Brisbane Live Arena Plans Are Shelved, Controversial Stadium Gets Thumbs Up
It’s official: a new stadium will be built in Victoria Park for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, though plans for the Brisbane Live Arena are shelved.
Those are two of the big takeaways from the presentation this afternoon of a 100-day review into venues, infrastructure and transport, as the clock ticks on the Brisbane games.
The creation of a new stadium, Brisbane’s third, and the decision to overlook the construction of a new arena and entertainment precinct in the CBD are both controversial, for entirely different reasons.
Drawn up as a 18,000-capacity venue at a derelict spot on Roma Street, a short stroll from King George Square, Brisbane Live would turn the state capital into a two-arena town.
The existing arena, the 13,500-capacity Brisbane Entertainment Centre, has its detractors. Its age – the venue next year celebrates its 40th anniversary – is one. But for locals, the 16km distance to Boondall from the heart of town is the clincher.
State premier David Crisafulli suggests the blueprint is tucked away, not shredded.
“Brisbane needs a world-class arena, full stop,” he said during a presentation to media. “The government’s decision not to proceed with the arena as part of the Games plan does not mean the death of the Brisbane arena, far from it.”
Ahead of the announcement, Vivienne Mellish, co-founder and director of GYROstream and president of QMusic, producers of BIGSOUND and the QMAs, which are presented tonight, said reports on scrapping a new indoor sports/music venue for the Olympics were “alarming.”
Brisbane Live Arena was the brainchild of Harvey Lister, chairman and chief executive of Brisbane-based ASM Global Asia Pacific (formerly AEG Ogden), which had an exclusive early operator engagement agreement with state government to develop the project’s business case.
Through a deal struck by the Commonwealth and former Palaszczuk state government, the federal government was to contribute $2.5 billion for the arena.
Crisafulli says the private sector has now offered to build a Brisbane arena “for the fraction of cost to taxpayers.”
Without spoiling the announcement, prime minister Anthony Albanese spoke his mind on the arena situation with Brisbane’s B105.
“We want it to happen, absolutely we do,” he told he commercial radio network Tuesday morning. “Brisbane does need an indoor arena so that you can have acts. It’s about leaving a legacy. Post 2032, as well. And the fact that Queenslanders I now don’t want to go to (Boondall). They want other options. I certainly think Brisbane deserves one.”
Meanwhile, the proposed 63,000-capacity stadium at Victoria Park would cannibalise the city’s largest inner-city green space, opponents say, a decision that marks a 180-degree turn for Crisafulli, who repeatedly ruled out the project during his 2024 election campaign.
The Save Victoria Park protest group lists 10 reasons why the project shouldn’t go ahead, and its leadership has reported briefed lawyers in a potential court challenge to block the build.
Brisbane won the rights to host the summer games when the IOC announced in 2021 that the Qld capital was the “preferred candidate city,” thanks to the city’s proven track record for organising international events, with the Commonwealth Games (two, including the Gold Coast), an Expo and the Goodwill Games in its good books.
And critically, the Sunshine State already has up to 90% of the essential pieces of infrastructure in place — though a cornerstone stadium, bettering the aging Brisbane Cricket Ground (The Gabba) at Woolloongabba, and the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Mount Gravatt) has been both a sore point and a political football.
There was “no longer time” to upgrade the Gabba, Crisafulli remarked Tuesday, noting the choice came down to “the embarrassment of hosting the games at QSAC or a new stadium at Victoria Park”.
In the end, “the choice was clear,” he concluded. “The Games must be held at a new stadium at Victoria Park.”
In related news, a new national aquatic centre with a 25,000-capacity and multiple pools would be built at the Centenary Pool at Spring Hill, the RNA showgrounds will host the athletes village, an upgraded 20,000-seat arena will host key events, and a new 3,000-seat show court arena would be constructed at the Queensland Tennis Centre, alongside 12 new match courts, ensuring the tournament would move interstate.