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The fact that you think the colour of the ball is about aesthetics says a lot.
Didn't I literally say I don't care about cricket at all? I didn't know that.

And I don't really care either, it'll always be a s**t boring game played by pricks regardless of the colour of the ball.
 
Didn't I literally say I don't care about cricket at all? I didn't know that.

And I don't really care either, it'll always be a s**t boring game played by pricks regardless of the colour of the ball.
Why are you in a thread about a cricket ground then o_O
 
Dear holybishop

Welcome to the first edition of Vision 2030, a regular newsletter to keep WACA Members up to date with the work and progress of the WACA’s Future Development Strategy Committee (FDSC), appointed by the WACA’s Board to consider all options for providing viable facilities that will underpin cricket's future in Western Australia.

On Tuesday 12 August more than 100 Members attending Vision 2030’s first Members’ Forum heard FDSC Independent Chairman Michael Smith outline the extensive and robust process the FDSC will undertake in the next five months, before submitting its recommendation to the Board in December. In addition, FDSC member and MC for the evening, Christian Porter MP provided insight into the establishment and structure of the FDSC.

Members also had the opportunity to put questions about the process to Michael and the Committee. Recognising that many Members were not able to attend the Forum, we have set up an online site, especially for Members, to provide your own ideas for the future of WA cricket. Simply go to the WACA website www.waca.com.au/vision2030 and click on Have Your Say.

This site also has useful information about Vision 2030, including credentials of the FDSC members, Terms of Reference, key dates and frequently asked questions; as well as the latest developments and progress with the review including the Tender Document seeking submissions from leading Perth business consulting firms for the provision of independent business planning services.

Immediately after the Forum, WACA staff conducted a survey of Members to capture their initial thoughts on the night. I am pleased to inform you that nearly 90 per cent of Members were positive about the robust planning model and most agreed they had a better understanding of the process. There was also a strong endorsement of the calibre of the people on the FDSC and a belief that they can get the job done.

Other comments included:

  • “It's a good start to gather Members at the beginning of the process and not at the end.”
  • “At long last.”
  • “Long overdue. You have severely tested the loyalty of your Members.”
  • “The biggest challenge will be revenue generation needed to realise the vision.”
  • “Wondering about the timeline. Seems very tight to make such a complex decision.”
This is all part of the WACA’s commitment to engage and communicate with Members throughout this important program.

Key points from Michael Smith’s presentation

Following are some of the key aspects of the presentation:

FDSC’s Terms of Reference

  • Provide options for the redevelopment and/or construction of infrastructure at the WACA Ground to provide facilities for cricket and other sports as may be appropriate; for the benefit of Members and the public at large; and
  • Identification of any other opportunities for the Association that will benefit cricket and that may be external to the Ground, but which, if pursued can assist in achieving future funding for the redevelopment and construction of infrastructure at the Ground.
Mr Smith said that to promote and grow cricket and develop the game at elite level, the WACA was constrained by the poor state of the Ground and facilities/amenities, declining member satisfaction and low patron satisfaction.

In addition he pointed to other challenges, including:

  • The poor state of the WACA ground facilities when compared to the new Perth Arena, nib Stadium, Adelaide Oval and the future new Perth Stadium.
  • Access to State Government funding, which was constrained and would be for some time.
  • Opportunities to raise capital through development which were limited at present due to the glut of apartment and commercial developments.
  • Identifying a niche for the WACA in the new stadia landscape.
Mr Smith also said that the new Perth Stadium, while creating new options for cricket, presented both opportunities and risks for the WACA.

In describing the FDSC process for the next five months he pointed to the importance of stakeholder engagement, in particular with State, Federal and Local Governments, Cricket Australia, the WA Football Commission, WACA Members and WACA patrons.

He also described how the FDSC will appoint a major consulting firm to undertake a rigorous business planning process embracing financial modeling and options for collaboration with the WAFC, refining the options and finalising the business plan.

Key dates during the next five months are:

  • Mid October: Financial modeling
  • End November: Business case
  • December 2014: Final business plan
  • December 2014: Report to the WACA Board
Other points of interest for Members

From the number and range of questions there is clearly a high level of interest and expectation among the Members. Following are some of the responses to those questions as they relate specifically to the Members.

