Glory to fund new stadium - at a cost

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Wed May 14, 2003 10:41 pm

Austadium News

Perth Glory recieved a minor knockback on a tender for catering, naming and managemental rights for the planned stadium at Perth Oval. The Town of Vincent rejected the Glory's tender, the most notable objection was the Glory's rights to onsell the name. Which The Town of Vincent objected to. The Glory offered 400,000 for catering and naming rights and to carry managemental losses of 350,000, 221,000, 191,000 predicted in the first three years. The glory will also contribute 1.5 million towards capital works, namely the new grandstand.

By Chris Egan

perthsmike · Post by **perthsmike** » Mon May 19, 2003 5:05 pm

hey egan. great news on the near start of the redevelopment. have u seen any renderings or pics of what the finished product will look like? i know there is that birds-eye-view plan, but are there any others available??

are there any plans or even the availabality to develop perth oval (glory stadium hehe) larger later on? the new stadium seems quite dis-orientated to one corner of the block. it would seem more viable to build it in a more central location wouldn't it so room is on the offer for later developments? is there a reason for this?

mike

tom · Post by **tom** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:52 pm

the new stadium seems quite dis-orientated to one corner of the block. it would seem more viable to build it in a more central location wouldn't it so room is on the offer for later developments? is there a reason for this?

The reason for this is because it seems all WA governments are Cheap Dick Heads. From the Court one to the Gallop one now. Court promised $40 million for a stadium back in the days of the Western Reds and that fell to $10 million. The developers have been forced into developing the ground in the corner so that they can use that 1950's stand at the ground instead of building a new one. This is the only plan they can afford even if it severely lacks forsight. There is no room on the Pier street and Brewer street corners if you check the birds eye illustration for further development without a lot of trouble. I'm not talk about leaving room for some monster development which would hold 60 000, I'm talking about leaving room to expand without having to destroy the surrounding Moreton Bay Figs just to fit the damn thing on the block, those trees are the grounds signature. People want balance and scale in building of this size. They may not be conscious of it but they would dislike it if the ground had one massive stand on the eastern wing (where there is room) which destroy the character, balance and scale of the old suburb.

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Wed May 21, 2003 9:39 pm

Those trees are heritage listed, yes it is not the best but hearing Alan Carpenter at half time of the Glory v Olympic match, he stated that there will be no new grandstand at the ground, but it will become rectangular. If you have ever been to the Oval the Grand stand and the area surrounding the grandstand is in a near straight boundary, this means that in the future the grandstand will be demolished in the way of a new one, further down the tract. We can criticise governments of the past, but at least now we will have our 'first' ever significant rectangular stadium, if you do not include the athletics stadium Perry Lakes. I agree with Tom but the chracteristics of the suburb has already changed, there is a brothel 50 m away as you get to your car from the soccer which i doubt there would have been when the Mounts Bay Figs where first planted. But The trees must be saved at all cost. And I believe they will be. Just remember the Town Of Vincent have covered half the costs so really the state government will not recieve any benefits except from funding the stadium, rates and costs outlined in my first post will go to the council.

ps The stadium would have been unviable for a flagging rugby union team, and the predicted success in crowd levels of Perth Glory would not have been forseen, but i do recognise this as the reason for the demise of Rugby League which had to play at the 'dysfunctional' WACA

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 2:42 pm

Austadiums News

The much anticipated start to redevelopment has been delayed and right now is one week behind schedule. The 10.5 million dollar facelift of Perth Oval was expected to start last week but the Town Of Vincent and Perth Glory have yet to put pen to paper in a move that could see an alternate venue being used for a few of Perth Glory's home matches - most likely the WACA.

The reason behind the delay? is that the Town Of Vincent wants to guarantee a loan of 4.5 million dollars from the Glory, the State Government has already commited 6 million dollars to the project

The Glory Chief Executive refused to comment to the West Australian but Jeff Dennis stated that the agreement "must be..... in the long term interests of the club and our fans". The mayor of the Town of Vincent conceded that it was "probably a week behind schedule" due to "legal technicalities" and said the Glory needed to be commited to the Perth Oval Project.

