Future NRL Stadiums

[beave]

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.a...d-to-new-stadium/story-fnjfzs4b-1227277489572

THE ongoing costs of maintaining 1300SMILES stadium could be redirected into building a new stadium in Townsville’s CBD.

The State Government is being urged to add to its $100 million commitment by utilising some of the capital expenditure which would ordinarily be needed to maintain the Cowboys’ home ground.

The move could mean millions of extra dollars are delivered towards the project, with Stadiums Queensland last year spending $16.7 million on capital outlays for its nine stadiums.

Labor promised $100 million for the project at the State Election, meaning other sources need to be found to fund the estimated $210 million project.

The push to use the capital expenditure is one of the options being raised by a new committee established to continue the push for the stadium, comprising Townsville City Council, Townsville Enterprise, Townsville Chamber of Commerce, the North Queensland Cowboys and the NRL.

Townsville Enterprise chief executive Patricia O’Call*aghan said using future capital costs for 1300SMILES was one of the options being canvassed.

“Our approach is to work with the State Government in a collaborative way to deliver the Stadium and Entertainment Centre,” she said.

“All stakeholders are looking into different strategies to fully fund the project.

“We welcome the $100 mill*ion already committed and we are confident the State Government will deliver the project in a timely manner.”

A 2013 feasibility study found building a stadium in the CBD would be better value than upgrades to repair the ageing 1300SMILES Stadium.

It is understood the Government plans to demolish the stadium and sell the land when the new venue is completed, meaning some capital upgrades could be foregone.

A spokesman for Treasurer Curtis Pitt would not rule out the possibility the Government could add to its $100 million commitment by redirecting some of Stadium Queensland’s capital expenditure.

The spokesman said the Government would continue to provide the same level of annual funding for 1300SMILES Stadium until it worked through the preferred delivery model for the new stadium.

“The successful delivery of the Townsville stadium will depend on the local, state and federal governments working together with the private sector,” the spokesman said.

Townsville MP Scott Stewart said it was important to secure other sources of funding, including the NRL and the Federal Government.

 

[Perth Red]

NRL should chuck in $20mill and demand a decent deal for Cowboys.

 

[Albert Rosenfeld]

The city needs one stadium for big events, that can handle 80,000 + The only such stadium is ANZ. It is also loser to the geographic centre of Sydney. But it needs to be improved. There is only one fair solution for the NSW government:

1. Full upgrade of ANZ to make it the premier stadium in Sydney, at 80,000 - 85,000 capacity, with movable seating for rugby league, rugby union and soccer, and a fully closeable roof.

2. Partial upgrade of Pirtek at Parramatta, to handle 30,000-35,000 fans (depending on cost) as regular home ground for Parramatta Eels RL and Sydney Wanderers soccer

3. Partial upgrade and modernisation of Allianz, to increase capacity to 50,000 - 55,000, and make it home ground for Roosters, Rabbitohs, Waratahs, and Sydney FC.

4. Small upgrades to Brookvale Oval and Campelltown Stadium, to increase covered seating areas where there is now uncovered standing room, and modern toilets and eating facilities.

ANZ should be permanent home ground for Canterbury Bulldogs, and partial home ground for Wests Tigers in place of dilapidated Leichhardt Oval, and occasional home ground for marquee contests of South Sydney and Parramatta.

Queensland stadiums are the responsibility of the Queensland government.

 

[Perth Red]

With the way crowds are going we'd be better off building 5 20k capacity KC style stadiums in sydney.

 

[seanoff]

The city needs one stadium for big events, that can handle 80,000 + The only such stadium is ANZ. It is also loser to the geographic centre of Sydney. But it needs to be improved. There is only one fair solution for the NSW government:

1. Full upgrade of ANZ to make it the premier stadium in Sydney, at 80,000 - 85,000 capacity, with movable seating for rugby league, rugby union and soccer, and a fully closeable roof.

ANZ is built to take a membrane roof, which would be better than an enclosed roof. A closeable roof would also require significant re-engineering

2. Partial upgrade of Pirtek at Parramatta, to handle 30,000-35,000 fans (depending on cost) as regular home ground for Parramatta Eels RL and Sydney Wanderers soccer

to upgrade parra to 35000 would basically be a new venue. So put that down for 400 - 500 million

3. Partial upgrade and modernisation of Allianz, to increase capacity to 50,000 - 55,000, and make it home ground for Roosters, Rabbitohs, Waratahs, and Sydney FC.

