News Gabba Upgrade & Olympics News

[The Flying Belgian]

But my preferred solution is simply, use the existing Gabba, and cram in a few more seats if possible. There is no rule I've seen stating that the Olympic stadium has to be any particular size, and their whole ethos going forward is about a more sustainable Olympics by using existing facilities where possible. Brisbane's venues are supposed to be 84% existing or temporary anyway rather than new builds, so what's one more existing facility also being reused?

Guessing it's regrading the infrastructure needed in, under and around the ground - change rooms, broadcasting facilites, drug-testing facilities, among so much more.

 

[Gadzorks]

The building industry could do with the boost, but $2.5b is insane from a tax payer point of view.

Wonder if they have time to look at a partial gut and rebuild.

Wouldn't like games at Albion personally.

 

[CarterS]

Cannot imagine the state government going away from the Gabba plan at this stage. They have so publicly committed to it as the centrepiece of their Olympics build, and it ties in with Cross River Rail perfectly.

If they built a new 50, 000 seat round stadium at Albion, obviously us and cricket would move there too, leaving the Gabba sitting there unused and Cross River Rail now ending up at a much more irrelevant site.

Gabba rebuild has to be $1.01 favourite still I think.

I'll take your $$ at 1.01 if you like. I think the alternative is not building anything and putting the opening ceremony on the river.

 

[Mr Ripper]

I'll take your $$ at 1.01 if you like. I think the alternative is not building anything and putting the opening ceremony on the river.

Hi Gil!

 

[BRAB]

It'll get done. The compromise will be that Metricon is used in the interim to save money. Better start learning that drive into Nerang everyone.

 

[FLVanLandingham]

could see this from a mile away. get the publicity of the olympics out of the way, then compromise that it won't be good and bs your way to saying it was a success.

 

[PattyKwasagun]

I'll take your $$ at 1.01 if you like. I think the alternative is not building anything and putting the opening ceremony on the river.

Can't see the IOC being particularly happy with the lack of a main stadium for the Games. No way are Metricon or the Gabba in their current forms even close to acceptable in terms of either quality or capacity. I genuinely think the inability to stump up for some kind of a premium main stadium could see the Games taken off Brisbane.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Can't see the IOC being particularly happy with the lack of a main stadium for the Games. No way are Metricon or the Gabba in their current forms even close to acceptable in terms of either quality or capacity. I genuinely think the inability to stump up for some kind of a premium main stadium could see the Games taken off Brisbane.

And given to whom? Nobody else was silly enough to bid for them.

 

[T Rick]

Surely the Gabba doesn't need the full scale demolition and rebuild - a significant refurbishment and upgrade of facilities must be an option.

 

[CarterS]

I distinctly remember, Kevin Sheedy saying at the time it was last rebuilt, that they didn’t build it big enough.

 

[PattyKwasagun]

I wonder what the club's preference in all of this is. Would they take the hit of being away from the Gabba for four (likely competitive) years for the benefit of having the best stadium in the country to play out of for the next 50 years?

I would have thought likely yes, but if the only options that are going to be funded for those four years are either Metricon or Springfield, maybe not.

The benefit of an Albion build is that we could stay at the Gabba until 2032, and then move over there from that point onwards.

Of course, the government has other things to consider on the Gabba front. We're in a weird position now where Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide all have significantly better round stadiums than Brisbane does, and assuming Tasmania is green-lit, Hobart shortly will too.

That obviously means Brisbane is a good chance to lose high-end test matches which is perhaps less of a problem as test cricket declines, but still isn't something that would sit particularly comfortably with the government I don't think (and certainly not with QLD Cricket).

I also believe Jake Ansen has said a few times that the way the Gabba has been built, it would be extraordinary difficult to upgrade it in any meaningful way without a complete knockdown and rebuild. They've tried to put in maybe $50 million worth of upgrades over the last few years and they've been barely noticeable really.