Before this latest delay the grand reopening was scheduled for the Glory to host its first home match at the ground on November 8th. Estimates now indicate December 6th as the earliest completed date for the stadium.

This delay has raised the possibility of a new venue for at least 2 home matches with the WACA the most obvious choice. Yet Jeff Dennis wanted to limit the amount of games played away from its traditional home. The Glory indeed confirmed their love affair with Perth Oval and the compexity of playing at a cricket stadium.

By Chris Egan

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:56 pm

The PAPERS have been signed YES

TWO years after it was proposed, the $10.5 million redevelopment of Perth Oval has been given the green light.

The Town of Vincent council voted unanimously last night for the project to make the ground the home of Perth Glory with accommodation for a crowd of 18,450.

Building by John Holland Pty Ltd will begin next week. The multi-purpose rectangular sports stadium is planned to be to be ready by the beginning of December, a month behind schedule.

The project is the biggest undertaken by the town, which will invest $4.5 million in it. The remainder of funding will be provided by the State Government.

The project includes creating about 30,000sq m of public open space surrounding the stadium, concrete terraces to provide seating and standing areas and space to park 139 cars.

Allia Holdings Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Perth Glory Soccer Club, will contribute $400,000 each year for 20 years and an extra $80,000 each year into a reserve fund for oval repairs and maintenance.

It will also donate $1.2 million worth of equipment including lights and catering equipment to the value of $220,000.

Tonic · Post by **Tonic** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 9:59 am

Sounds like it will be end up being very similar to the redeveloped (for 2000 Olympics soccer) Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide. There was alot of political bickering over the $20 million odd spent for a stadium that was averaging less than 5000 for Adelaide City, but I went there for the Olympics match between Italy and Nigeria, and would have to say it was some of the best spectating I've experienced. So close and intimate while in great comfort and facilities.

Jeffles · Post by **Jeffles** » Thu Jul 03, 2003 11:30 pm

Agreed Tonic. Hindmarsh looks superb and is underrated IMO. I wish some of our grounds here in Sydney had that class in amnities.

Mr J · Post by **Mr J** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 1:49 am

the problem we have with perth oval is that after this initial redevelopment, futher redevlopments will be hard. There is barely any room, and the transport there isnt the best, though it is relativly close to Perth CBD/train station. The capacity will probally only ever get up to 40 000 at max, though thats pretty good. On the bright side of things i think it will be a great ground as there will be great surroundings and it wont be just concrete and plastic.

Hindmarsh looks very good but looks somewhat bare. Put Hindmarsh where perth oval is a u got yourself a stadium.

perthsmike · Post by **perthsmike** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 8:00 pm

perth oval will never get 40,000. there is like no room to expand (which is a good thing). hopefully in about 7-10 years a new stadium wil be built and perth over just left to rot.

mike

Mr J · Post by **Mr J** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 10:03 pm

why did the goverment do perth oval instead of building a nice new stadium which can be expanded.

I thought wat would be a good idea if they built a new athletics arena and put retractable seating in. This would probally work very well as a rubber track isnt like turf so retractable seating would be really viable. It would be killing 2 birds with one stone. Perth would have a quality soccer venue and athletics track for half the cost.

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 10:41 pm

Well I for one do not hold the same sentiment as you Mr J, the fact is soccer and Perth Glory would never settle for an athletics stadium with a possibility of it being turned into a rectangular stadium. Basically it would be an insult to the sport in Perth and Australia. The stadium is in a great location within walking distance to Claisebrook and East Perth train stations and has a great bus system, I would even say that it would be better bus bays and transport then subiaco. The fact is SOCCER needs a permanent rectangular stadium, the fact is that and oval or playing at an athletics stadium is simply not suitable for soccer. The Glory are going to pay 200,000 a year for 20 years. It has a loan to the Town of Vincent which means that the Glory will eventually own half the stadium, or if a super 12 side comes here it will contribute paying the fee. Showing that the Glory will pay 5 million dollars before the loan is up. Paying 500,000 interest. The government will make sure it never succeeds 20,000 as this would be a waste of money due to the facilities available at Subiaco stated in a recent report. They give little or no money to the WACA so basically they want to keep Perth Oval small so they do not have stadiums that are under utilised. There is no point in building a 40,000 seat stadium one day a year. On the issue of the Athletics track 10 million dollars on one event a year is not worth governmental money. When they finally demolish Perry Lakes Stadium a small stadium of about 10,000 people will probably be built as one Series A event a year is not worth spending more money then about 3 million dollars. With an Athletics Track could be laid at Subiaco should we get a major athletics event, or maybe if we get one in the next year or two it could be Perry Lakes saviour. Bring on the new stadium.