  • Mr Smith confirmed the FDSC would seek Members’ contributions and thoughts during the process in relation to the appropriateness of ground design for specific forms of the game. The WACA website has been updated to provide a feedback mechanism for Members.
  • Mr Smith stressed that it is not possible to please everyone with the final outcome, but highlighted the urgency to do something now in relation to the Ground.
  • He said that the final recommendation would be based on clear, clinical thinking using all the facts and a robust business planning process to achieve the best outcome for cricket in WA.
  • Although commercial terms have not yet been clarified to enable an agreement to be reached on staging cricket at the new Perth Stadium, CEO Christina Matthews reaffirmed to Members that ongoing discussions with Government were aiming to secure accommodation for 10,000 members and their guests in the new Perth Stadium with appropriate dining room and bar facilities, seating and other amenities similar to the MCG. She also advised that the seating would be behind the bowler’s arm. And, a key part of this is that membership would be for the Association and not just the ground so that it would be fully transferable.
  • In the same response Michael Smith confirmed the importance and significance of meeting Member expectations, saying that “if you can’t make this work for Members, you can’t make it work.”
Keeping you informed

The WACA will continue to keep you informed throughout this important business planning process. I encourage you to visit the WACA website to keep up to date and to contribute to the process with your ideas.

Thank you for your continued interest and participation.



Stephen Hauville

WACA Deputy Chairman
 

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WACA paying $3.6 million to Ascot Capital.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24808561/waca-pays-3-6m-to-end-debacle/

Surprising that they have so much in cash reserves.

Honestly, the quicker they move to Burswood post 2018 the better.
Am I alone in thinking this plan actually looks really naff?
a_271112buswaca6_19vmicf-19vmicj.jpg


Also, just looking for some renders then, I found this phot of the redevelopment. I never knew how minimal the boxing in of the oval was. Why did they do this? Just a bit more room for the hills?
waca_dev.gif
 
Am I alone in thinking this plan actually looks really naff?
a_271112buswaca6_19vmicf-19vmicj.jpg


Also, just looking for some renders then, I found this phot of the redevelopment. I never knew how minimal the boxing in of the oval was. Why did they do this? Just a bit more room for the hills?
waca_dev.gif

Not alone.

The WACA is a disaster for watching cricket at, and any patchwork re-development will never solve it.

Which is a pity, because I've seen some memorable cricket and footy moments there. But my memories relate to the play, not the place I watched them at, so I'll be happy for the whole place to be consigned to the bins of history.
 
I am all for the WACA staying as the cricket ground in this state, of course to do this money must be spent at the place to bring it all up to standard.
Cricket at the new stadium will be terrible, even a much anticipated ashes test on day 1 will only attract maximum of 25 to 30k people. Half the stadium would be empty. Not to mention how terrible it will look being empty on the last 3 days.
20/20 cricket will also only attract half full stadiums.

The WACA have always been terrible decision makers and 20 years ago they should of gone to the government to make the WACA WA's premier stadium for both footy and cricket. But the old members simply refused change and that was that. Now we are stuck with the best pitch in the world, best outfield in the world but the worst facility for spectators and members.

The WACA must immediately redevelop the ground to accommodate footy, make it WAFL head quarters. Play a game a week there and all the finals. Make the ground capacity to 30k. This is just in the interim.

Cricket in the future without the famous WACA pitch would be shocking.

The WACA talk alot but they never do!!! It is time they started doing!!!! But in my view under no circumstances can the WACA go or lose cricket.
 
I am all for the WACA staying as the cricket ground in this state, of course to do this money must be spent at the place to bring it all up to standard.
Cricket at the new stadium will be terrible, even a much anticipated ashes test on day 1 will only attract maximum of 25 to 30k people. Half the stadium would be empty. Not to mention how terrible it will look being empty on the last 3 days.
20/20 cricket will also only attract half full stadiums.

This is one of the great unknowns. It is based on the number of people that attend such matches now at the WACA, but we don't know how much of a deterrent the WACA is. If it's the WACA ground itself that is putting people off going to the cricket, then logically, solving this problem by building a new stadium with lots of shaded seats and better food/drink outlets would see lots more people go to the cricket. Hard to guess the numbers, I wonder if it has even been modeled or the question asked in surveys.
 
This is one of the great unknowns. It is based on the number of people that attend such matches now at the WACA, but we don't know how much of a deterrent the WACA is. If it's the WACA ground itself that is putting people off going to the cricket, then logically, solving this problem by building a new stadium with lots of shaded seats and better food/drink outlets would see lots more people go to the cricket. Hard to guess the numbers, I wonder if it has even been modeled or the question asked in surveys.

Brisbane with a slightly larger population than Perth and their AFL quality stadium gets crowds that would fit in the WACA. For a handful of bigger games like Ashes and ODI's against big nations they get ~30k.
 
Also shouldn't happen.

History aside, can you think of one reason why cricket shouldn't be moved to a more viable location?

