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A recent article on The Roar detailed the merit of a potential new stadium in Sydney. However, another one is not needed when you consider that current stadia in Sydney are under-attended by all football codes in NSW.
The demand is not there for another stadium when looking at the average attendances of all four football codes in NSW.
The average attendance of AFL is 17k, rugby union is 24k and the A-League/NRL is 15k.
One also needed to take into consideration the disparity of team numbers between the four codes when looking at the averages.
As rugby league has nine teams, A-League/AFL has two, and rugby union only has the Waratahs.
In regards to rugby league, the code doesn’t need new stadia when it can’t even sell out suburban grounds on a consistent basis.
For example Manly, despite being finals bound consistently and winning two premierships the past five years, can’t sell out Brookie consistently.
The Waratahs used to be a major draw at the SFS but has alienated fans due to constant underachieving. They already have a quality stadium, so no change is needed.
As for the A-League, Sydney FC is fine at SFS but it has being argued by the author that the Wanderers should get a new stadium on the basis of their surging popularity.
However, he forgot to mention the fickleness of the Sydney market it which one losing season can lead to derision of a bandwagon fan-base that comes form winning.
So it’s ideal that the Wanderers stay at Parramata for the sake of developing their identity. It’s cheaper to share with the Eels in regards to rental that going alone.
In the short time of WSW’s existence Parramata Stadium has been transformed into Wanderland and it should stay that way as it has a unique atmosphere unlike anything else from any other code in Australia.
Overall, government money should no longer be spent on stadiums.
There are far more important matters that need money such as general public services and defence.
Both the NRL/AFL has the money now to spent money on stadium upgrades if needed, as for the A-League, if they want to upgrade Parramatta or move to another stadium it has to be multipurpose for it be of any worth in the long-run.
A year-long stadium such as Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane provides greater benefit than a one-code stadium.
Also, considering the amount of money needed to be spent on a new stadium which would be in the millions, the return of investment would take decades and just become another white elephant.
Sydney has enough stadiums. It is up to the sports fans to begin showing up to them and stop the excuses.
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