In other news the Glory will submit a fixture plan for the first 12 matches away and the next 12 at home. The reason, the Glory will be significantly better off financially at there new stadium rather then playing elsewhere. With the Glory saying that it could take the games to the suburbs eg Joondalup (Perthmikes backyard) and Fremantle. Arena Joondalup is actualy the home of ECU Joondalup and is very modern and has a very green pristine grass hill around most of the ground with one modern stand. While Fremantle Oval is located in the heart of the historic city next to the infamous Fremantle Jail. It has a modern changerooms of the Fremantle dockers, a terrace surrounding half the ground. Media facilities and NSL quality lights as does Arena Joondalup. So wherever they choose it will be up to NSL standards, I only hope I dont have to travel all the way up to Joondalup

The Glory will only look at playing games in the suburbs if soccer australia does not let them have the request of 12 away games at the start of the year. Which hopefully they do.

Mr J · Post by **Mr J** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 3:02 am

The stadium i have in mind would be only to the size of maybe 25-30 000.
If we are to ever get a decent athletics event it would be handy to have a decent size venue 10 000+. In stead of building a whole new facilty it would be much easier combining it with a soccer pitch.

Now when there is no athletic event on (majority of the year) the stadium bottom tier could be retracted right up to the side line. This would be extremely easy to do as you would only have to do it say once a year and since your are doing it to a rubber track you wouldnt have to worry about turf replacment and it could be done very quickly. If the second tier (assuming it has a 2nd tier) was brought as close as possible to the athletics track then when the staidum was in soccer mode it would be like you would never know the athletics track was underneath.

Building a stadium of the likes of this would cost less than having 2 smaller and less adaqute stadiums. As i said its killing 2 birds with one stone.

This stadium may be down the track a bit, i dunno its just a consideration that i think would be worth while. Probally be a good idea to build it at the belmont race course site.

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 1:43 pm

Mr J, you must notice the fact that the Serie A is not very popular, only 5,000 people went to the event in Perth although we do have the worst and most uncomfortable facilities for athletics in Australia. Either for a big event it will either be held at Subiaco or be Perry Lakes Saviour. All they need to do is spend about three million dollars on seats, the structure is still sound. But it is unviable and the land worth a quid. So a much smaller stadium costing 3 million dollars with a small stand and a grass hill. Remember the Town of Cambridge is going to have to pay for the new stadium. Not the government, due to the council owning the land.

Athletics and Soccer do not mix, It cannot be done, it is unviable for one event a year as you stated Mr J, it is complex and as Jeffles stated expensive. The tickets are low, the exposure not the greatest, so I doubt very much that a stadium over 10,000 people will be built. Quite simply we do need a new seperate athletics stadium, simply to be utilised by WAIS, little athletics, and the one event a year. I could not see them ripping out the athletics track every second week when the glory are playing. Which is what they will have to do, as there is nothing worse then watching soccer that is not right on the action. As I have had to endure for a number of years, Ill look forward to finally watching soccer from a rectangular venue.

Mr J · Post by **Mr J** » Tue Jul 08, 2003 6:24 pm

Your not getting me right i dont think. IM saying we should have a new soccer stadium but with the capability to become a atheletics track stadium. Many other stadiums do this such as Stadium Aus, Wemberly and even the MCG.

Perth wont be able to attract big events with a 10 000 seat stadium such as the world atheletics championship.

what im getting at is a soccer stadium which can be relativly easy reconfigured to have a atheltics track put in place.

What im ultimatly getting at is Perth needs a new stadium much like stadium aus (maybe 55 000 ppl capacity) which can cater for any major event.