The WACA:

Has poor seating, with a complete lack of undercover areas for the majority of fans, especially kids who need a tub of sunscreen just to last a day.
Has poor amenities
Has little-to-no parking and public transport access is minimal unless you want to walk a fair distance
Gives no guarantee of having test matches each year now that India flexed their muscles and defeated CA
Has sport played there for less than half a year

Whereas Burswood stadium:

Will be a state-of-the-art complex with more seating, and more undercover areas for families
Will have better amenities
Public access will be easier
Will be the same ground size as the MCG, therefore will be perfect for football and cricket.
 

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History aside, can you think of one reason why cricket shouldn't be moved to a more viable location?
It's not viable for the WACA to move from a ground they own to a ground they'll have to rent and make a loss on most gamedays.
 
It's not viable for the WACA to move from a ground they own to a ground they'll have to rent and make a loss on most gamedays.

Great. So we'll be stuck with watching cricket at a sub-standard venue for the forseeable future just because the WACA won't make as much money at a better location.

Given the lengths that the WACA have gone to lately to piss money up against the wall, I'm not inclined to give a s**t about whether they want the move or not.
 
Great. So we'll be stuck with watching cricket at a sub-standard venue for the forseeable future just because the WACA won't make as much money at a better location.

Given the lengths that the WACA have gone to lately to piss money up against the wall, I'm not inclined to give a s**t about whether they want the move or not.

Mate I think everything you say is spot on and to be honest most agree, and yes the WACA has had many a chance to do something with there stadium over the years and have sat there idle. How many more chances should they get? The tax payer would say no more I guess?
But the WACA has something special to cricket fans and I would like to think given one last chance to sort it out. To me losing the WACA pitch would be like losing the boxing day test. But I know not everyone thinks like that.
 
Mate I think everything you say is spot on and to be honest most agree, and yes the WACA has had many a chance to do something with there stadium over the years and have sat there idle. How many more chances should they get? The tax payer would say no more I guess?
But the WACA has something special to cricket fans and I would like to think given one last chance to sort it out. To me losing the WACA pitch would be like losing the boxing day test. But I know not everyone thinks like that.

The pitch is iconic, I can't deny it.

But what good's a pitch when we're not using it for test matches? You might have gathered, but I'm highly cynical about things. Now that India have said they don't want to play here, what's to say CA won't turn around and keep tests from here and use them to double up on MCG or SCG matches?

Not sure about you, but a WACA that's used for an ODI or two a year, a T20 international every three years, plus domestic cricket isn't worth keeping.
 
The pitch is iconic, I can't deny it.

But what good's a pitch when we're not using it for test matches? You might have gathered, but I'm highly cynical about things. Now that India have said they don't want to play here, what's to say CA won't turn around and keep tests from here and use them to double up on MCG or SCG matches?

Not sure about you, but a WACA that's used for an ODI or two a year, a T20 international every three years, plus domestic cricket isn't worth keeping.

So your problem comes from a hypothetical scenario that isn't going to happen.
 
The pitch is iconic, I can't deny it.

But what good's a pitch when we're not using it for test matches? You might have gathered, but I'm highly cynical about things. Now that India have said they don't want to play here, what's to say CA won't turn around and keep tests from here and use them to double up on MCG or SCG matches?

Not sure about you, but a WACA that's used for an ODI or two a year, a T20 international every three years, plus domestic cricket isn't worth keeping.

This year is a one off only, there are only 4 tests simply because of the world cup. The WACA will always hold a test match and if the stadium was up to scratch they would of got one of the 4 this year. The WACA has not had a test taken from us, many don't understand this. It is just a once ina blue moon year where there is only 4 tests.
Footy must return to the ground and if they won't make it a multi use place then I am with you they need to shut it down.
 
The pitch is iconic, I can't deny it.

But what good's a pitch when we're not using it for test matches? You might have gathered, but I'm highly cynical about things. Now that India have said they don't want to play here, what's to say CA won't turn around and keep tests from here and use them to double up on MCG or SCG matches?

Not sure about you, but a WACA that's used for an ODI or two a year, a T20 international every three years, plus domestic cricket isn't worth keeping.
India did want to play here and wanted Brisbane to miss, because a Perth test is a better timezone back to India.
 
The pitch is iconic, I can't deny it.

But what good's a pitch when we're not using it for test matches? You might have gathered, but I'm highly cynical about things. Now that India have said they don't want to play here, what's to say CA won't turn around and keep tests from here and use them to double up on MCG or SCG matches?

Not sure about you, but a WACA that's used for an ODI or two a year, a T20 international every three years, plus domestic cricket isn't worth keeping.

Nothing to do with India.
Just to do with us having only four tests. It was CA that made the call.

India actually wanted Perth over Brisbane
 

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