The Game Future NRL Stadiums part II

[herbert henry1908]

I think it’s the amount of money that is going to be spent which is the problem. Essentially when it comes down to it, you are spending $300 odd million on 5,000 extra seats.

Is there any engineering reason or otherwise which would prevent Penrith from just increasing their capacity at their current ground?

Capacity is only a part of the upgrade, I’d argue a more minor part. The Eastern stand is 40 years old and has almost no weather protection, poor toilet facilities and poor access for disabled and elderly people. The western stand has seen some upgrades but it still has little weather protection and fairly poor access.

Also it’s not 5000 more seats, it’s 5000 more people. Currently the stadium only sits about 16000 people. So that’s 9000 extra seats which can be sold for a higher price than hill tickets


There is an engineering issue with putting a stand at the southern end of the current stadium. This was explored in the past but there’s a major storm water pipe below it that was causing problems.

 

[Perth Red]

I think it’s the amount of money that is going to be spent which is the problem. Essentially when it comes down to it, you are spending $300 odd million on 5,000 extra seats.

Is there any engineering reason or otherwise which would prevent Penrith from just increasing their capacity at their current ground?

Its not just capacity though, its corporate boxes (number and quality) its undercover drip lines for at least 20k seats, its toilets (especially femal and child friendly) and food outlets, its sponsorship and signage opportunities, its lighting, its change room facilities (quality and number) and so it goes on and on. You can easily spend $200mill doing up an old ground and it still not be anywhere near commbank quality, size and experience.

Ideally we'd be able to build a bells and whistles new 25k stadium like Kcomm in Hull for $200mill. That would help!

 

[Valheru]

That's true, however, ain't the Titans and Cowboys the only tenants in their respective stadiums?

GC and particularly Townsville are their own cities removed from Brisbane. It makes sense for every city to have its own rectangular stadium, even if they are single tenanted at the moment.

 

[Perth Red]

GC and particularly Townsville are their own cities removed from Brisbane. It makes sense for every city to have its own rectangular stadium, even if they are single tenanted at the moment.

And Qlnd Govt is only building 3 or 4, not 7 or 8 like NSW Govt is being asked to do!

 

[Steel Saints]

GC and particularly Townsville are their own cities removed from Brisbane. It makes sense for every city to have its own rectangular stadium, even if they are single tenanted at the moment.

Sure, they are not in Brisbane. But what was the business case for those two stadiums? A business case that Penrith could replicate?

 

[Colk]

Capacity is only a part of the upgrade, I’d argue a more minor part. The Eastern stand is 40 years old and has almost no weather protection, poor toilet facilities and poor access for disabled and elderly people. The western stand has seen some upgrades but it still has little weather protection and fairly poor access.

Also it’s not 5000 more seats, it’s 5000 more people. Currently the stadium only sits about 16000 people. So that’s 9000 extra seats which can be sold for a higher price than hill tickets


There is an engineering issue with putting a stand at the southern end of the current stadium. This was explored in the past but there’s a major storm water pipe below it that was causing problems.

Fair enough but do they need to build it at a completely new site. That’s where the cost is coming from.

 

[Iamback]

Sure, they are not in Brisbane. But what was the business case for those two stadiums? A business case that Penrith could replicate?

That is the plan to bring events to the area, Events that normally are only in the city

 

[Iamback]

Fair enough but do they need to build it at a completely new site. That’s where the cost is coming from.

Yes, It is a way bigger site

 

[Perth Red]

Sure, they are not in Brisbane. But what was the business case for those two stadiums? A business case that Penrith could replicate?

Venues for other events would play a big part in the BC in one stadium cities. problem for penrith is there are already suitable venues for other events in Sydney.

 

[Iamback]

Venues for other events would play a big part in the BC in one stadium cities. problem for penrith is there are already suitable venues for other events in Sydney.

Penrith should be treated as Regional though.

Wollongong to Sydney is 80 km
Katoomba to Sydney is 100km

In Comparison Geelong is classed as Regional Victoria and is 76km from Melbourne

 

[Frank Burge]

Sure, they are not in Brisbane. But what was the business case for those two stadiums? A business case that Penrith could replicate?

I don’t think you can compare Penrith and Townsville, a population centre 13 hours from the capital, while Penrith has a brand new stadium 30km down the road. I would like to see Penrith get the new stadium but that is not a good comparison. The Gold Coast one is a little better but identifies as a separate city to Brisbane and probably the same population as Parramatta and surrounding suburbs. Also at the time of building I think they only had an oval ground

 

[Perth Red]

Penrith should be treated as Regional though.

Wollongong to Sydney is 80 km
Katoomba to Sydney is 100km

In Comparison Geelong is classed as Regional Victoria and is 76km from Melbourne

Not saying it isnt a long way from penrith to those other venues but in reality when big acts come to town they are usually only playing one venue. In Sydneys case it is unlikely to be out at penrith unless the local council/SMC is prepared to offer irresistible deals to get acts out there instead of in the heart of sydney. Places like GC and Townsville are stand alone location for acts to go to and the one stadium available is going to get used.

For Example KISS are playing at Cbus, in Sydney they played at Homebush Arena, they wouldn't be changing that for Penrith or playing an extra Sydney gig only 1 hour away from the Arena. Hence why stand alone stadiums in cities have a strong BC where as a stadium of this magnitude in penrith doesnt.
Not that I dont think they should build it, I think any quality stadium we can get for our clubs we should celebrate!

