The recently released Stadium Taskforce report commissioned by the Queensland government has thrown a spanner in the works for future A-League expansion. Not only does it recommend that no new stadiums be built in Brisbane, but it recommends Ballymore’s grandstands be demolished as well.
A second Brisbane A-League side would most likely play out of Ballymore in the case of Brisbane City, or Perry Park in the case of Strikers. There would also be a third possibility for a team in Ipswich, but none of these will happen in the face of the final report to the government. In its conclusions, a new stadium wouldn’t be necessary for either a second A-League side or a second NRL team or even for major one-off events such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
According to the report, “There is current capacity for additional content within the existing venues”.
It goes on to say that, “It is more fiscally responsible and viable for the state to maximise the utilisation of Stadium Queensland’s existing major sporting venues instead of constructing, managing and operating new assets”.
In other words, any new A-League or NRL side will have to play at Lang Park since the Queensland government won’t be funding any new stadiums, boutique or otherwise. It won’t even be possible to use Ballymore in the future as it is set to be turned permanently into a 5000-seat suburban ground which will be repurposed primarily as a rugby union national centre of excellence.
According to the report, the “Ballymore venue is more aligned to being a training, club participation and administrative hub for rugby and compatible sports as opposed to being a location for a major stadium”.
Transport and access problems were other major issues with using Ballymore for major events, with the report citing, “limited road access to the site” and “no access to scheduled high-frequency and multi-modal public transport”. In addition, the Queensland Rugby Union’s preliminary plans for a bridge that would allow fans to get to the stadium from Wilston Station hasn’t received any funding from either state or federal governments.
Ballymore wasn’t the only stadium affected by the report’s recommendations.
The Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre is targeted to be greatly reduced in capacity by removing the temporary stands at both ends, with the report saying that, “The cost of maintaining these stands is inconsistent with the amount of use they receive for one-off major events”.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
Another stadium facing the chop is the ageing Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with the report saying, “The location of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre does not meet contemporary standards for a major entertainment facility, including limited access to scheduled high-frequency and multi-modal public transport”.
The demolition of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre will see the Brisbane Bullets NBL team relocated to the new $2 billion Brisbane Live precinct at the redeveloped Roma Street rail yards, which is linked in with the Cross River Rail project.
As well as refocusing government funding towards the Brisbane Live precinct, the report also points towards upgrading The Gabba, with Queensland Minister for Sport Mick de Brenni saying, “Cross River Rail will deliver new and exciting opportunities for the Gabba and will unlock the potential to reinvent the stadium to improve fan experience and keep its place as an internationally renowned venue.”
Upgrading The Gabba is seen as essential to continue competing for content against the MCG and SCG as well as Adelaide Oval and the new Perth Stadium. A new Cross River Rail station at the ground will be another improvement in its favour for achieving this.
As for Lang Park, it too will receive additional funding. According to the report a new western grandstand will be needed at the venue within the next ten years to compete with new stadiums in the southern states. As it says in the report, “Redevelopment of this stand would significantly modernise the venue and elevate the corporate and premium seating offerings to a new level comparable with new southern venues”.
So what does this all mean for A-League expansion?
In a nutshell, the Queensland government’s priorities are about focussing on upgrading Lang Park and The Gabba as well as redeveloping the Roma Street rail yards into the new Brisbane Live precinct. They will not be diverting hundreds of millions of dollars towards Ballymore, Perry Park or Ipswich.
If a new A-League team is added to create a Brisbane derby, they will have to use Lang Park whether they like it or not unless a bid group is willing to fund a stadium privately. Since FFA won’t want to risk creating another Melbourne City, it is very unlikely that a Brisbane derby will be possible. This might leave FFA with the choice of adding Gold Coast United as the only option.
Meanwhile, in south-west Sydney, the NRL club Wests Tigers have suddenly woken up and realised the importance of the area as a growth corridor and are considering entering into a “partnership” with the new A-League team based there. If the lack of competition from other codes was a reason for adding a team in south-west Sydney, the advantage might not have lasted long.
With the backlash against the A-League becoming heavily Sydney and Melbourne-centric and Brisbane seemingly off the table, that might leave only Canberra, Wollongong, Tasmania and the Gold Coast as the next locations for expansion.
At the same time, West Melbourne will be playing at a 36,000-seat oval ground in Geelong for three years and the new team in south-west Sydney will have the Tigers breathing down their necks in Campbelltown.
I wonder what the NPL clubs will make of all this?
Randy
Roar Rookie
Redcliffe is very much Rugby League demographic. A lot of kiwis and islanders on the peninsula. Also lots of retirees around there. Like all outer suburbs of Brissie, very working class.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Dream on AR!!!! Visit Sydney & tell me how popular the Swans are in the pubs, the clubs, the cafes & the offices. BTW the article is about expansion, read the whole article. Ironically both Chris & I are on the football tab, so are you & you don’t even like the sport. Who the hilarious one?
stu
Guest
Not addressing the issue of p/r, yes it is doable but can it maintain a national footprint at the elite level? Would that/should that be a KPI for the governing body? Would the public interest wain in Victoria if there were no elite level clubs in that state?
stu
Guest
I tend to agree
Jim
Roar Rookie
CFG may want to do that, but Etihad Airways is unlikely to be actively involved in it. They are under huge financial pressure as an airline and may well be swallowed up in time by Emirates through a forced merger. The FFP rules have absolutely nothing to do with any proposal out here - indeed I think the Etihad Airways side of the city financial arrangements is probably the one part that is relatively ok - other parts may be much more of a mess.
