Fair Go For The West: Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun on a crusade for a new western Sydney stadium
March 5, 2015 6:40pm
john lehmann
The Daily Telegraph
An artist’s impression of the Liverpool Stadium
LIVERPOOL Mayor Ned Mannoun has a unique sporting dream — to see a Liverpool A-League team, backed by English Premier League giants Liverpool FC, pack out a 35,000-seat Liverpool stadium.
It wouldn’t just be any stadium — Mr Mannoun wants a roofed venue that converts into a convention and exhibition centre, just like the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona which hosted the Super Bowl this month.
“The grass is actually on rollers that can be wheeled out into the sun and can’t be damaged when you stage conventions — a true multipurpose venue,’’ he said. With Sydney’s second international airport set to be built at Badgerys Creek, on Liverpool’s doorstep, the city has a once-in-a-*century *chance to turn its struggle streets into avenues of opportunity.
As Mr Mannoun points out, a city the size of Canberra is expected to be built in the area between Liverpool and Camden over the next 20 years.
A stadium and convention centre is just one part of a re-imagined Liverpool but Mr Mannoun is chipping away to win the NSW government‘s backing to select his city as the location for a new Western Sydney venue in the years ahead.
His crusade has included a little-known trip in June 2013 to his birthplace of Boston to meet the owners of Liverpool FC, the Fenway Sports Group, which also own the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
To organise the high-level meeting, Mr Mannoun enlisted the help of Australian football legend Craig Johnston, who famously scored a goal for Liverpool in its 1986 FA Cup victory over Everton.
“We would love to see an A-League team in Liverpool one day backed by that famous club of the same name,’’ Mr Mannoun said. “We will continue our dialogue.’’
The Liverpool council has also commissioned sports business consultants Gemba to undertake a feasibility study and nominated land at the Whitlam Leisure Centre precinct to site a $300 million stadium of between 30,000 and 40,000 seats.
The Gemba report found the venue should aim to stage 40 matches a year to be successful commercially, underlining the need to have several major sports tenants, including an NRL team such as Wests Tigers.
Penrith is also mounting a campaign to site a new Western Sydney stadium, with Panthers group powerbroker Phil Gould leading the charge.
The stadium battle is being waged as the Wests Tigers decides whether to move its Homebase from Concord to *either Liverpool or Campbelltown. Mr Mannoun has offered the Tigers the use of a new $30 million recreation and community precinct set to be developed at Carnes Hill. “I think we have a great chance and the Tigers would be great role models in giving our kids hope — you can’t buy hope,’’ he said.
Campbelltown council is lobbying for the Tigers to move to the Campbelltown Sports Stadium or land near the University of Western Sydney campus.
Mayor Paul Lake said the fast-growing Macarthur *region was ideally located with a railway station only metres away.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ne...afedcadc592511944120eef8c#load-story-comments
