What on earth would be the justification for knocking down a stadium built for the Olympics less than 20 years ago?
Does Sydney’s future as an international city really hinge on having state-of-the-art sporting facilities?
The option of demolishing both ANZ Stadium at Homebush in Sydney’s west and Allianz Stadium in the Moore Park area is again back on the table as part of a new proposal soon to be taken to the New South Wales cabinet by the sports minister, Stuart Ayres.
By all accounts it won’t be this week, but a decision is drawing near, so expect to see plenty of speculation about which option is preferred as the vested interests, such as the powerful Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground trust (which owns Allianz) and the NRL (which was promised that ANZ would be the priority) lobby for their preferred options.
What’s driving the stadium debate is a mixture of necessity, egos and grand visions, with a pinch of economic reality thrown in from time to time to sober up the debate.
There is a pressing need to do something at Allianz, as the stadium has now been declared a security risk.
A building assessment by the sports ground trust says there are no fire sprinklers, no emergency power supply, not enough exits, “noncompliant” crowd barriers and woefully insufficient toilets.
The trust CEO, Jamie Barkley outlined the concerns in a letter to the sporting codes in August, saying: “It’s important that the trust makes you aware of relevant safety, security and compliance issues.”
The Olympic stadium has been criticised because of its inadequacies for games played on rectangular pitches such as rugby league and football.
But what to do, and how and when to spend the money to meet the aspirations of rugby league, football, rugby union, television broadcasters and the various teams which use these stadiums at their home grounds is extremely difficult.
And that’s before anyone has thought about the taxpayers and sports fans might prefer.
Ayres’ earlier plan in 2016 to knock down Allianz and build a new 45,000-seat stadium over Kippax Lake in the Moore Park parklands, while turning the old site into a carpark, caused a furore in Sydney. The sports ground trust was accused of empire building at the expense of Sydney’s precious green space.
This plan was slapped down by the former premier Mike Baird, who sent everyone back to the drawing board to look at refurbishment options.
In August the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced that there was $1.6bn on the table for stadium upgrades, but $350m of this is already committed to a new stadium at Parramatta.
She seemed to indicate her priority was to begin work on an upgrade of ANZ, though she did not rule out starting work on Allianz before the election in 2019.
But that did not stop the jostling for preferred outcomes and it appears the SCG trust and its powerful board, which includes broadcaster Alan Jones, former Transfield boss Tony Shepherd and Harvey Norman CEO Katie Page, has made headway, at least with the minister.
A refurbishment has become a completely new stadium. Now they want it to be the first project off the ground. Expect the parking issue to surface again soon too.
The Alliance of Moore Park Sports (AMPS) is also urging Berejiklian to knock down and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park with a minimum capacity of 35,000. And they want that project to be first.
Ayres is reportedly pushing for a bigger 45,000-seat stadium at Moore Park, though with attendances so low at the existing facility, it’s hard to see how the bigger venue is justified. The Roosters home games often attracted 10,000 or less at Allianz, while the NRL semifinal between Roosters and Cowboys attracted more than 28,000, well below the stadium’s capacity.
The only game that came close to filling the stadium in 2017 was the A-League final when Sydney faced off against Melbourne Victory before a crowd of more than 41,000.
The NRL, on the other hand, has said it wants ANZ built first. Under the old plan, the seating would be reconfigured and reduced to 70,000 overlooking a rectangular playing field.
Exactly what’s involved for ANZ in the Ayres plan – a knockdown or a rebuild – remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that three stadium projects won’t fit within the $1.6bn allocated.
Given the strong state of the NSW budget, Berejiklian has said she’s prepared to spend a little more, but three complete rebuilds at Homebush, Parramatta and Moore Park is certain to exceed $2bn.
Meanwhile the tussle over open space continues. The sports ground trust has sent a report to ministers arguing that the road in front of Allianz Stadium, Driver Avenue, should be closed permanently because of terrorism concerns. But this would send the trucks associated with the Fox film studio and the exhibition halls through the back gate in residential Paddington.
It is believed the trust wants to turn the roadway into a commercial fan zone which would sell merchandise and food when games are on.
