The NSW stadiums strategy is costing a fortune at the taxpayer’s expense, which isn’t good for football.
To overcome this, I have four suggestions, followed by a fifth idea about where the money could actually come from to pay for the venues.
1. Modular design
Modular design allows you to scale capacity as required. If the team grows or is promoted, you can easily increase capacity and vice versa if the opposite occurs.
Secondly, the individual sections can be taken out and replaced in the off-season without interrupting the club, an issue the Western Sydney Wanderers are grappling with.
There’s no need to knock down the whole stadium in one go, it can be rebuilt in stages.
2. Standardisation
In America’s second tier, the United Soccer League, construction firm InProduction were declared by the league to be the “official modular stadium and seating supplier” of the USL.
By having an official supplier, FFA could create an economy of scale through standardisation of components. This would lower the cost of both the initial construction itself, as well as ongoing repairs and maintenance.
According to a KPMG report, the cost of maintenance and repairs are typically two per cent of the final construction cost per annum. So the cost of maintenance and repairs for the new, $730 million stadium at Moore Park would be around $14.6 million per year.
But if you had multiple stadiums sharing the same construction system and parts, these costs could be reduced.
The selection of materials could also reduce costs, such as if timber was used, since wood doesn’t crumble over time like concrete. This is a strong point of the Bear Stadiums concept.
3. Fan design
The architectural design itself could also be an area where costs could be cut. If the fans design the stadium themselves, like the WikiHouse Project, then you don’t have to pay for the plans either – they’re open source.
If you can have a WikiHouse then why not a WikiStadium?
Too often with exotic stadiums, form follows finance. Rather than designing stadiums for the ‘few with a lot’, we should be designing stadiums for the ‘many with a bit’.
4. Fan labour
Fans have taken part in constructing their own stadiums before, such as in 2008, when 2500 supporters put in 140,000 work hours voluntarily to bring the Stadion An der Alten Försterei up to date for FC Union Berlin.
If this was combined with a sweat equity deal on memberships, I’m sure you could get a few people offering to put in time as volunteers for the construction.
Not only would this save money but the joint experience of those who take part will bind the fans together both as a community and a club.
There may be issues with WorkCover, unions, site inductions, PPE, training, organising workers, OHS and so on, but I’m pretty sure they have all those things in Germany as well and it didn’t stop them, did it?
Maybe FFA just need to lobby the government to create a new owner-builder category for stadiums?
5. Fan financing
Financing is always the biggest hurdle, so why don’t fans just pay for their own stadiums as part of their memberships?
Government funding is a major hurdle to overcome in financing a stadium and private investors willing to put up the money themselves may not be forthcoming.
But if fans are willing to finance the construction, then anything is possible.
Take a design such as Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast, for example. The stadium cost $160 million in 2008, which works out to about $190 million in today’s money. With 27,400 seats, that works out to $6934 per seat, or just $346 per annum spread over 20 years.
That’s less than a dollar a day.
But that’s nothing compared to some of the costs for ‘personal seat licenses’ in America, which allow fans to buy season tickets for a particular, private seat.
The NFL’s Raiders – who will be playing at a new, US$2 billion stadium in Las Vegas currently under construction – will partly fund it through PSLs, which will cost anywhere between US$20,000 to US$70,000 each.
At Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, ‘stadium builder licenses’ ranged from US$2000 to US$80,000, and the average season ticket cost per game ranged from US$85 to US$375, according to the 49ers’ website.
I don’t even want to think what PSLs will cost at the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park. That stadium is set to cost US$5 billion to construct (AU$7 billion).
Hopefully Australian fans won’t have to fork out that kind of money, but it does show what fans are willing to do if they’re passionate about a club.
To wrap things up, stadiums need to be modular, with standardised parts and construction methods using open-source designs created by fans. These same fans can also build, finance and own the stadium themselves without having to rely on government or mega-rich owners for support.
Power to the people!
oldpsyo
Guest
Surely the price is negotiated before the Company is nominated as the "Official Supplier" by the Administration! Probably as part of a Contra Sponsorship agreement. Ensuring Cheaper Prices!
Randy
Roar Rookie
Well it looks like the Eels have come to an agreement, not sure about the Wanderers.
AR
Guest
Put parochialism aside, the discussion is about whether a state government should fund a $300M stadium for 2 sports clubs - one which is privately owned and attracts 14k crowds, and the other which plays half its games at another stadium (ANZ) and attracts 13k crowds. There is just no sense for it.
alexie
Guest
its the AFLs fault
Simoc
Guest
I reckon 30- 45000 max is ideal and covered if possible.. You don't have to build stadiums for the loudmouths who only want to see the grand final or a big event. Build to hold the noise in so it can sound loud with a 20k crowd. Make them nice places and charge accordingly for the seat and halve the price of food sold. It's about the TV audience and a happy crowd. Mostly at league games you see half full grounds and less at AFL games in Qld and GWS games. As for Paramatta. They're just trying to show that they can cut a good deal and with their managements history you know what they're looking for. Brown paper envelopes.