Jordan Klingsporn
Roar Guru
A second Brisbane team which i'd say will be in the next expansion, will have to be a team from West Brisbane, South Brisbane etc.
chris
Guest
When you say cricket is closest to the mark re a national comp, are you referring to Sheffield Shield? I heard there were more that 99 people at the last match between NSW and VIC, breaking attendance records for the past 25 years.
chris
Guest
Is this report set in stone? Never to be questioned nor acted against? Is it the bible of stadium development/no development? The govts of the day will use/not use the report as they see fit.
Nemesis
Guest
"The competitive vision of all codes in this country SEEMS to being recognised as a National competition. I would suggest cricket is closest to that goal." The vision for football should be to create the best structures & pathways to allow the development of the best footballers in Australia. That's it. It might mean we have very low average crowds. Low average viewing. Low average revenues. So be it. Football is a global sport & if we want our footballers to succeed in a global market, we need to ensure the focus is always on what's best for the sport. If what's best for the sport is also good for the business of sport - excellent. But, the sport must always take precedence. PS: Cricket has involvement in 6 cities for 6 weeks each year. If that's considered a "National Competition" then Australia has extremely low standards for what is defined as national competitive club sport.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Dreaming MF, dreaming. Semi finals game in Sydney (local Derby between 2 Sydney teams), one the biggest AFL game in the history of this game in Sydney, didn't even reach the combined average attendances of both teams
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Nem Keep and eye out for an article I will send in tomorrow, say Tuesday to Thursday if published, tis about Footballs future growth
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Nem That would be music to my ears.... I hope your sources are correct...
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
and if a second A League team plays there, Suncorp will have 5 anchor tenants, as they call them. The report says that three is too many, but also says that's ok at Suncorp. The real problem is that QLD doesn't have funding to support its decentralized population. It has two major stadiums with a single anchor tenant each (Townsville & Gold Coast) and says to the sports organisations, if you want to expand in QLD, expand to where our stadiums are.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
stu what you raise is a possibility, we saw snippets of that in the 80s in the NSL. On the other hand, don't worry about it, the chances of full and open P&R being introduced in the next 15 years are minimal.
stu
Guest
IF the league evloves to p/r (paying due consideration to FIFA rules), i have a concern open for discussion. The competitive vision of all codes in this country SEEMS to being recognised as a National competition. I would suggest cricket is closest to that goal. The singular elite division concept accross the board cements the current investment risk taken at club level but also the 'footprint' vision of the governing bodies. Introduce a p/r concept in a country of this size and the prosect of reducing the elite level from the current footprint to say, Victoria and NSW is possible. In a small country I don't see this being an issue as the fan base remains within reach. Perhaps a 'conference' concept would work?? Open to any input from anyone on this.
Nemesis
Guest
Middy there's no doubt there will be a National 2nd Div in 2020. The only unknowns are the number of teams and the composition. Will it be all existing NPL clubs? Will it be a mixture of NPL & franchise clubs? I'd say we'd be pretty close to the mark thinking: 2020: A-League Div1: 12 teams A-League Div2: 16 teams No Pro/Rel 2022: ALeague Div1: 14 teams with 2 new teams (most likely chosen from Canberra/SE Melb/Tas/Gold Coast) ALeague Div2: 16 teams No Pro/Rel 2023: A-League Div1: 15 teams (Top Div 2 promoted; no relegation) A-League Div2: 16 teams (NPL national champions promoted; no relegation) 2024: ALeague Div1: 16 teams (Top Div 2 promoted; no relegation) ALeague Div2: 16 teams (NPL national champions promoted; no relegation) 2025: Pro/Rel (Div1): Bottom Div 1 has playoff against Top Div2 Pro/Rel (Div2): Bottom Div2 has playoff vs NPL National Champs. So we end up with an ALeauge of 32 teams: 16 in Div 1 16 in Div 2 Total of 480 A-League Home & Away matches (240 for each division) over 9 months.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
chris wrote: "Punter I would say the AFL is not even marginally bigger than the A-League in Sydney. Add up WSW and Sydney FC on a weekend and then add Swans and the midgets. Not much diff. " Whether this is correct or not, I'm not sure, but in the interests of objective measurement, these are the average home ground attendances for 2018: Swans: 33,959 Giants: 11,913
Mister Football
Roar Guru
He gave you the answer. MLS. That's all anyone needs to know to understand where the A-League is heading.
chris
Guest
And here's AR. The AFL apologist telling us from Victoria how big ALF is in NSW. You never seem to criticise the Pest on here do you AR? You reserve that for sokkah supporters defending sokkah on the sokkah tab
Randy
Roar Rookie
A second Brisbane NRL team was always going to play out of Suncorp, so it doesn't make any difference to their expansion plans.