News Adelaide Oval Redevelopment - Thunderbirds Are Go

[RussellEbertHandball]

I was just down at the club renewing my membership REH, and Ben from membership came over to say hello (his family has always sat a few rows behind me). Knowing that my new seats are in Tier One of the southern stand he told me that the after match functions are going to be in the main function room overlooking the Torrens right behind my seats.

I know Ben so thats good enough for me. But I wouldn't be surprised if those first few games we might need the space of the indoor cricket centre, because I reckon a lot of people will want to hang around and stay for the function especially if we are winning.

It also makes sense in terms of traffic flow given the picture bringbackbucky posted on the previous page as people would need to be cutting across that line to get to the indoor cricket centre which is to the left and in front of the light tower in the picture

 

[Dalphonso]

Western stand was built for cricket with a limited capacity of 35,000 being the maximum ground attendance and not so many people go back and forth between the western stand and old Bradman stand as you got between the new southern and western stand during the test. For Footy you wont have the foot traffic between the 2 stands because as unlike SACA members who could move between the 2 stands, footy members are limited to one stand during game time.

AO was always going to be skinnier for footy. At no point did the say they would make it as wide as Footy Park. When the western stand was build the got rid of the D shape and curved the previously straight western fence and boundary and put in a curve. AO for footy is 124m wide from boundary to boundary east west and about 134 from fence to fence. The old Adelaide oval was only 125m fence to fence east west and 190m north south. There was no way that they would have pinched 10m + another 10-15m for the new grandstand from the parklands. It was tough enough to get that extra 10-15m.

Footy Park was 177m x 145m fence to fence and 165m x 133m boundary to boundary
Adelaide oval will be approx 183m x 134m fence to fence and 167m x 124m boundary to boundary.

AO was shortened slightly to get a larger southern stand and pinch a bit from the northern end to put in a couple of extra rows of seats.

That is definitely an oval

 

[Hank93]

Gonna post here it cause more on the port board seem to be interested in the actual construction, especially RussellEbertHandball.

Interesting that they have taken out all of the grass they popped in at the southern end. They must have required that construction vehicle path to be put back in.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Gonna post here it cause more on the port board seem to be interested in the actual construction, especially RussellEbertHandball.

Interesting that they have taken out all of the grass they popped in at the southern end. They must have required that construction vehicle path to be put back in.

..

Thanks for the photos hdecure The only reason I can think of why they might have done this is to put in some sort of super duper drainage system they didn't have time to put in before the Test. I can't see the need to bring in big cranes to do anymore work on level 5 as it looks all finished to me after having spent big parts of 3 days in both level 5 and 3 of the southern stand.

And yes I'm a stadium junkie. They are engineering and architectural marvels. The financing and who pays are questions worthy of big debates, but as buildings they are great to study.

 

[Hank93]

Thanks for the photos hdecure The only reason I can think of why they might have done this is to put in some sort of super duper drainage system they didn't have time to put in before the Test. I can't see the need to bring in big cranes to do anymore work on level 5 as it looks all finished to me after having spent big parts of 3 days in both level 5 and 3 of the southern stand.

And yes I'm a stadium junkie. They are engineering and architectural marvels. The financing and who pays are questions worthy of big debates, but as buildings they are great to study.

I just took the photos from instagram, the #adelaideoval hashtag has 1000s of photos of it there.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I just took the photos from instagram, the #adelaideoval hashtag has 1000s of photos of it there.