 

[Colk]

Yes, It is a way bigger site

My biggest problem with this is that you are not increasing the total attendance by very much.

Take for example Newcastle. Newcastle is able to hold a bigger attendance at their ground and it was built at a fraction of the price (I know apples and oranges) but for the amount of expenditure, 25k seems small. Also that amount of expenditure has essentially meant that money can’t go to other grounds.

Anyway for the amount of expenditure, you’d want a bigger ground and for it to be used throughout the year

For yourself and any else from the area, is the new ground site at least easy to access?

 

[Iamback]

Not saying it isnt a long way from penrith to those other venues but in reality when big acts come to town they are usually only playing one venue. In Sydneys case it is unlikely to be out at penrith unless the local council/SMC is prepared to offer irresistible deals to get acts out there instead of in the heart of sydney. Places like GC and Townsville are stand alone location for acts to go to and the one stadium available is going to get used.

For Example KISS are playing at Cbus, in Sydney they played at Homebush Arena, they wouldn't be changing that for Penrith or playing an extra Sydney gig only 1 hour away from the Arena. Hence why stand alone stadiums in cities have a strong BC where as a stadium of this magnitude in penrith doesnt.
Not that I dont think they should build it, I think any quality stadium we can get for our clubs we should celebrate!

If they are flying out via that Airport though? Instead of doing 2 in Qudos could do 1 there, 1 at the new Stadium.

Monster Trucks are at Accor. Something like that could easily do a 2nd show with little to know Productions costs. Apparently the Business plan stands up using the 3 CBD model the Govt is working towards

 

[Perth Red]

Maybe a bit of a rethink about single occupancy stadiums is needed? We currently have two tiers of stadium in Sydney Tier 1 - Accor, Allianz Tier 2 - Commbank
Maybe a tier 3 is needed for the likes of Manly, Penrith and Cronulla. Something akin to the Hull stadium. Quality enough to be a big step forward for the fans but not so big and flash that no one can afford to build it. 25k and built 20 years ago for $80million. 20 years on it still stands the test of time as being a good modern mid size stadium
.

 

[Iamback]

My biggest problem with this is that you are not increasing the total attendance by very much.

Take for example Newcastle. Newcastle is able to hold a bigger attendance at their ground and it was built at a fraction of the price (I know apples and oranges) but for the amount of expenditure, 25k seems small. Also that amount of expenditure has essentially meant that money can’t go to other grounds.

Anyway for the amount of expenditure, you’d want a bigger ground and for it to be used throughout the year

For yourself and any else from the area, is the new ground site at least easy to access?

Newcastle is literally setup for sport only, Can it be used for corporate events outside sport though? CommBank is used for all sort of things. Both CommBank and Allianz has Basketball courts and other things outside.

For Reference the Area at the Paceway is double both of those, so you can fit picnic areas etc outside.

It is across the road. So just as easy, A 2nd Hotel and Conference centre being built at Panthers certainly opens up that immediate area for all round usage

 

[herbert henry1908]

Fair enough but do they need to build it at a completely new site. That’s where the cost is coming from.

It depends. As I covered in my seperate post, there’s an opportunity with the paceway site to make it a real community asset. Parklands, cafes, play equipment could be installed around the site. At the current location it’s just be a stadium, not much room for anything else. I can see an argument for both, but I don’t live in the Penrith area.

There’s also an opportunity to sell off the existing stadium site to developers, this could be used to pay for the paceway site.

 

[Perth Red]

If they are flying out via that Airport though? Instead of doing 2 in Qudos could do 1 there, 1 at the new Stadium.

Monster Trucks are at Accor. Something like that could easily do a 2nd show with little to know Productions costs. Apparently the Business plan stands up using the 3 CBD model the Govt is working towards

It extremely unusual for an event/act to host two nights in different big venues in the same city. The numbers rarely stack up, hence why it would need to be very heavily subsidized if it is going to attract someone to move a event to Penrith, or to play two gigs in the one city at different venues. There usually a day or two bump in and out time so that adds to the length of the tour if you're moving venues in same city as well.

 

[Iamback]

It extremely unusual for an event/act to host two nights in different big venues in the same city. The numbers rarely stack up, hence why it would need to be very heavily subsidized if it is going to attract someone to move a event to Penrith, or to play two gigs in the one city at different venues. There usually a day or two bump in and out time so that adds to the length of the tour if you're moving venues in same city as well.

I know as a local, To not have to spend hours getting home after a gig sounds good as unlikely as it seems

 

[herbert henry1908]

My biggest problem with this is that you are not increasing the total attendance by very much.

Take for example Newcastle. Newcastle is able to hold a bigger attendance at their ground and it was built at a fraction of the price (I know apples and oranges) but for the amount of expenditure, 25k seems small. Also that amount of expenditure has essentially meant that money can’t go to other grounds.

Anyway for the amount of expenditure, you’d want a bigger ground and for it to be used throughout the year

For yourself and any else from the area, is the new ground site at least easy to access?

Why would a bigger ground necessarily attract anything else? For concerts there’s a 30k seat stadium at parramatta. There’s no point spending extra money to justify an expense for it not to be used.