Gold Coast stadium deal

[CoastBhoy]

This is a grab from a Patrick Smith article,

Modelling of stadium figures show that a crowd of just 18,000 will return $600,000 - or close to it - per game. Compare that to North's attendance of 15,000 at last week's match against Fremantle at Etihad. That cost the club $100,000, according to Brayshaw.
The Gold Coast team will have a clean stadium. That means naming rights and all the other commercial streams of income. Just what tenant clubs at Etihad and the MCG struggle to get their hands on.
The club will control all revenues at its stadium. The lot. The seats, drinks, food, ticketing, signage, corporate hospitality and whatever else you can think of. It will also be able to make use of the stadium through summer for concerts and any other entertainment or sports it might stage.

600k for 18,000 people :eek: now thats a deal.

[magic_johnson!]

sounds like it's the same kind of deal the geelong council gave to the geelong football club. The problem with this though is you will find the gcfc will have to pay for most of the redevelopments.

[Rob]

Take a cheap stadium, fill it and funnily enough you make money.

Take a ****en expensive stadium, don't even come close to filling it, and funnily enough you don't make anywhere near as much money.

It aint rocket science.

[NICK THE PIE MAN]

It is pimping alright.

[PumpyChowdown]

If those figures are even remotely close, that is a cracker of a deal.

Just out of interest, what does everyone here think the average crowd numbers over a year for the GCFC will be?

My initial guess would be in the 12,000 - 15,000 mark for the first few years.

Early finals games (Premiership aside) is vital to lock these numbers in, and also grow them.

[CoastBhoy]

If those figures are even remotely close, that is a cracker of a deal.

Just out of interest, what does everyone here think the average crowd numbers over a year for the GCFC will be?

My initial guess would be in the 12,000 - 15,000 mark for the first few years.

Early finals games (Premiership aside) is vital to lock these numbers in, and also grow them.

I dare say Johnny Witheriff and co will market it in a way , where they will convince people you need to buy a membership to get a seat , so i can see 15-20 k membership in first year and similar crowds.

[RussellEbertHandball]

Take a cheap stadium, fill it and funnily enough you make money.

Take a ****en expensive stadium, don't even come close to filling it, and funnily enough you don't make anywhere near as much money.

It aint rocket science.

No, take a stadium 100% or near enough, paid for by the government or three governments in this case, no debt associated with it, the taxpayers say they don't need a commercial return, they will subsidise the sporting team and we will give you a clean stadium deal and you get a great return. A $130mil stadium with most of the money borrowed to build it produces a lot different result to a $130mil where most of the money ($62+$20+$36)mil is provided by the government who wont charge interest or expect it to be repaid. The AFL is paying the balance and probably wont ask for a repayment of the funding.

I assume Smith's figures are net rather than gross which puts them in the same league as the WCE who make about $32 per attendee net stadium return in 2007 and Freo and Geelong in 2008. WCE jumped up to $41 in 2008 mainly because of greater returns but also because crowds dropped in 2008.

Does that mean they will have to pay a licence fee of $4mil+ seeing as the deal is so good and will make them profitable?? Or will it be no licence fee and that's another handy free kick? Good luck to the GCFC if they get both.

[CoastBhoy]

Looks as though we may get a sports club across the road.:thumbsu:

Morris men in Carrara projectMike Bruce

June 18th, 2009

CONNECTIONS of veteran Gold Coast tycoon Terry Morris have launched a bold bid for a $63 million sports club and retail village at Carrara that is being spruiked as the eventual home for fans of the Coast's AFL team.

Brisbane-based developers Bramley Properties have proposed a sprawling 35,000sqm mega-complex opposite the Carrara stadium that will comprise a leagues-club-style sports club similar in size to Southport Sharks, shops, restaurants, offices, a takeaway plaza and a fine food and produce market to rival Ferry Road Markets.

Bramley Properties' two shareholders are Greg Bitomsky and David Jackson -- respectively a former adviser to Mr Morris and a former executive of Mr Morris's company, Morris International, whose interests include mail order and data processing businesses.

While Bramley yesterday lodged the proposal with the Gold Coast City Council, one property insider suggested Mr Morris could well be operating in the background -- a positive thing for the city, they said.

"He's in there pulling the strings somehow and that's a good thing -- Terry's a bloke you can deal with, a bloke you can trust," said the source.

Mr Morris last night denied any link with the development, saying he had sold the land to his former adviser and employee about six years ago as part of a massive sell-down of Morris assets.

"I have other land holdings in the area and had an interest in that land years ago and I was aware what was going on there, but no, not me," he said.

"I gave them advice, which was that that precinct was going ahead and that the State Government was very involved, so to work closely with the Government's plans for the area."