Yeah that's where I was looking in November, but thanks for sticking them in here. I just noticed them posted at 8:59am on the sensational adelaide forum thread.

http://www.sensational-adelaide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3335&start=3675

 

[Hank93]

Yeah that's where I was looking in November, but thanks for sticking them in here. I just noticed them posted at 8:59am on the sensational adelaide forum thread.

http://www.sensational-adelaide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3335&start=3675

That was me as well

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

From a booklet they handed out at the test - Adelaide Oval redevelopment Ashes edition

50,083 seats
3,500 standing room capacity
3,800 corporate capacity ( inc in 50,083 )
77% of seats under cover
2,000 dining spaces
18,550 sq metres of turf laid
1.4 mil spectators annually
1,000+ toilets
1,000+ TV screens in stands
3 replay screens
3 television studios
11 radio booths

Northern Mound
Total capacity 6,000 inc almost 3,000 seats
2,100 sq metres of grass
800 metres of timber decking

Southern Stand and Entrance Plaza
14,000 seats
Corporate ad media facilities and Bradman Collection

Eastern Stand
19,000 seats
Corporate facilities

Indoor cricket centre to be completed in March 2014 and will include high performance gym and associated player facilities

The propaganda page
Increase direct spending in the CBD by $74mil
Increase indirect spending in the CBD by $40mil
Create 416 full-time equivalent jobs
AFL attendances will grow to 802,000 throughout home and away season an increase of 107,000
Cricket crowds will grow by 65,000 a year
SANFL attendances at AO will increase by 35,000 a year
Attendances at other events eg concerts rugby and soccer will increase by 105,000
Total attendances at a redeveloped AO will increase 434,000 a year to 1,441,000

Footy Park attendances since northern stand was completed in the mid part of 2001 season

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/crowds/vn_football_park.html

Home & Away...................Finals
Year Attend... GM Ave... Attendance GM Ave.
2013 665808 22 30264
2012 624139 22 28370 76591 2 38296
2011 594344 21 28302 ( AO Port v Melb 29,340)
2010 646887 22 29404
2009 694645 22 31575 50393 1 50393
2008 709713 22 32260 37685 1 37685
2007 768482 22 34931 81703 2 40852
2006 766831 22 34856 92722 2 46361
2005 827768 22 37626 99289 2 49645
2004 767311 22 34878 86228 2 43114
2003 840061 22 38185 109166 3 36389
2002 808302 22 36741 60792 2 30396
2001 774580 22 35208 30613 1 30613

 

[Jakko]

I haven't been there yet, but my only complaint so far would be the size of the eastern stand roof. Wont bother me, I'm in the red seats southern stand with the massive roof.

 

[Hank93]

Some work being done in the western stand and the turf.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Some work being done in the western stand and the turf.

What the hell is going on there Henry? Maybe that's why the grass was taken away and has nothing do with drainage in front of the southern stand that I suggested yesterday.

Looks like lots of sand and dirt is put on the ground to get that laser level surface as required by FIFA. Andrew Daniels said that the grass was grown by Strath Ayr wasn't all grown on a flat level surface - some was grown on land with a slope and that why its out by 10-20cm in some places.

 

[Hank93]

What the hell is going on there Henry. Maybe that's why the grass was taken away and has nothing do with drainage in front of the southern stand that I suggested yesterday.

Looks like lots of sand and dirt is put on the ground to get that laser level surface as required by FIFA. Andrew Daniels said that the grass was grown by Strath Ayr wasn't all grown on a flat level surface - some was grown on land with a slope and that why its out by 10-20cm in some places.

Me thinks they got it good enough for the ashes, but they're going back to square one for the following games. First Strikers' home game is 14 days away, wonder why they can achieve in that time?

 

[questionable]

What the hell is going on there Henry? Maybe that's why the grass was taken away and has nothing do with drainage in front of the southern stand that I suggested yesterday.

Looks like lots of sand and dirt is put on the ground to get that laser level surface as required by FIFA. Andrew Daniels said that the grass was grown by Strath Ayr wasn't all grown on a flat level surface - some was grown on land with a slope and that why its out by 10-20cm in some places.

i'm no les burdett, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me

when harvesting and rolling up the grass, wouldn't you just cut out the turf to a certain depth from the surface - rendering any slope irrelevant?

i dunno. i have no idea how they do this stuff.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Me thinks they got it good enough for the ashes, but they're going back to square one for the following games. First Strikers' home game is 14 days away, wonder why they can achieve in that time?

