News Simonds Stadium Stage 4 Redevelopment

[jim boy]

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au...m/news-story/6bba882de1a69b8ee3c29110310b62ff

...The development means architectural plans drawn up to widen the Moorabool St and La Trobe Terrace wings can now be torn up, saving millions of dollars in rebuild costs.


Id like to know what the plans were to make the ground wider....

I wouldn't rule it out just yet, dont think having the light towers behind the bowlers arm will be viewed all that kindly.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Stage 6

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/11/the-largest-dome-ever-built-can-open-or-close-in-20-minutes-flat/

 

[speedybundy]

I wouldn't rule it out just yet, dont think having the light towers behind the bowlers arm will be viewed all that kindly.

It'll look really weird on tv, but they might even just keep the pitch at that angle until they get ICC approval then flip it back

 

[CharacterFirst]

Stage 6

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/11/the-largest-dome-ever-built-can-open-or-close-in-20-minutes-flat/

Capacity?

 

[Resistor]

Capacity?

55,000

 

[SJ]

I don't understand why they didn't design into all stages of the redevelopment a move slightly west to widen the ground in the easier direction.

 

[you pick one]

Turbo, can you remember in the old days they even sat inside the fence?
But I can remember the Collingwood game and it was chockas then. I had a hell of a time trying to see the game, being a lad who is built a little lower to the ground than most.
Luckily I had a better bladder then than now. Trying to get your way through the crowd to the old concrete toilets at the northern or southern end was murder.
I also doubt that the social club stand would have been there in '52 (open to correction on that), and that would have created more space to cram people in. But a crowd of over 49,000 would have generated a great atmosphere at K'Park.

I don't remember them ever sitting inside the fence at KP,But I remember blokes just pissing where they stood in 64 v Pies you couldn't get to the piss house at the river end even if you wanted to,I spent a lot of time watching the games as a kid in those trees Turbo mentioned at the southern end between the old time keeps box and the southern goal.I can still smell the piss and chlorine of those old urinals to every time this subject surfaces.

 

[cats2rise]

Cricket? Wouldn't we rather have the ground free from cricket in January/February and March for the team?

Although I guess financially it may help the club...

 

[you pick one]

Cricket? Wouldn't we rather have the ground free from cricket in January/February and March for the team?

Although I guess financially it may help the club...

Given we don't own the ground I wonder if we would benefit?

 

[dazbroncos]

True, but would not revenue from other sources help justify both financially and in a community sense that the renno's done on the ground have aided bringing in other renters of the space.

I guess im looking at the flow on effect on a macro sense rather than directly benefiting the club short term.

If the venue has greater utilisation outside of footy, then surely it benefits the club when they go back to council/government with plans for expansion (Stage 5) They can they site the benefits to a wider group than just the GFC, even thought they probably get the most out of it.

Not to mention the flow on effects - vendors and people get more off footy season work and that builds the local economy - some of which gets pumped back in Geelong, of which the GFC would see something from…..

Just my 2c...

Go Catters

 

[you pick one]

True, but would not revenue from other sources help justify both financially and in a community sense that the renno's done on the ground have aided bringing in other renters of the space.

I guess im looking at the flow on effect on a macro sense rather than directly benefiting the club short term.

If the venue has greater utilisation outside of footy, then surely it benefits the club when they go back to council/government with plans for expansion (Stage 5) They can they site the benefits to a wider group than just the GFC, even thought they probably get the most out of it.

Not to mention the flow on effects - vendors and people get more off footy season work and that builds the local economy - some of which gets pumped back in Geelong, of which the GFC would see something from…..

Just my 2c...

Go Catters

Yes all of that and possibly more.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Cricket? Wouldn't we rather have the ground free from cricket in January/February and March for the team?

Although I guess financially it may help the club...

Jan/Feb probably doesn't matter, but we wouldn't want them preparing or using cricket pitches there in March.

 

[The rabbi]

I don't remember them ever sitting inside the fence at KP,But I remember blokes just pissing where they stood in 64 v Pies you couldn't get to the piss house at the river end even if you wanted to,I spent a lot of time watching the games as a kid in those trees Turbo mentioned at the southern end between the old time keeps box and the southern goal.I can still smell the piss and chlorine of those old urinals to every time this subject surfaces.

Yep, you did not need a sniffer dog to find the men's toilets.

I can remember a game at VFL park between Hawthorn and Collinwood (IIRC) where they packed about 93,000 into the ground. There were reports of men urinating into empty beer cans because they found it too hard to get through the crowd to the toilets. It was after this event that they put a cap on the crowd at Waverly.

I also remember being at the 1980 Grand Final where there was over 113,000 there. When I went to the toilets (which I did frequently, as you could take an Esky full of beer into the ground at that time. An Esky was a handy tool for littler blokes to see the game too) the toilets were so full that blokes just turned on the taps in the wash basins and urinated into the wash basins. I think that that is one reason why the wash basins are higher in the men's toilets now.

