It’s a trust… so it doesn’t profit
But that’s what the Trustees are expected to do. No different to VenuesNSW who manage ANZ and Bankwest.
Think the Trust rightly pointed out that a near 40yo stadium with plenty of deficiencies deserved funding ahead of a 20yo stadium.
As I understand the gym/pool is not part of the John Holland contract but will be separately contracted and paid for by the Trust.
My point is that they are looking after the interests of their members rather that what the state needs. They may not “profit” however, revenue would pump up their admin/sinking funds or whatever.
When Allianz was built, we needed a large stadium, and it became the largest football stadium in NSW. Now though, we have ANZ, so Allianz no longer needs to be 45k, it should be rightsized to suit it’s main purpose - sports, and therefore it’s main tenants. At the very least, the multi-mode set up with a curtain is required, and was one of the selling points for the rebuild, and a reason why it had my support.
It changed multiple times.
The first detailed plan in 2015 was for a 65k seater (adjacent to the current site and on current Centennial Park land and lake) and 35k at Parramatta (doubling the $600m promised in the 2015 election) - as recorded in this Tweet
Then it flipped to ANZ, then back to SFS.
We’d probably have been playing in the new stadium for the last two years had the original plan been implemented.
While I think the clubs (SFC, Tahs and Easts) would have preferred a smaller stadium, the ruling bodies (NRL, RA, and I suspect FFA) wanted something bigger for national games and world-cup style events.
Any changes now will delay the whole thing even further - it’s already been going on since late 2014.
After listening to Danny T’s interview on Sky Blue Stories I thought I might broach this topic again. He confirmed the state gov has a builder for the new stadium and that he was expecting it to be finished
in 2022.
Given that and that he also mentioned the difficulty some members have in getting to Kogarah, as successful as that’s been these last two seasons, how would people feel about moving to another “home” ground for the next two seasons or at least moving a couple of games elsewhere? North Sydney Oval and Brookvale Oval spring to mind and have been talked about on here before. If we’re gonna be displaced for another two seasons as he expects, be nice to put a few games close to other members as well. I’m sure we can all figure out our transport options for at least a couple of Brooky games.
Overall I’d begrudgingly accept the odd one here or there as fans from the various parts of Sydney deserve their easy day out. There was going to be one up North last season which I think people were psychologically prepared for, so no reason it couldn’t be done, though the lack of trains to the Northern Beaches really hurt the case there.
However, NSO is a peach of a venue but entirely horrible for football so should be a blanket no as a starter, even if it’s just a 10 minute walk from my work.
Yeah we planned for one game at Brookvale but the pitch wasn’t up to scratch.
I’d be fine with a game in Brookvale but we have gained a lot by having the consistency of playing at Jubilee just about every fortnight and it’s worth keeping that in place because it benefits the playing squad to have that consistency. What about taking one of the Leichhardt games to Brookvale instead?
No thanks. I quite like the Leichhardt games for the selfish reason that they are walking distance for me.
On the same topic, if we are lucky enough (no jinx) to host the Grand Final this year, I’m guessing it will be at Parra?
Will depend on the opposition, projected crowd, dollars into FFA’s coffers and level of whinging from WSW.
There’s a lot to be said for venue consistency. Kogarah isn’t the easiest to get to but I’m into that routine and it’s infinitely better than the complete ballache of Leichhardt or Brookvale. Even I’d probably skip the latter.
I think consensus seemed to be that if it was against Wests (ha ha) or Vuck, then it would be at ANZ, else Bankwest.
However, this is patently ridiculous. Failing the highly unlikely scenario of a derby GF, there is no way that Victory are going to bring out enough of their own fans nor attract extra Sydney fans to justify a ground with 50 thousand more seats.
At Bankwest we’d get a tick over 30k no matter who against. At ANZ, we’d get 45k absolute tops for a GF vs Vuck. The dismal sight of 40,000 empty seats for our league’s showpiece event should see the governing body stay away from there like it had corona virus.
If we host it, it should be at Bankwest no matter what.
Brookvale is a horrible ground.
I’d love a game at Brookvale (I live down the road), but I’d only expect one game, and perhaps not a regular season game (say, FFA cup, or a pre-season game). I hate travelling to Kogarah, it’s made game day a chore - I never do anything before or after now as I drive (no chance I’d do Public transport - it would take me almost two hours each way).
Long term I think the best scenario is:
-A-League finals that we host at Allianz (never ANZ, no matter who way play).
-All regular season A-League games at Allianz. If it’s unavailable due to concerts/re-turfing, then consider Kogarah or Leichardt.
-All group stage ACL games at Kogarah.
-All FFA Cup games at Leichhardt (with the way it works, we usually would only have one or two max).
-FFA Cup final at Kogarah until it becomes a Saturday night event that would actually draw a crowd).
-Pre-season games at a mix of suburban grounds, with Brookvale potentially in the mix.
A GF has to be at Bankwest, nothing else makes any sense.
Yes to Brooky!!!
Your userame kind of reveals why you feel that way 
Haha true. 10 minute walk over the hill for me. But I would love to have at least one game per year somewhere up here. I gave up my membership when we went to kogarah due to the distance and time involved, combined with my first born arriving around the same time it just wasn’t justifiable.
I’m in Dee Why as well and would love a game here. I was pumped for the one last year that got shifted. I do understand why it’s probably not the best, so would settle on a non A League fixture being played here (pre-season, FFA cup etc.). Waratahs played their season openner at Brookie this season and it was a hit.
Yep, exactly how I feel. Doesn’t even need to be a league game. Preseason, FFA cup whatever. I remember there used to be something about them avoiding artificial pitches which apparently ruled out Cromer for the preseason games (not sure if that’s still a policy?). I’ve just noticed that the women’s derby is on at Cromer next week, at 5pm, making it possible to take my now toddler to her first game I think, so quite looking forward to that!
Yeah, I actually tweeted Danny T asking if Cromer was an option and he did say that they avoid synthetic pitches. Funny that the women are subjected to it.
I’ve been to a W League game at Cromer at it was truly awesome - it was packed with people and there was a great atmosphere, so I definitely recommend heading down. I already have plans unfortunately.
As my office is mid-way between the Orange Grove Hotel and Leichhardt Oval, I fully endorse Friday night games at Leichhardt Oval.