Nick Symonds
Guest
NEWS: NRL FORCE FFA OUT OF FINALS VENUE Football Federation Australia are trying to line up an alternative home stadium for Brisbane Roar after the NRL block-booked Suncorp Stadium in the middle of the A-League Finals. Rugby league has turned their round nine into a blockbuster Brisbane blitz, with all eight games set to be played at Suncorp over the one Mother's Day weekend. But the games will start on May 9 – just as the A-League plays its two big semi final deciders on May 10-12, which means Roar will need to find another venue if they get that far. And if they still manage to make it into the Grand Final, it's unlikely Suncorp will be fit to host it after eight NRL games are played back to back on the surface the weekend before. Today the FFA said they had been made aware of the NRL looking at the stadium close out before the draw was announced today. But they didn't reveal if they had asked the NRL to delay the so-called "Magic Round" for a fortnight to allow the A-League Finals to finish first. They are now trying to find a second choice stadium for any potential Queensland semi final if required. Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast is the most likely back up choice, especially if all the NRL clubs are using the Brisbane venue which will ensure the 27,000-seat CBus Stadium - and former home of Gold Coast United - should be vacant. - https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/nrl-force-ffa-out-of-finals-venue-514505
clipper
Roar Rookie
Undoubtedly, they were paying under market rates because the stadium wasn't up to scratch, which doesn't diminish the point that the govt. shouldn't have proceeded if the tenants didn't want to pay market rental. They are private organisations and were not contributing to the cost. I don't know if the AFL overcharged the clubs or just charged market rental - it's quite a new stadium. Perhaps there's not the justification to have 3 big stadiums in Sydney.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
The rent increase was apparently 70 k to 210 k a week , seems hard for clubs to hire a ground and make money. The precedent is when the afl deal overcharged the 4 tenants at Etihad for 15 years , sending those clubs near broke, I dong think stkilda has ever recovered
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Just noticed the point about using timber Not sure but Didn’t the Bradford city fc grandstand fire see the end of timber frames grandstands , pretty sure my home ground wooden grandstand got demolished soon after as a precaution.
clipper
Roar Rookie
This has been my argument, Randy. The NSW Govt should have had at least a MOU. Did the Eels expect to have a brand new stadium and not have a rent increase? Will they be able to play of homebush and parramatta stadiums considering that the same govt. firm runs them both?
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Well said Paste that on the opera house
Randy
Roar Rookie
I get your reasoning and I know you're a parochial victorian but Sydney needs world class Stadia simply because it's Australia's largest city and a global city that holds big sporting events. I think a less costly upgrade of Allianz and a reconfigure of ANZ would have done the trick though.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Considering the afl don’t pay any tax on revenue, I fully support their charitable donations. They certainly need to improve their image, so this might help them if you spread the word Back to the post, it is thr nsw govt who are taking from the taxpayers for new stadiums in Sydney, let’s hope they get good crowds at parramatta and wsw
Mister Football
Roar Guru
The point remains that the AFL gave significant financial contributions to what remain community owned assets, whereas the NSW Government has built a stadium for the use of two privately owned clubs, and neither sport has contributed one cent. AND both clubs are complaining about paying the market rate for the use of a brand new stadium!
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Docklands didn't cost the Government one cent.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
well spotted Kaks
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
So you build a mansion, 50 squatters move in paying no rent, ands thats a superior ROI versus the house next door having a few people paying rent. The money that was supposed to be the partial ROI is now being given to the local AFL. Showgrounds and Metricon, well Showgrounds the 10 million that went in gave rent free use, I am not sure what arrangement exists outside that but Metricon for only 10% of the actual cost the AFL received all the revenue from the stadium including naming rights. If anyone wants to partner with me pay 90% of the cost,and then I pay 10% of the cost and get all the revenue from a property. So even those deals are suspect. The new Perth Stadium however that is the 1.5 billion gift where the govt will be losing money every time these AFL teams play there.Its 1.5 billion+ more each year effectively. The Parramatta stadium will charge rent, this wont repay the stadium yet alone deliver an ROI on top of that but it will get a lot closer than Showgrounds and Metricon. Perth Stadium on the other hand thats 1.5 billion giftwrapped but more to come.
AR
Guest
“The giants and Metricon stadiums are a 400 million dollar waste as is the abandoned stadium at Blacktown with the tumbleweeds.” Ok, now you’re really advertising your ignorance. Showgrounds - $42M NSW Govt; $10M AFL; $7M RAS. Metricon - $72M Qld Govt; $36M Cth Govt; $23M GCC Council; $14M AFL. And... Parra - $300M NSW Govt. (And throw in a further $1.7B NSW Govt for 2 other elephants in Sydney) Spin that anyway you like - it’s a colossal waste of taxpayer money in a city where stadiums are rarely half full.
Mark
Roar Rookie
I’m not sure where you got this information from. West Coast and Fremantle most certainly pay rent at Optus Stadium. At one point West Coast threatened to continue playing at Subiaco Oval as the initial rent proposal was viewed as excessive.
Wobbly
Guest
Just tell the handful of Sydneysiders who actually go to a game to bring their own seats.