Upgrade for Manuka Oval

Manuka Oval will receive a major facelift after Australia's unsuccessful World Cup bid signalled the demise of a proposed $270m rectangular stadium in the nation's capital.

The new 40,000-seat arena would have sat alongside the existing Canberra Stadium and be jointly funded by the federal and state governments.

But without federal government assistance, ACT Sports Minister Andrew Barr said a new stadium would be financially unfeasible.

That leaves the Canberra Raiders and the ACT Brumbies to play in a stadium Barr admitted was due for a ''longer-term rebuild''.

However, he said the government's immediate focus was on improving Manuka Oval ahead of the Greater Western Sydney Giants entering the AFL in 2012.

The Giants and the ACT Government have agreed on a $26-million dollar, 10-year deal which sees 30 premiership fixtures played in Canberra.

''It's clearly a disappointing result for Australia and a disappointing result for football fans,'' Barr said.

''However, what's done is done and we now need to focus on our infrastructure renewal challenges around Canberra's two main venues.

''What that means now, is that all roads lead to Manuka, in terms of having the first call on government budget funding in terms of upgrades.

''We'll need to look over the next 10-15 years at a major upgrade of Canberra Stadium as well, but in the short term the priority is Manuka."