3 September 2024

With obstacle after obstacle placed in front of building a new stadium in Canberra, it's time to ask: will it ever happen?

| Tim Gavel
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Imagining the new Civic stadium. Photo: GHDWoodhead.

Imagining a new stadium in Canberra? Fuggedaboudit! Photo: GHDWoodhead.

With Canberra Stadium set to be patched up again to keep it going as the city’s major sporting venue, at what point will it be deemed unusable?

Will it be when the NRL or Super Rugby or potentially A-League declare they don’t want to play games there anymore?

The reality is that it won’t happen now as ACT Government funding to the Brumbies and the Raiders is tied to playing games at Canberra Stadium.

So, if they want to move games away from Bruce, it will be at their financial peril.

The solution, it appears, is to continue to refurbish Canberra Stadium with the mindset that a new build is seemingly financially out of the reach of a city this size.

Last week, it was proclaimed that a new stadium at Bruce could cost up to $1.86 billion while a new 30,000-seat stadium on the Civic Olympic Pool site could cost close to $3 billion, with these price tags based on projected rises in the cost of construction.

The figures seem quite extraordinary when compared to the costs of other stadiums built in Australia in the past six years.

Site of recent Raiders and Brumbies games, Parramatta's Bankwest Stadium. Photo: Bankwest Stadium.

Parramatta’s Bankwest Stadium cost $360 million – a bargain at twice the price, compared with a new build in Canberra. Photo: Bankwest Stadium.

Bank West Stadium, the home of the Parramatta Eels with a seating capacity of 30,000, cost $360 million and opened in 2019.

Meanwhile, the 61,000-seat Optus Stadium opened in 2018 with a construction price tag of $1.6 billion.

It could well be that Canberra missed the boat in getting a new stadium for the time being due to inaction, given that the ACT Government first raised the idea in 2009.

Costs have now blown out to such an extent that it may simply be too expensive, coupled with the fact that a new stadium, wherever it is to be built, continues to drop in the list of ACT Government priorities.

At one stage, it was going to be a covered stadium at the Civic Olympic Pool site, and then Exhibition Park became an option before returning to the current location at Bruce.

Then, it became dependent on Canberra getting a men’s A-League team.

I’ve lost count of the number of feasibility studies into the stadium. It has reached the extent that there is stadium-feasibility-fatigue among most Canberrans.

There is also now a perception among many that it will never happen and Canberra Stadium will be in a state of perpetual refurbishment.

I am starting to believe this is the fate of Canberra’s stadium.

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with the pay that sport makes let them build their own .land rent to gov.is 5% of total turnover

wildturkeycanoe8:04 am 08 Sep 24

How can they build an AFL stadium in Tasmania for $715 million, but here we’re looking at double to quadruple that price here?

Maybe move back to Queanbeyan. NSW don’t seem to have many problems building new stadiums…

Got a brain wave folks. Let’s build it and a convention centre in the airport precinct. Close enough to allow for visitors to fly in-out, some accommodation etc. Carparking at the weekend when most workers are at home but would wish to go to a game.

dingus_maximus2:20 pm 06 Sep 24

Perhaps the government should have a look at the economic benefits that have come from refurbing the Adelaide and Perth stadiums, which are close to the CBD. A stadium on the barely used Civic pool site would not only rejuvenate that end of the city, it would connect the city to the lake, and also get rid of that traffic bottleneck the Parkes way roundabout. I won’t say it’s no brainer, I’ll say the current government has no brains. Instead of focussing on getting re-elected how about you actually leave office with a legacy that benefits all Canberrans rather than a few that live in the train set corridor. Worst government ever, and that is saying a lot considering some of the previous chief ministers. Never voted for him….Never will.

Barr doesn’t want to build a civic stadium, despite it being the obvious choice! Just look at Parra and Townsville for examples of great CBD stadiums!

Obvious? Why? Bruce seems more logical.

I believe there’s been 7 feasibility studies thus far. Any word on how much that has cost? And no, so long as Labor is in Government it won’t happen.

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