Best case scenario for the club by far would be for the Gabba rebuild to go ahead, and for the RNA upgrades to be approved too. Four years playing out of the RNA before moving to the best stadium in the country in the rebuilt Gabba would be a pretty extraordinary result. Seems increasingly unlikely though.

 

[Section 5]

I thought they may go cheap with a Gabba rebuild instead of pulling it down
However rebuilds often end up nearly as expensive
Rebuilds are usually done when you can't get funding for the full project.
Also you can usually keep the venue operational

If the Government decides to not go ahead with the Gabba they will not go to Albion
Albion requires a rail spur that only leads to around the Breakfast Creek Pub area
The spur won't go further so will only add one stop to the network
This does not fit into the IOC's infrastructure plan to improve the bid city's long term infrastructure

Albion (Park paceway) would also be a horrible place to put a 50K stadium.
One train in and out. Horrible low usage bus service would need massive upgrade
Not central enough for fickle Brisbane crowds

The IOC estimate that they will contribute about $2 billion to our games

In simple terms The IOC pay for the stadium and we hopefully have $200-$300 million left over
The state, commonwealth, local governments build what is necessary over the next 10 years
That is the beauty of getting the games early. We can spread the $ load over this time frame
......
Putting my Lions hat on a rebuild is better.
May be cheaper

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Albion requires a rail spur that only leads to around the Breakfast Creek Pub area
The spur won't go further so will only add one stop to the network

Not necessarily. They could build a station on the main line at the intersection of Abbotsford Rd and Burrows St, Bowen Hills and have pedestrian bridges linking it to Albion Park, about a 450-500m walk.

Albion (Park paceway) would also be a horrible place to put a 50K stadium.
One train in and out. Horrible low usage bus service would need massive upgrade

As per the above, it won't necessarily be one train in and out. And a Brisbane Metro service could be set up between the City and the stadium, running via the Valley and perhaps even going on towards Hamilton.

Not central enough for fickle Brisbane crowds

Really? It's only 4-5km from the city at most.

The IOC estimate that they will contribute about $2 billion to our games

In simple terms The IOC pay for the stadium and we hopefully have $200-$300 million left over

Given the latest estimate for the new Gabba is $2.5 billion, no, we'll be putting money into it. This is also leaving out the cost of the other facility upgrades that are needed.

 

[Mr Ripper]

City Cat trip to Albion Park would be pretty specky

 

[Section 5]

Not necessarily. They could build a station on the main line at the intersection of Abbotsford Rd and Burrows St, Bowen Hills and have pedestrian bridges linking it to Albion Park, about a 450-500m walk.


As per the above, it won't necessarily be one train in and out. And a Brisbane Metro service could be set up between the City and the stadium, running via the Valley and perhaps even going on towards Hamilton.


Really? It's only 4-5km from the city at most.


Given the latest estimate for the new Gabba is $2.5 billion, no, we'll be putting money into it. This is also leaving out the cost of the other facility upgrades that are needed.

Some fair points JB but i still think Albion or any other spot in Brisbane will not happen

The Qld Government could very well back away from the Gabba complete rebuild and just spent say $600 million (big guess) on huge improvements
That would be good for the Lions and cricket

I doubt the government will revert back to what the IOC feasibility study recommended.
That being Carrara for athletics and Gabba only for ceremonies. See below screenshot from the IOC
But i don't think the BCC or Qld government want Carrara (would need huge temporary stands for upgrading anyhow) over the Gabba



Regarding the $2.5 billion revised price recently reported. Below from Daily Mail with a link to paywall courier mail is all i could find

The Gabba's $1billion plan for the Brisbane Olympics could be SCRAPPED

The iconic Gabba stadium's $1billion redevelopment could be abandoned as plans to redevelop the site for the 2032 Olympics prove costly - with estimates of a $2.5billion blow out.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Below from this article
"The $1billion expected cost to renovate the city's iconic landmark could reach $2.5billion, government insiders revealed to The Courier Mail."

