Adelaide Oval - Discussion

MilitaryLC

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Mar 26, 2018
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Apparently a Motel to be tacked on to the eastern side of AO.

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hitthepost

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 26, 2010
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Actually pretty neutral
"Motel" kind of cheapens it, don't you think? :p

Personally I don't see the need but then again I'm an Adelaidian, and if it minimises the rediculous prices of the food and beer everyone is apparently forced to buy, then that's a good part.
 
Put this on the Port board but it also belongs here.

Wont work - as a significant revenue/profit earner for the owners.

They tried it at the Skydome in Toronto that opened in 1989 - was a last minute thing added on to the stadium a year out from completion, to help fund the $350m+ cost blowout for the first 50,000+ stadium with a working retractable roof and the hotel as a separate business was a flop. The Renaissance Hotel Group own it these days.

Rogers Communication group ended up buying the $600m stadium for about $25m in 2004 so based on that sort of cost base, they probably could make some money out of it, but they didn't purchase the hotel portion of the stadium and re named the Skydome the Rogers Centre.

Only benefit of having a 300+ room hotel with 70 rooms overlooking the field of play, was that in the first baseball season the hotel was completed to have guests able to watch play ie early in the 1990 season, a couple forgot that if they leaved the lights on, people could see into the room. They got bored with the game and started bonking and slowly the crowd and players - playing in an MLB game, can't remember who the Blue Jays were playing - started telling the people, players next to them to look up and everybody stopped to glance up to their room. Apparently a near capacity stadium gave the couple a standing ovation when they finished.

This story from one of the Toronto papers in 2012 looks back at 20+ years of incidents at the stadium.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2012/09/16/skydome_hotel_scandals_over_the_years.html

It hasn’t happened in a while, but in the early and mid-’90s it had become something of a regular occurrence for couples to be seen having sex in the SkyDome Hotel windows while a game was being played, in full view of binocular-toting fans...........
 
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MilitaryLC

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Don't like it. I come from out of town to watch games and have two or three favourite accommodations within walking distance. Half the fun is walking to and from the game calling into a pub for beers and a feed on the way through. I'd never use that hotel for sure.
 

hitthepost

Norm Smith Medallist
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Seems like a weird thing to do given the rooms will face the other way.
There's s**t tons of space around, so why build it into the stadium structure? Why not just build it next door?
Part of why this is even able to be considered is that it doesn't further encroach on parklands - it's still entirely within the oval precinct.
 
Aug 17, 2007
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The merit of this plan is debatable

However the aesthetic is terrible. The Eastern looking from King William st side is such a beautiful looking stadium building.

Plonking this structure there will ruin it.

Why not put it at the North West near the Northern entry. Wont interrupt any views and could improve the look of the ground from the outside of that end.

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Seems like a weird thing to do given the rooms will face the other way.
There's s**t tons of space around, so why build it into the stadium structure? Why not just build it next door?

In Adelaide the Parklands Preservation Society or whatever they call themselves these days, believe that the Parklands are more sacred than the Jews believe how sacred the Wailing Wall is. That's how tough it is to build anything on the Parklands. Its amazing how relatively smoothly AO re-development went thru, but it took an act of parliament to make sure it happened and the fact there was an existing structure there.
 
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AFC3000

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2011
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I don't mind the idea, although as a visitor, not sure when I'd think it was a great idea to stay at Adelaide Oval vs. anywhere else in the city (Test Match... maybe), I guess I'm just not their market. Be good if it included something for non-guests at ground level.

But I'm not loving the design we've seen, I'm sure it will look much better in person, but the brown low rise look is giving me a 80's motel feel crossed with the back of the Footy Park. Obviously it will look a lot more integrated from ground level than it does in the images from above though.
 
Aug 17, 2007
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In Adelaide the Parklands Preservation society or whatever they call themselves these days, believe that the Parklands are more sacred than the Jews believe how sacred the Wailing Wall is. That's how tough it is to build anything on the Parklands. Its amazing how relatively smoothly AO re l development went thru back it took an act of parliament to make sure it happened and the fact there was an existing structure there.
Back when Col Light designed the Park Lands it was primarily for defence if the city and recreational pursuits.

In his day recreational pursuits required minimal infrastructure. Hence development was kept to a minimum.

Being a visionary I would bet Light would be more than happy for the Park Lands to be used for stadiums and past times that require infrastructure. Especially the underutilised and unkempt portions

This is what annoys me about the Park Lands preservation people. They have completely misinterpreted the reasoning for the Park Lands

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Back when Col Light designed the Park Lands it was primarily for defence if the city and recreational pursuits.

In his day recreational pursuits required minimal infrastructure. Hence development was kept to a minimum.

Being a visionary I would bet Light would be more than happy for the Park Lands to be used for stadiums and past times that require infrastructure. Especially the underutilised and unkempt portions

This is what annoys me about the Park Lands preservation people. They have completely misinterpreted the reasoning for the Park Lands

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Yep the Parklands outer boundaries, were made more than the distance a cannon ball could travel and therefore not hit buildings, when he designed the city
 
Apr 13, 2006
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The lustre of AO is starting to wear off and this can be directly attributed to the SMA's greed. Their price gouging, their insatiable appetite to squeeze every cent out of the rank and file punter, their card only payment system, ever decreasing choice and diminishing service standards is turning people away. They are slowly but surely killing the golden goose and destroying the goodwill the people of SA have towards the place.
 
Aug 17, 2007
57,014
57,808
Adelaide
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Other Teams
The Autobots and Team America
The lustre of AO is starting to wear off and this can be directly attributed to the SMA's greed. Their price gouging, their insatiable appetite to squeeze every cent out of the rank and file punter, their card only payment system, ever decreasing choice and diminishing service standards is turning people away. They are slowly but surely killing the golden goose and destroying the goodwill the people of SA have towards the place.
The hotel will fix all that..............

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