Queensland Land Titles documents show that two of Mr Morris's companies, TE Morris & Associates and Merle Norman Cosmetics sold the 2ha parcel to Bramley Properties in 2004 for $7 million. The Morris enterprises bought the land in 1992 for $2.6 million.

Mr Morris's company, TE Morris Pty Ltd, is also the major shareholder in another company called Riveredge Bulimba Pty Ltd, of which Mr Bitomsky and Mr Jackson are directors.

Development spokesman Michael Nash said the project needed an anchor tenant for the licensed sports club facility and had already had a good response from representatives of the Coast's national sports teams.

The Bulletin understands Bramley has offered GC17 a tempting deal to become the anchor tenant. But GC17 chairman John Witheriff said he first saw the development proposal on Tuesday night, while Blaze chief executive David Claxton said he first knew of the project on Monday.

Gold Coast United's chief executive Clive Mensink said he knew nothing of the plan, while a Titans rugby league spokesman said the club had not met or spoken to the proponents.

Mr Nash said the project would create up to 340 construction jobs, 220 operational jobs once built, be a massive boon for the local economy and could be built by 2011 to coincide with the completion of the new stadium.

While the project yesterday got the thumbs up from Mayor Ron Clarke, The Bulletin understands there are concerns the development could compromise the viability of the $135 million redeveloped Carrara stadium.

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A council source said siting a sports club 'with sports club prices' opposite the new stadium, would make it difficult for the AFL franchise to sell spots to food and beverage concessionaires inside the new stadium -- something crucial to the venue's viability.

But Mr Nash said that the developers were aware of the risks the club could pose to the revamped stadium and were keen to find a solution.

"That's one of the things raised and that's one of the things we will be having further discussions with Stadiums Queensland and GC17 about," he said.

"I think there's an opportunity there for a synergy and a co-operative approach in that a service provider could well have a seven-day-a-week business over on our site and be able to provide those facilities on game day as well."

[CoastBhoy]

PRIVATE SECTOR BOOST TO CARRARA STADIUM REDEVELOPMENT

17-06-2009


SPORT - VENUES - DEVELOPMENT
Plans for the Gold Coast’s most significant private infrastructure project in recent times have been launched at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre this morning.
The Carrara Sports and Entertainment Precinct Development is a $63 million mixed use development on Nerang-Broadbeach road directly across from the Carrara Sports Complex.
It comprises a large licensed club, top-end mini-markets, restaurants, offices, fast food and under croft parking for 960 large and small vehicles.
The Shane Denman-designed plans will be submitted to Council for development approval today by Surfers Paradise-based Urban Planning Services on behalf of developers and landowners Bramley Properties Pty Ltd.
Construction will create 340 jobs, 220 will be created when the project is operational and completion is expected in early 2011 to coincide with the completion of the Carrara Stadium re-development.
According to Urban Planning Services principal, Michael Nash, the project "will give heart, a core and seven day a week operation" to the Carrara sports precinct.
Nash explained, "we’ve had discussions with representatives of the various Coast national sporting codes and several have expressed interest in the project and particularly the licensed club.
“We’ve had very positive preliminary discussions with Council officers who are involved in the master planning of the area and those in the State Government involved in the Carrara Stadium upgrade and they are just waiting for us to lodge our plans, which we’ll be doing today.
“Connectivity is a major factor with road, rail and pedestrian integration ticking all the boxes.
“It’s low rise, there are no height, noise or other impact issues and it’s a perfect use for the site,” he said.
Nash added that the remaining open space on the 212,000 metre2 site will play host to sporting fields for junior sport.
“As the city grows, space for football ovals and the like is increasingly at a premium, so another community legacy of the project will be to provide centrally-located sports grounds.
“AFL is an obvious candidate with GC 17 set to cause an explosion in Australian Rules interest at a junior level.”.
Queensland Tourism Minister and Member for Southport Peter Lawlor said in tough times it was great to see investors prepared to put $63million into the Carrara Sports and Entertainment Precinct.
"This is a wonderful facility for sporting events and tourism as well as an important job creation project.
"It will complement the Queensland Government's investment in the new Gold Coast AFL Stadium and is well placed to cater for overflow parking.
"The two facilities should complement each other well," he said.
Gold Coast City area Councillor and Gold Coast Sports Business Taskforce Chair Bob La Castra said he’s looking forward to Council’s assessment of the application, stating "I believe this is the sort of project identified in the Guragunbah master plan for the Carrara Sports Precinct.
“It proposes a major investment in the precinct, and indeed our city, and I’ll be very interested to follow the progress of the project."
Other features of the Carrara development include the installation of large outdoor ‘community’ screens for the broadcast of major national and international sporting events, mini-metropolitan-style markets and office accommodation.