But why would they spend the cash to do it? A rectangular ANZ wouldn't win them a single extra game/tenant. Not doing it doesn't lose them a single game/tenant (but does keep them a couple of games of cricket a year).
Put it this way, if you owned a cafe, would you do a massive expensive fit out if you knew you'd only ever still have the exact same old customers, generating the same amount of revenue?
To prevent the existing customers leaving.
IF (this is the massive contingent here) the 65k stadium goes ahead in the city they have a considerably higher lever of competition for games.
There are a lot of teams that use ANZ which could play out of another stadium.
In multiple sports too.
ANZ currently stands as the only stadium capable of holding 'event' games, but a Upgraded Allianz would be able to host all but 2 (at worst 4) of them.
Converting to rectangular structure looses the Thunder (who have been in an out of the showgrounds anyway) and the occasional international t-20.
It's unquestionably a loss to lose these games, but the main cash cow for the stadium is Rugby League.
We could effectively match it if Souths decided to up and move.
The code itself could put in a massive incentive by having multiple teams drop their partial affiliation with the ground and spreading Sydney finals games.
We also have to consider Frank Lowy and the FFA have been lobbying for the Allianz Upgrade, and Rugby Union surely would explore its options for Bledisloe Games is Allianz was expanded.
If you get these bodies working together suddenly the potential losses are huge.
also its not allianz which can't be upgraded:
from the DT:
The key is Parramatta. If the government agrees to significantly increase its capacity, the ANZ operators could demand the government pay out the remaining 17 years on their lease and run the stadium itself.
It has leverage to force this outcome under an agreement signed in 1996 with the government before the stadium was built. It compels the government to ?negotiate in good faith? with ANZ to ensure there is no ?material adverse effect? if the government lifts the capacity above 25,000 of any stadium within 50km of Homebush.
Allianz is already above 25k, so this doesn't apply at all.