[COM] Adelaide Oval Redevelopment

[Pants]

no really, why should that matter to me?

I'm not against it btw, but I dont see why I would I want it

You don't think you'd directly gain from the economic and other flow-on benefits of people spending money in the centre of the city in which you live?

[ricecrackers]

no really, why should that matter to me?

I'm not against it btw, but I dont see why I would I want it

You don't think you'd directly gain from the economic and other flow-on benefits of people spending money in the centre of the city in which you live?

no I dont think i would gain any more from people spending money in the CBD as i would if they spent it in some other suburb.

[Pants]

Ok... put it this way - they're more likely to spend money or more money in the CBD than any other suburb which doesn't have the same availability of entertainment and retail outlets, aren't they?

If they do, the flow on effects will benefit a much broader region than the CBD.

This fact doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing if we try to engender a culture where people don't walk a few metres to their car and piss off straight after a game.

I'm not saying that we in some way try to plan things in a way to make people spend money. Even if they go for a walk through the CBD after a game, mill around, and create a bit of an atmosphere, it will bring in other people who will spend.

[Prince George]

I agree with ricecrackers that moving the stadium into the city has little to do with increasing economic activity (as was all said in the book Public Dollars, Private Stadiums), *unless* it brings many extra tourists to the city.

However, I disagree with him strongly on the question of parking. If we are going to go ahead with spending all that money at Adelaide Oval, I *don't* want part of that money to be used to add another few thousand parking spaces to Adelaide's already mountainous supply of parking. Heck even back in the 70s William Whyte was pointing out how many downtown rejuvenation projects in the states were failing precisely because they were including so much parking that instead of bringing people into the city all it was bringing was cars.

[jk1237]

*unless* it brings many extra tourists to the city.

and I think it will. There's quite a large market of Victorian footy followers only an hour flight or 8 hour drive away that keep telling us they hate AAMI because if they are staying in the city, its hard to get too, so few come over. Many of us travel over to Melb for games, because we know how easy it is to walk to the grounds from your hotel. Compared to VFL Park, you wouldnt bother going over to a match at Waverley

[crawf]

That's a good point jk1237

[mrblackrooster]

all my 'football-fanatic melbourne mates' all say the same thing... its just alot more appealing if your flying in from interstate to be staying at a hotel in the cbd and to be walking distance of the footy match. Of course this would bring more interstate fans over... and I think it will be great to head back over the river after a match into near by pubs/bars including the redeveloped casino...especially when you compare this with all the options we have at the moment- the lakes hotel lol

[thechap]

I agree with everything said in the last couple posts. I was only today telling a Melbourne couple (who, incidentally, I met on a train between Florence and Rome) how I love to zip over to Melbourne to crows matches at least once or twice a year. But of course the effect is doubled for us if both our teams play at Adelaide Oval because then we would hav interstate teams here all but two weeks of of the season and Victorian teams at least once every few weeks, probably more often.

[Matt]

I used to love going to Melbourne for a footy weekend, not just to see the match itself, but the entire experience that goes with it.

The atmosphere around the city (ie, hundreds of people in their respective team's gear and the associated banter), the pre-match food/drinks a stone's throw from the venue, the short walk to the stadium, the first class facilities when we'd get there and either drinks in the city or a short walk/tram ride back to the hotel afterwards.

It's about the big picture, and until now, Adelaide hasn't had anything that comes close to it, so it's no wonder people from interstate aren't particularly enthused about making the trip over for the footy.

If the 'experience' and reasons listed were enough to draw me over to Melbourne to see my team play every so often, I can't see why it wouldn't do the same for Melburnians coming the opposite way.

[jk1237]

unbelievable, its like taking 2 steps forward, 3 back. How can Transadelaide employ complete brainless morons that dont have the thinking capacity to plan and put on any extra tram services for the cricket tonight. Did they think that about 7500 would turn up to an Aust v England 20/20, considering state games have been getting around 10,000. Here we are trying to promote the Adelaide Oval for footy games, on the basis of a large % taking PT, yet tonight, a skeleton service exists just before the start, for a crowd prob over 30-35,000, with many people stranded at stops trying to get into town. Reminds me of one clipsal weekend when the last train to Gawler was 1 single carriage, yet TA knew to employ security guards to stop 300+ people from entering the platform of an already full 1 car train, but didnt think of making a longer train

OMG. Do we give up or what

[jk1237]

just looking at the TV, maybe well over 35,000. Whats the bet that the train services tonight after the game are still hourly and 1 carriage too

[Omicron]

[Hooligan]

Considering that game was shown all over the world, That full stadium (and the game mind you) was an excellent advertisment for Adelaide in my opinion.

[mm42]

you think the grass will die from being parked on once per week for 22 weeks of the year, in winter? I'm not so sure on the science of that - i can only take your word if you believe that is the case. thats getting parked on 22 days out of 365

Some calculations

Area of current grass carpark NW of oval (from Google Earth): 800m2
Space requirement to park 1 car: 30m2
Occupants per vehicle coming by car (assume) : 2
Game attendees who can park on the grass carpark : 530
Stadium capacity : 38,000
Proportion of total attendees who can park on the grass carpark :1.4%

Even if the carpark were increased to 2000 cars, requiring 6 hectares of parkland, this would still only bring 10% of attendees to the stadium. There simply isn't uncommitted parkland space nearby that could hold a temporary car park of this scale. To bring everyone by car would require a carpark covering 57 hectares. Imagine the congestion afterward ! A lane on an arterial road has a capacity of 800 vehicles per hour, so it would take 23 lanes of traffic to clear it in an hour. So the solution is to maximise the use of nearby car parks in the city, and bring as many people as possible by public transport. The public transport solution works well at AAMI Stadium where there was neither the carpark space nor road capacity to accommodate everyone coming by car. Adelaide Metro must have staff who specialise in planning the services to and from AAMI Stadium. Perhaps it takes a government directive for Transadelaide to also plan services for other public events at the Adelaide Oval, Entertainment Centre and Hindmarsh Stadium. It's a pity people have got burnt by Adelaide Metro's lack of service to previous public events, so it may take effort to rebuild the public's confidence again.

Adelaide Metro seems to have the dubious distinction of being the only transit agency in the world where the only planning for public events is to hire security guards to stop people using their services !

[Omicron]

30 square metres to park one car? 800 square metres of grassed carpark to the north-west?

I'd, er, be revisiting those numbers.