[PRO] Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

[ChillyPhilly]

Great video!

AUFC must continue to push for a full upgrade of the stadium. The current upgrade is half-arsed at best, but any investment into the stadium is welcome.

Investing public money in sporting stadiums are election killers unless you're a Labor government it seems.

Interesting hypothesis, but maybe the Liberals need to think of better proposals in future. I don't think there would have been any serious detraction to a full upgrade of Hindmarsh, especially as the cost would be nowhere near that of their Riverbank Arena plan.

[abc]

Great video!

AUFC must continue to push for a full upgrade of the stadium. The current upgrade is half-arsed at best, but any investment into the stadium is welcome.

Investing public money in sporting stadiums are election killers unless you're a Labor government it seems.

Interesting hypothesis, but maybe the Liberals need to think of better proposals in future. I don't think there would have been any serious detraction to a full upgrade of Hindmarsh, especially as the cost would be nowhere near that of their Riverbank Arena plan.

I don't see the use case for an upgraded/expanded Hindmarsh. The current facility serves primarily one tenant whose base isn't growing but dwindling, plus the odd outdoor concert.
A large centralised indoor facility would have far wider usability.

[gnrc_louis]

Investing public money in sporting stadiums are election killers unless you're a Labor government it seems.

Interesting hypothesis, but maybe the Liberals need to think of better proposals in future. I don't think there would have been any serious detraction to a full upgrade of Hindmarsh, especially as the cost would be nowhere near that of their Riverbank Arena plan.

I don't see the use case for an upgraded/expanded Hindmarsh. The current facility serves primarily one tenant whose base isn't growing but dwindling, plus the odd outdoor concert.
A large centralised indoor facility would have far wider usability.

I agree with you fully, but I don’t think what the previous Government offered represented good value for money at all.

[abc]

Interesting hypothesis, but maybe the Liberals need to think of better proposals in future. I don't think there would have been any serious detraction to a full upgrade of Hindmarsh, especially as the cost would be nowhere near that of their Riverbank Arena plan.

I don't see the use case for an upgraded/expanded Hindmarsh. The current facility serves primarily one tenant whose base isn't growing but dwindling, plus the odd outdoor concert.
A large centralised indoor facility would have far wider usability.

I agree with you fully, but I don’t think what the previous Government offered represented good value for money at all.

Does it ever? Government's always pay over the odds for major projects. When its public money, value for money is never sought.

[1NEEDS2POST]

Are there plans to host any games for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics? A few soccer games were played there for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

[A-Town]

Are there plans to host any games for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics? A few soccer games were played there for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Nope. The only cities outside Queensland that will be hosting soccer events for the Olympics are Sydney and Melbourne.

[Algernon]

Are there plans to host any games for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics? A few soccer games were played there for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

This time it doesn't look like it. Lang Park will be used for finals I believe. The lesser games will be played around QLD in Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast. Interstate venues to be used are Sydney Football Stadium and AAMI Park in Melbourne.

[ChillyPhilly]

Investing public money in sporting stadiums are election killers unless you're a Labor government it seems.

Interesting hypothesis, but maybe the Liberals need to think of better proposals in future. I don't think there would have been any serious detraction to a full upgrade of Hindmarsh, especially as the cost would be nowhere near that of their Riverbank Arena plan.

I don't see the use case for an upgraded/expanded Hindmarsh. The current facility serves primarily one tenant whose base isn't growing but dwindling, plus the odd outdoor concert.
A large centralised indoor facility would have far wider usability.

An indoor facility is a no-go for football.

The Riverbank Arena plan would have gained more traction if it was completely flexible (i.e. able to convert to a grass pitch for AUFC). Even less justifiable than this use is for basketball, which was the main anchor point of the proposal.

A new rectangular stadium will be a must in the future - this is inevitable - and the best inner city site is immediately west of Adelaide Oval.

[JCK98]

Interesting hypothesis, but maybe the Liberals need to think of better proposals in future. I don't think there would have been any serious detraction to a full upgrade of Hindmarsh, especially as the cost would be nowhere near that of their Riverbank Arena plan.

I don't see the use case for an upgraded/expanded Hindmarsh. The current facility serves primarily one tenant whose base isn't growing but dwindling, plus the odd outdoor concert.
A large centralised indoor facility would have far wider usability.