Allianz is big enough, it needs some work but not more capacity. The current capacity is rarely tested. Adding 10000 seats that might be used every second yr would be a waste of money

4. Small upgrades to Brookvale Oval and Campelltown Stadium, to increase covered seating areas where there is now uncovered standing room, and modern toilets and eating facilities.

if you are going to upgrade brookvale, it needs to be done from scratch. Campbell town. Idk.

ANZ should be permanent home ground for Canterbury Bulldogs, and partial home ground for Wests Tigers in place of dilapidated Leichhardt Oval, and occasional home ground for marquee contests of South Sydney and Parramatta.

Queensland stadiums are the responsibility of the Queensland government.

Just the "upgrade" to parra would use just about all the $600m on the table.

 

[LineBall]

http://tigers.org.au/index.php/balmain-tigers-surrender-lease-of-leichhardt-oval/

Balmain Tigers Surrender Lease of Leichhardt Oval
Mar 26, 2015 | By Tigers

It is with sadness and deep regret that Balmain Tigers have surrendered the long standing Lease of their beloved home ground; Leichhardt Oval.
The Club, whose members have already suffered great loss, due to the closing of their social home on Victoria Road, Rozelle in 2010 are no longer able to afford the $250,000 per year it costs to maintain the facility to a basic standard.

The surrender of the lease will not have any bearing on the future use of Leichhardt Oval for Wests Tigers NRL fixtures. Any future NRL use is now a matter for Wests Tigers and Leichhardt Council, Balmain Tigers will not have control over what the future holds in this regard.

The cost of maintaining the surface, ensuring compliance, and servicing utilities, was due to increase significantly after Leichhardt Council announced it was about to exercise its rights to demand that the ground be used and hired out as a multi-purpose site.

“A lot of money needs to be invested into the site before it becomes an acceptable multi-purpose venue,” said Club Chairman, Leslie Glen.

“The Club simply does not have the resources to do this and is certainly not in a position to invest in anything other than what it is chartered for, and that is Rugby League.”.

The Club welcomes the idea of a multi-purpose facility but cannot be expected to be responsible for it under this agreement.

Although a public facility, the maintenance costs for Leichhardt Oval have not been borne by Leichhardt Council. The ground has not been a drain on the public purse. Those costs (substantial as they are) were borne by the Club.

The funds for virtually all of the current infrastructure at the ground have been either provided directly by the Club or with funds sourced by the Club. The most recent Federal government funding for the function room in the grandstand was sourced by our Club. Prior to that, our Club directly invested $500,000 in Leichhardt Oval with funds borrowed from the State government.

The Club has worked hard to repay that loan, despite its recent financial difficulties. The asphalt tarmac for the carpark outside the ground (used extensively by the public attending the swimming pool) was financed with funds procured by the club.

Prior to handing the site back to Leichhardt Council on 1st April 2015, the Club will have spent in excess of $100,000 over the past three months alone bringing the surface up to World Class standard.

Whilst the Club’s financial position is critical, it has honoured its obligations and will deliver the site back to Council in a very respectable condition.

“We want to make sure our members and the community are not misled into believing that Leichhardt Council paid or assisted in any way with recent upgrades of the surface,” Dr Glen said.

“In fact, immense pressure by Leichhardt Council was brought to bear on the Club, to secure the oval as a venue for the football Asia Cup training ground even though the cost associated with the booking outweighed the income received from it.

“That pressure was destined to continue under Council’s resolution to use the site as a multi-purpose venue.”

The Club would like to take this opportunity to thank the many volunteers who contributed over the years assisting on game days and providing valuable help wherever needed. In particular groundsmen John Owens, Steve Lloyd and their team who, with a limited budget have prepared the surface to the best standard possible, a standard that has seen the Wallabies, Socceroos, the Asia Cup, Sydney FC and Everton FC choose the ground as a training facility over the past six years. These people are passionate Rugby League and Balmain Tigers supporters, who would do anything for the benefit of the Club. Money cannot buy the kind of support that these people bring to the community and the venue will not be the same without them.

Balmain Tigers will handover the keys on 1st April, but not before one last hurrah, this Saturday 28th March 2015, when the Balmain Tigers Junior Representative teams run onto the field unbeaten after six rounds.

 

[LineBall]

So are Leichhardt's days numbered as an NRL ground?

 

[Foreign Legion]

Very sad if true

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

'bout time...

 

[CC_Roosters]

So where will balmain junior reps play now? or do they continue to play there with a hiring fee?

 

[Captain Apollo]

Well this is how the ABC News website reported it -

Wests Tigers' move from Leichhardt Oval a possibility, says CEO Grant Mayer
Updated about 2 hours ago


Wests Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer has admitted there is a possibility the joint venture might be forced to move from Leichhardt Oval after Balmain Tigers surrendered their lease on the venue.
The NRL club had an agreement with Balmain to host four fixtures a season at the venerable old ground.

