There are way too many negatives to a Badger creek stadium....
- First, (i assume you are basing the idea off the WS airport) the airport and related infrastructure wont be finished for over 10 years (assuming there are no delays), not even considering the fact that the train line isnt part of the phase 1 transport. This means that a new stadium could be sitting in the middle of nowhere for a decade before transport links are build for the area.
- Second, this is a greenfield site; the airport will be the first bit of major economic stimulus the local area will see, the city forming around it later. This means a new stadium would be even worse than Olympic Park regarding shit to do before/after games.
Having said that, the WS Airport transport infrustructure will totally reshape West Sydney, so a new stadium does need to take that into consideration. Id personally suggest Blacktown as the location of the new stadium.
- All the City-Airport links will pass through here then head south ST Marys (apparently), so it will be easy as piss to get to.
- There will also be links from Liverpool and Campbeltown to the airport, which would attach to the Blacktown lines and roads, so fans in the SW could travel easily aswell.
Panthers, Tigers, Bulldogs and Parra could all easily draw crowd there from not only their own traditional areas but from their oppositions fans and neutrals all over Western Sydney.
You dont think its possible for the NRL to threaten to leave simply to f*ck over a group that they know should be treating them better??
They were in this exact situation during the last TV deal negotiation and were apparently willing to go entirely to FTA networks just because they felt FOX owed them more. The ARLC was happy to take a short term loss because they knew they were so vital to FOX subscriptions (maintaining current subscriptions is inarguably more important that looking for new ones).
It wouldnt be that hard for the ARLC to organise at least a partial club-boycott of ANZ stadium to push for a rectangle stadium.
Ask the Stadiums major tenants (ie the Bulldogs and Rabbits) if they think they are getting screwed and should be treated better. I'd suggest they are pretty happy with the deal they are currently getting (which for Souths, lasts for at least another 3 years).
Honestly interested to know, has there been many/any instances where an oval stadium has been subsequently reconfigured into a rectangular stadium?
Honestly interested to know, has there been many/any instances where an oval stadium has been subsequently reconfigured into a rectangular stadium?
Honestly interested to know, has there been many/any instances where an oval stadium has been subsequently reconfigured into a rectangular stadium?
Honestly interested to know, has there been many/any instances where an oval stadium has been subsequently reconfigured into a rectangular stadium?
Honestly interested to know, has there been many/any instances where an oval stadium has been subsequently reconfigured into a rectangular stadium?
Canberra Stadium
The US has some really interesting cases.....
There are a whole lot of Baseball fields that were converted for football teams:
http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/kgo/images/cms/automation/vod/227438_1280x720.jpg [/IMG]
(these pictures are WAY too big for the forum)
And most modern football stadiums are build to house basketball:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8282/7544276786_c2044b4c31_o.jpg
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/DOMES/HISTORY/hou07.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/2009-0319-NCAAs-002-MetrodomeBBall.JPG
There is always a way if there is the will to achieve the outcome.
Even if ANZ was just to rebuild the North-South wings from the Olympics befor roofing the stadium, it would still be a massive improvement.
The Oakland stadium wasn't "converted" from a baseball field to a football field though was it? It was built to house both sports from the get go, so was designed accordingly.
Given some of the examples given by the other posters, I probably should have been more specific in my question. I was talking about major stadia, with 360 degree stands that were subsequently converted from an oval stadium to a rectangular stadium. Its pretty easy to convert an "oval" if half the ground is a hill or concourse. A fully "grand-standed" stadium is a bit different.
As far as I am concerned, unless the place is knocked down and rebuilt, no amount of work will make the ground 100% suitable for rugby league. Slightly better maybe, but not worth the effort and expense. And a knockdown, rebuild will not happen.
Also, more to the point, the US sports codes realized in the 90s that multi-use sports grounds provide a subpar sporting experience for all of the tenants and began to provide purpose built facilities for both baseball and football separately.
In 1990, a large number of cities that had both a baseball and football team shared a stadium - Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Seattle, Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Houston, Minneapolis, New York (Shea Stadium) and Washington DC were built to host both NFL and Baseball.
As of 2015, only Oakland remains multi-purpose (and, technically, Toronto, but that's a different thing) and it's widely regarded as both the worst baseball and football stadium in the United States.