 

[Turbocat]

Cricket? Wouldn't we rather have the ground free from cricket in January/February and March for the team?

Although I guess financially it may help the club...

Justification ...is the name of the game.

 

[speedybundy]

Good for the city = good for the club. Can't be so arrogant to think we deserve what's largely been taxpayer funded ground year round

 

[aCunningPlan]

True, but would not revenue from other sources help justify both financially and in a community sense that the renno's done on the ground have aided bringing in other renters of the space.

I guess im looking at the flow on effect on a macro sense rather than directly benefiting the club short term.

If the venue has greater utilisation outside of footy, then surely it benefits the club when they go back to council/government with plans for expansion (Stage 5) They can they site the benefits to a wider group than just the GFC, even thought they probably get the most out of it.

Not to mention the flow on effects - vendors and people get more off footy season work and that builds the local economy - some of which gets pumped back in Geelong, of which the GFC would see something from…..

Just my 2c...

Go Catters

Exactly, and really the more people who can hold a job in Geelong ,the more people who can afford a membership.

 

[Willo_]

True, but would not revenue from other sources help justify both financially and in a community sense that the renno's done on the ground have aided bringing in other renters of the space.

I guess im looking at the flow on effect on a macro sense rather than directly benefiting the club short term.

If the venue has greater utilisation outside of footy, then surely it benefits the club when they go back to council/government with plans for expansion (Stage 5) They can they site the benefits to a wider group than just the GFC, even thought they probably get the most out of it.

Not to mention the flow on effects - vendors and people get more off footy season work and that builds the local economy - some of which gets pumped back in Geelong, of which the GFC would see something from…..

Just my 2c...

Go Catters

Yeah spot on for how I see it. If somewhat 'marquee' events can be held at KP, the flow on effect is where everyone wins, especially if the events can attract people from out of town. They spend their money in Geelong, and as you said the footy club will eventually benefit.

They are starting to get it happening, the cricket and the commitment from Melbourne Victory to play a home game a year here are good starters.
The key is to try get somewhat unique events, so that people WILL travel for them.

And can I just say having driven past the ground today it is a dirty big hole they have punched in it! and the portable offices on stilts look funny as hell, I have no idea how they work as someone else mentioned, surely the workds will be well underway when our games start and you would think those offices will be in the way or moved

 

[CaptainJayho]

and the portable offices on stilts look funny as hell, I have no idea how they work as someone else mentioned, surely the workds will be well underway when our games start and you would think those offices will be in the way or moved

I hope they are portable, especially if they also include the coaches box. If things aren't going our way by about round six then we can simply lift the portacabins up with a crane mid-game, dump them in the Barwon and replace them with a new set of portacabins together with a new set of coaching staff for the second half of the game...

 

[Turbocat]

I don't understand why they didn't design into all stages of the redevelopment a move slightly west to widen the ground in the easier direction.

I agree.... considering the Players and Premiership stands are so new. They could have had them 25M away till it was all complete and then would have had something more a traditionally shape. Its another example of how doing it in dribbs and drabs causes its own issues.

 

[speedybundy]

I agree.... considering the Players and Premiership stands are so new. They could have had them 25M away till it was all complete and then would have had something more a traditionally shape. Its another example of how doing it in dribbs and drabs causes its own issues.

The issue would be that if say we didn't get the funding for this part of the ground it'd just look really weird in its shape. Eg the front fence of the Premiership stand would've been about 3 rows back (at least) into the Brownlow stand. But still, you'd like to think there was some long term thinking like that taken into account

 

[Turbocat]

The issue would be that if say we didn't get the funding for this part of the ground it'd just look really weird in its shape. Eg the front fence of the Premiership stand would've been about 3 rows back (at least) into the Brownlow stand. But still, you'd like to think there was some long term thinking like that taken into account

If anything I feel it would have only helped ..as it would have been obvious it was unfinished.

 

[Catman]

All this discussion on Simonds and it being used for events other than footy shows just how badly we need that second training venue. Would also save us having to train on the suburban grounds around Geelong. While they are still solid surfaces, wouldn't compare to a dedicated venue, built predominantly for our needs.

 

[magic_johnson!]

I would have thought that it would be difficult to avoid an even more stranger shaped ground, considering the shallow arc of the Hickey stand wing? By making the brownlow stand wing deeper, you'd end up with one deep wing and one shallow!

 

[SJ]

I would have thought that it would be difficult to avoid an even more stranger shaped ground, considering the shallow arc of the Hickey stand wing? By making the brownlow stand wing deeper, you'd end up with one deep wing and one shallow!

They could have deepened the Hickey Stand wing though if they had been able to stretch the ground to the west.

 

[speedybundy]

All this discussion on Simonds and it being used for events other than footy shows just how badly we need that second training venue. Would also save us having to train on the suburban grounds around Geelong. While they are still solid surfaces, wouldn't compare to a dedicated venue, built predominantly for our needs.

When this facility is completed at Deakin with an MCG sized ground I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little announcement about that