However, the Leichhardt council has taken over the lease after the junior club said it could not afford the $250,000 a year demanded to make the ground a multipurpose venue.

Mayer said early indications from the council were there would be no fee increase, but said until he had confirmation in writing, there was no guarantee the round seven clash against Canberra would go ahead at the ground.

"I've been exceptionally clear to them that we are not in a position to pay one cent more than what we paid in 2014," Mayer said.

"This late change is not our issue. To be fair to council, they have done a great job fixing a lot of things and done some work to put a lick of paint on the old girl.

"But from a pure commercial point, I am not committing to anything until I see a lease.

"But as soon as they see where we are coming from, I expect us to be there for the round seven game."

The Tigers host the Bulldogs at Homebush on Friday, and there are options to increase the number of games there during the season, as well as play more games at Campbelltown should the parties fail to reach an agreement.

But Mayer admits a decision to move away from the Tigers' spiritual home would be taken only as a last resort.

"It's not remotely a hope, not at all," he said.

"We have membership packages in the system and it would be a pretty big contingency to change things.

"But the reality is we're not in a position to be financially disadvantaged by a change in management rights.

"There are always options ... venues are always keen to host ... but we don't want to get to that stage.

"We want to give the council every chance to give us what we have asked for and that is to cut and paste the lease we had with Balmain last year."

AAP

 

[Perth Red]

The stark reality of nrl in the 21st century should have forced them out of there by now! Sentiment aside it is fit for a heritage pre season game and that's about it. Crowds are bigger at anz, corporate sales are bigger at anz, anz pay them to play there, seriously Tigers just bite the bullet and move. It may look great on that sunny winters afternoon game when 15.000 fill the place but they are rare times.

 

[duylm]

Rain is destroying what is meant to be one of our stronger rounds. Roofed stadiums are definitely needed if we are to lift our average 20k+. Anyone who claims we don't need roofed stadiums has clearly never sat in misery with <10k other people watching a dour game, with everyone wishing they had stayed at home.

 

[alien]

Rain is destroying what is meant to be one of our stronger rounds. Roofed stadiums are definitely needed if we are to lift our average 20k+. Anyone who claims we don't need roofed stadiums has clearly never sat in misery with <10k other people watching a dour game, with everyone wishing they had stayed at home.

yeah it does effect attendances. it will be good when anz stadium gets a roof

 

[undertaker]

Rain is destroying what is meant to be one of our stronger rounds. Roofed stadiums are definitely needed if we are to lift our average 20k+. Anyone who claims we don't need roofed stadiums has clearly never sat in misery with <10k other people watching a dour game, with everyone wishing they had stayed at home.

Easier said that done.

Are you going to fork out the millions of dollars required to meet the specifications you stated? The money has to come from somewhere.

 

[duylm]

Easier said that done.

Are you going to fork out the millions of dollars required to meet the specifications you stated? The money has to come from somewhere.

That's why it's the centralized stadiums that need roofs. Focused investment = affordable. Stop doing things like upgrading both of the Dragon's Kogorah & Wollongong grounds and then have them move their best games to Moore Park / ANZ.

 

[pHyR3]

Easier said that done.

Are you going to fork out the millions of dollars required to meet the specifications you stated? The money has to come from somewhere.

$600 million should be enough to roof allianz and build a roofed stadium of 40k in the west right?

 

[El Diablo]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...el-in-sydney-stadium-war-20150429-1mvxbb.html

San Francisco 49ers' Levi's Stadium being looked at as model in Sydney stadium war

Date
April 29, 2015 - 9:30PM

Michael Chammas
Rugby league reporter

Santa Clara: Sydney's stadium war is about to intensify with the state government set to announce its allocation for stadia redevelopment in the July budget.

There are powerful figures at play, politics involved and agendas being pushed.

But the power play for the financial backing of the state government is about to come to a head with recent movement likely to result in a $1.3 billion budget allocation for the upgrade of Sydney's major stadiums.

The SCG Trust, heavily backed by the NRL and sports minister Stuart Ayres, wants to knock down the 27-year-old Allianz Stadium and build a new billion-dollar 65,000-seat stadium on nearby trust land.

ANZ Stadium wants to reduce its capacity by bringing the stands closer to the action and turning the Olympic venue into a permanent rectangular stadium, with a retractable roof for rugby league, rugby union and soccer.

Pirtek Stadium is in dire need of a makeover and the Parramatta Eels and Western Sydney Wanderers are lobbying for at least $200 million to turn the ground into a 35,000-seat venue.