The grass and dirt stuff wont be a problem as that will settle in 2 weeks and the ground staff will only have the public holidays off, but the grandstand stuff probably has to be finished by the 24th. The 25th and 26th would be no work. 27th is a Friday. They could work on the weekend as well 28th and 29th and finish off on Monday 30th.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

i'm no les burdett, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me

when harvesting and rolling up the grass, wouldn't you just cut out the turf to a certain depth from the surface - rendering any slope irrelevant?

i dunno. i have no idea how they do this stuff.

When you cut the turf, the 'cutting plough' naturally digs up more dirt if you digging up or along a slope. It's why spuds are planted on flat ground rather than on the side of a hill.

Other crops used to be planted on side of hills like carrots and parsnips beetroots etc, because they were basically harvested by hand. But once mechanical harvesters were invented for those root crops, you had to plant them on flat ground.

 

[Hank93]

The grass and dirt stuff wont be a problem as that will settle in 2 weeks and the ground staff will only have the public holidays off, but the grandstand stuff probably has to be finished by the 24th. The 25th and 26th would be no work. 27th is a Friday. They could work on the weekend as well 28th and 29th and finish off on Monday 30th.

Do the construction workers work on weekends?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Do the construction workers work on weekends?

They have worked some weekends eg the last shield match before the test and other times when I have gone past the ground on a Sunday - Sept/Oct/early Nov its been dead.

I guess it depends how much money is left in the budget. The test was critical to get done. The other stuff not so. Although they have been flogging the BBL game on NYE so maybe they expect 30,000

 

[questionable]

When you cut the turf, the 'cutting plough' naturally digs up more dirt if you digging up or along a slope. It's why spuds are planted on flat ground rather than on the side of a hill.

Other crops used to be planted on side of hills like carrots and parsnips beetroots etc, because they were basically harvested by hand. But once mechanical harvesters were invented for those root crops, you had to plant them on flat ground.

i knew i could rely on you for an answer

 

[Hank93]

They have worked some weekends eg the last shield match before the test and other times when I have gone past the ground on a Sunday - Sept/Oct/early Nov its been dead.

I guess it depends how much money is left in the budget. The test was critical to get done. The other stuff not so. Although they have been flogging the BBL game on NYE so maybe they expect 30,000

I think they'd be fairly confident they could get at least 20,000+ to each game.

The strikers posted a map of the ticketing situation for the BBL games; eastern stand completely closed for those matches. So they're in no hurry to get anything completed by the 31st in that part of the ground.

 

[t0mmO]

Will Adelaide Oval have the electronic signs around the boundary like AAMI stadium did? Because that looks super classy on TV, and is a cool little addition, especially for the tech head in me.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Will Adelaide Oval have the electronic signs around the boundary like AAMI stadium did? Because that looks super classy on TV, and is a cool little addition, especially for the tech head in me.

Yep Port and crows were the ones who made $$$ from that, not the SANFL, so they aren't giving that up.

 

[t0mmO]

Yep Port and crows were the ones who made $$$ from that, not the SANFL, so they aren't giving that up.

Awesome. I would hate it if they were owned by the sanfl, so we wouldn't be able to use them at AO

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Awesome. I would hate it if they were owned by the sanfl, so we wouldn't be able to use them at AO

I thinked they are leased by the 2 clubs and are currently being used at some other stadium around oz.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Stayed for the 25-30 minute concert after the Strikers game on new years eve. The music wasn't my thing but I was interested to watch a bit of the light show and see how the audio system functioned.

I sat in level 3 in line with the 7th or 8th pitch slight to te east side of the square. The Southern Stand audio system is a cracker. I think the Rolling Stones and future concerts are going to be nice and loud and pretty clear audio quality.

Downside will be if we have ******* announcers at games they might be painfully loud.

Light show wasn't bad which suggests a night game atmosphere will be interesting. Although it was more like a concert lights as the main tower lights were about 98% switched off.

 

[Jakko]

It looked really good on TV. I hope we push to have a T20 game every NYE. Could become a great event, with TVs at BBQs and pissups across the country tuned in each year.