An indoor facility is a no-go for football.

The Riverbank Arena plan would have gained more traction if it was completely flexible (i.e. able to convert to a grass pitch for AUFC). Even less justifiable than this use is for basketball, which was the main anchor point of the proposal.

A new rectangular stadium will be a must in the future - this is inevitable - and the best inner city site is immediately west of Adelaide Oval.

An outdoor soccer stadium would be a no-go for basketball/netball/some concerts that could be hosted at an Entertainment Centre replacement, whereas major soccer games could be hosted at Adelaide Oval (same for Rugby League and Union).

Adelaide United games could stay at Hindmarsh (might pay to keep upgrading it), which would be better suited for those size crowds, which seems to be a model other A-League teams are copying right now (like Victory leaving Docklands, Roar mostly moving away from Suncorp and Western United eventually moving into a boutique stadium in Western Melbourne).

The only problem is if a Soccer World Cup comes to Australia which can't happen until 2034 anyway (or maybe an Asian Cup before hand).

Can't see this government doing either anyway, more likely to spend money getting a SANFL ground up to AFL standard for 3 matches during "Magic Round".

[Llessur2002]

A new rectangular stadium will be a must in the future - this is inevitable.

But why? I'm genuinely confused as to why there is an apparent need for Hindmarsh to be replaced. Look at the attendance figures, they're tiny and declining. Why is a new rectangular stadium a good use of tax dollars?

[gnrc_louis]

A new rectangular stadium will be a must in the future - this is inevitable.

But why? I'm genuinely confused as to why there is an apparent need for Hindmarsh to be replaced. Look at the attendance figures, they're tiny and declining. Why is a new rectangular stadium a good use of tax dollars?

Until the A-league sorts itself out - or is replaced by something else, I can't see those attendance figures going up either.

[abc]

A new rectangular stadium will be a must in the future - this is inevitable.

But why? I'm genuinely confused as to why there is an apparent need for Hindmarsh to be replaced. Look at the attendance figures, they're tiny and declining. Why is a new rectangular stadium a good use of tax dollars?

Until the A-league sorts itself out - or is replaced by something else, I can't see those attendance figures going up either.

terminal decline

I can see Adelaide United moving to ServiceFM stadium not too far in the future to save on rent and stay in business.

[Algernon]

The A-League is struggling, notwithstanding the obvious impact of covid, because of the internal revolt in FFA that lead to the clubs assuming control and ownership of the league.It went on longer than it should have and a whole lot of noses were bent out of shape. But on the recovery side, the APL just sold a 30% equity stake to Silverlake for 130 million and has a streaming deal with paramount financially similar to what Fox paid when the league was reaching its second peak in 2015-16. Further, the two new entrants Macarthur and Western United contributed about 50 million to the league coffers in license fees.

Just to put the Silverlake deal into context, AU as a 1/12 owner of the A-League own the entity that had 130 million pumped in. About 10 million each for clubs which have a salary cap not far north of 2 million (a cap in itself which is already covered by the media deal). Adelaide United isn't going anywhere for a looooong time.

[[Shuz]]

Those are shocking figures for soccer. I thought it was supposed to be the fastest growing sport at junior levels in Australia? One would think this would be translating into attendance as they get older?

[Llessur2002]

So on average Hindmarsh doesn't come close to reaching its capacity of 16,500 - nor did it at its peak. Rugby is pretty non existent in this state. Soccer as a spectator sport is niche and evidently declining across the board. We have Adelaide Oval available for the handful of games each year that warrant a larger capacity. So, genuine question, what is the business case for turning over tens of millions of dollars and prime inner CBD parklands to a new rectangular stadium? There doesn't seem to be the need for sporting purposes and events would be better served by purpose built venues without a grass pitch.

Hindmarsh is likely to have more than enough capacity for the decades ahead, and could relatively easily accommodate 20,000 with some more relatively minor upgrades.

I also suspect that participation figures for soccer are a red herring. It's an easy game for schools to promote. It's low contact, scaleable, can be played indoors and with mixed gender teams. Just because a lot of kids play it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to develop an interest in a competition which at the top level is largely played thousands of miles away in the middle of the night and watchable only via pay TV.