ Stadium from an oval into a rectangle and instead divert the funds to struggling professional sports that already want taxpayers to bail them out.
That idea has been discussed at state government level as bureaucrats considers the looming COVID-19 pandemic and the austerity practices that will need to be put in place in the aftermath.
It’s not a new play. When bushfires ripped through NSW earlier this year, some government figures were eyeing off the millions allocated for ANZ Stadium’s refurbishment.
Former Australian Rugby League boss John Quayle, who is considered one of the country’s sharpest sporting administrators, says diverting the money from ANZ Stadium is not the solution.
“Government committed those funds so Sydney and the state of NSW can compete against all other states and nations for the best quality facilities for events for the next 50 years,” Quayle, who is a Venues NSW director, said. “To divert money now in the short-term to help sports that have overspent and not planned for the future would be wrong. They will never get that money back because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Contracts have already been signed with building contractors to start work soon on the new Allianz Stadium at Moore Park.
ANZ Stadium was poised to make an announcement in coming weeks about which construction company will be refurbishing it into a rectangular configuration.
The stadium was supposed to be decommissioned after the final match, between the Bulldogs and Souths on June 27, which is six days after State of Origin II.
If the NRL is eventually suspended, as many people are privately predicting, and the draw is dramatically changed, plans to rip up ANZ Stadium are likely to be delayed.
Where would that leave the NRL, which signed a 25-year deal with NSW government to keep the grand final in Sydney on the proviso Allianz was rebuilt and ANZ was turned into a 70,000-seat rectangular stadium?
Will it continue to aggressively ask the state government for compensation and threaten to take the grand final to Brisbane if there's another stadium delay?
The leading football codes are rightfully concerned about their short-term viability, wondering how they will keep the lights on let alone where they will be playing, but Quayle believes one eye needs to remain on the future.
“The stadium strategy is not just about the economic benefit from rugby league,” he said. “It’s about what major events, like the Adeles and Taylor Swifts, we can attract ahead of our competitors.”
Doubtless, Quayle would be watching rugby league’s brazen dash-for-cash in recent days with interest. ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has been trying to wriggle out of his request on Sunday morning for financial help from the federal government, claiming in interviews he was “taken out of context”.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/it...e-used-to-bail-out-sport-20200317-p54axd.html