The article mentions a few important costs that may or may not have been thought of.
If they were not thought of at the time someone is not doing there job
Also mentioned is about the Lions which has no bearing on the costs

"and cause the Brisbane Lions AFL club's headquarters to be moved to Springfield - 27km west of the prime site.
'It was a thought bubble and now they're trying to mop it up,' another insider said about the plans.
Its relocation would harm their business model, the source added."

Also "government insiders" is hardly a good guide. The project was always going to be more than the $1 billion costs announced
That is why i increased the $1billion to $1.7 billion allowing for costs bolwouts, inflation (no formula just a guess) but a big increase
So that is the $200-$300 million hopefully left over that i mentioned

Also the au$2 billion we receive from the IOC is in todays $ so will also increase as it is subject to inflation etc and is tied to an IOC formula

Lastly on this point a new 50k stadium would still have to be built. Starting from scratch with feasability studies tenders the whole box and dice
The cost is still going to be huge and blow outs and inflation will still exist
..........
Albion is indeed only 4kl from say 240 Queen Street and 6.2kl from The Gabba
But in my opinion that is still not central like the Gabba and Suncorp
.......
Regarding the train and bus
Your spot and footbridge may be cheaper to do than the proposed spur line
The government may have or may not have considered a spot similar to that one before settling on a spur line

At the end of the day a new rail station is an added expense to the Albion proposal
And upgrading existing bus services would be more expensive than what will eventuate at Cross River Rail & the new Brisbane Metro at Woolloongabba
.....

 

[AB09]

Red herring. A running track would require a longer, potentially narrower oval.

The MCG put a temporary running track in for the 2006 Commonweath Games

 

[Mr Ripper]

The MCG put a temporary running track in for the 2006 Commonweath Games

The MCG is longer than the Gabba - and still had to have a few rows removed at the Punt Rd end.

 

[AB09]

Cannot imagine the state government going away from the Gabba plan at this stage. They have so publicly committed to it as the centrepiece of their Olympics build, and it ties in with Cross River Rail perfectly.

If they built a new 50, 000 seat round stadium at Albion, obviously us and cricket would move there too, leaving the Gabba sitting there unused and Cross River Rail now ending up at a much more irrelevant site.

Gabba rebuild has to be $1.01 favourite still I think.

The Gabba needs a redevelopment.

Building a new Olympic Stadium elsewhere does not make the issue of a Gabba redevelopment go away, in fact it would complicate the issue. It makes sense to 'kill two birds with one stone' and redevelop the Gabba as the Olympic Stadium and being able to use some IOC funding to do so (a once in a generation opportunity).

Brisbane does not have the need or demand for two circular 50,000 seat stadiums. Building a second one in addition to the Gabba would be a complete waste of money.

 

[AB09]

The MCG is longer than the Gabba - and still had to have a few rows removed at the Punt Rd end.

it's only about 3m longer isn't it ? Would we not be able to accommodate by removing a couple of rows from both ends of the Ground ?

The point I was trying to make is that we wouldn't need to reshape the ground into an oval shape to accommodate a running track.

 

[Section 5]

it's only about 3m longer isn't it ? Would we not be able to accommodate by removing a couple of rows from both ends of the Ground ?

The point I was trying to make is that we wouldn't need to reshape the ground into an oval shape to accommodate a running track.

Traditionally the 100 meters track is on one side of the oval with the other arears used for other types of athletics
This favours people seated on the one side . Most likely everyone else watches via big screen
Could easy have it down the middle. Just spitballing

 

[Warwick]

That’s ok.

The 100m straight is only going to be 94m.

 

[dlanod]

That’s ok.

The 100m straight is only going to be 94m.

The finish line is down in the change rooms.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

That’s ok.

The 100m straight is only going to be 94m.

 

[Son of Superboot]

I'll take your $$ at 1.01 if you like. I think the alternative is not building anything and putting the opening ceremony on the river.

After the performance of the GF parade last week, you would hope they will learn from that!

 

[Walshawk]

Reports that Gil will be appointed as boss of the games in the coming months. That should help the Gabba’s case.