The state government last year allocated $600 million to the upgrade of the three venues, however Fairfax Media understands that allocation is likely to be at least doubled come July.

What portion of that money goes to each ground is still up in the air, but representatives of each stadium have been doing their homework on the best sporting facilities in the world, including the 68,500-seat Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Opened in July last year, the $1.2 billion stadium was completely funded by the San Francisco 49ers' fan base, who pre-purchased seating licenses (ranging from $6000 to $80,000) as their own for life.
Grass on the roof: Fans can watch the game from a rooftop lawn.

Grass on the roof: Fans can watch the game from a rooftop lawn. Photo: Michael Chammas

Despite owning a seat at the stadium, 49ers members also have to pay between $175 and $475 a game to attend an NFL match, but also possess the ability to sell their seats to others.

The stadium, which has the potential to expand to 75,000 seats when it hosts next year's Super Bowl, is considered the most technologically advanced sporting venue in the world.

There is a Wi-Fi box every 60 seats, which provides the fastest free internet at any ground in the world, while aeroplane pilots have reported seeing one of the two 3000-square-metre television screens upon arrival at San Jose airport from 160 kilometres away on game day.

The stadium also has its own app that provides fans with an electronic match and parking ticket, the ability to order food direct to their seats by one of the 250 staff members employed to deliver meals and beverages around the stadium.

The app also provides fans with live fantasy points, instant replay access, an in-stadium GPS to track and find friends and an estimated time for food and rest room queues.

The 49ers' locker room includes a kitchen, a social room for wives and girlfriends, three mini pools, including one with an in-built underwater treadmill, as well as access to a chef, barber and seamstress.

After each match, the visiting team goes through airport-type security procedures before they are escorted onto a bus and taken direct to their charter flight.

The venue is a multipurpose facility that has been used for ice hockey, Wrestlemania, monster trucks, concerts and will host to two of the biggest football clubs in the world in July when FC Barcelona clash with Manchester United.

Levi's Stadium has 165 luxury suites and 8500 club seats as well as a green roof that provides fans with a unique rooftop viewing platform 65 metres above the playing surface.

Back in Sydney, if the plans to knock down Allianz Stadium, which would be turned into a multi-level underground car park, are given the tick of approval, the Sydney Roosters, Sydney FC, NSW Waratahs and Cricket NSW offices would likely be demolished to house the new facility.

An upgrade of Allianz Stadium would only raise capacity from 45,000 to 55,000 given Moore Park Road's proximity and other limitations around the site, however a new stadium, which could host State of Origin matches and NRL grand finals, would seat 65,000.

The possibility of building a new stadium at the Kippax Lake site across the road from Allianz Stadium has been discussed, however the land is owned by Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust.

The SCG Trust originally wanted a stadium with an enclosed roof, however they have since scrapped those plans, of the opinion it was $100 million spent better elsewhere.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury Bulldogs are desperate for ANZ Stadium to be given a major facelift as they play home matches at the Sydney Olympic Park venue, while the Parramatta Eels are also supportive of the ANZ Stadium upgrade given they also play some home games at ANZ.

The Sydney Roosters are the only NRL team who use Allianz Stadium as a home ground, however the St George Illawarra Dragons and Wests Tigers, who currently take some home games to ANZ Stadium, will be monitoring plans closely given they have previously played home matches at Allianz Stadium.&#8203;

WHAT MAKES LEVI'S STADIUM THE BENCHMARK

* Cost $1.2 billion, which was funded by 49ers fans who paid a one-off fee ranging from $6000 to $80,000.

* The 68,500-seat stadium opened in July last year will expand to 75,000 for Super Bowl in February to meet NFL minimum-crowd regulations for its showpiece event.

* Two 3000-square-metre high definition screens that have been seen 160 kilometres away from pilots flying into San Jose airport.

* An app that allows fans to order food to their seats, watch instant replays and use a GPS service to find friends and facilities at the venue.

* The luxury rest rooms have television screens built into the mirrors.

* Airport security technology that allows visiting teams to hop straight on a charter flight after the match.

* World's fastest free stadium Wi-Fi.

* Players have a kitchen in the locker room as well as their own chef, barber and seamstress.

* A pool in the locker room with an underwater treadmill for recovery.

* A crane that allows materials to be dropped onto the surface from outside the stadium.

* Huge car park, light rail across the road, train station 100 metres away, bus services as well as a bike and walking track to the venue.

 

[Perth Red]

really the best stadium in the world with no roof? I guess 49'ers fans are more hardy than RL fans or does it never rain in San Francisco? $1.2bill for a stadium without any roofing seems excessive.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Look at all those corporate suites...