HBF Park upgrade

[i0Nic]

Just starting a thread to discuss HBF Park. In the initial negotiation there was a rejected funds pledge to spend ~$200m on upgrades to HBF Park which would mainly include building a new west stand to match the newer east stand and bring the capacity up to 27k.

However even though it’s not formally part of the proposal, there are some inside reports and rumours that there has been a gentleman’s agreement to get the upgrade done sometime soon when the election noise dies down.

If they wanted to get this done by the start of the Perth Bears launch they’d be needing to start work on this now. So I assume it won’t happen for season launch.

The problem about doing this later is it would dramatically disrupt the fledgling club’s season, because they likely won’t be able to play at HBF while the upgrades are happening.

Has there been any news or rumours on this? Any indications on when this upgrade might happen? Would they play in Optus Oval while the upgrades are happening?

 

[yakstorm]

Even if they started work tomorrow, the reality is the new grandstand would most likely not be ready for a March 2027 kick off. When they did the eastern & southern stands, it took 35-months all up, and whilst this project could be tightened, they're still possibly looking at a year.

If they were to start next year, I wouldn't expect anything to happen until late May, the WA Government wouldn't want to do anything to impact the Perth Sevens and Women's Asian Cup, with the end of the Glory & Force seasons set for May 30.

Now assuming the rest of the venue could be operational, the immediately next impacted events would be the RLWC and the next Glory season. Honestly, I doubt there would be much pushback if the England matches were capped at 17,500 versus 20,500, and with the Glory only averaging 6,090 last season and 6,351 this season, they're not exactly packing out the venue either.

A less ambitious start could be to lean into the 2010 masterplan for the venue, and build the proposed lower tier back then, which would still give a temporary increase from 20,500 to around 22,000 before then adding the second (or multiple other tiers) later.

 

[SirPies&Beers]

@Red&BlackBear you seem to always be in the thick of things like this. any idea when this might happen? i thinks one post from ages ago you said likely 2030 or something like that. that true?

 

[Perth Red]

Just starting a thread to discuss HBF Park. In the initial negotiation there was a rejected funds pledge to spend ~$200m on upgrades to HBF Park which would mainly include building a new west stand to match the newer east stand and bring the capacity up to 27k.

However even though it’s not formally part of the proposal, there are some inside reports and rumours that there has been a gentleman’s agreement to get the upgrade done sometime soon when the election noise dies down.

If they wanted to get this done by the start of the Perth Bears launch they’d be needing to start work on this now. So I assume it won’t happen for season launch.

The problem about doing this later is it would dramatically disrupt the fledgling club’s season, because they likely won’t be able to play at HBF while the upgrades are happening.

Has there been any news or rumours on this? Any indications on when this upgrade might happen? Would they play in Optus Oval while the upgrades are happening?

Cook is facing major opposition to Perth Park racetrack spend (location where they should have been building a new rectangular stadium!) , he won’t likely be announcing another big sporting spend anytime soon I wouldn’t expect until that dies down.

may not be in this term, he might include it in next election manifesto spend?