I agree with your points totally, but as a Queenslander it does make me smile when people say Tasmania’s population is “spread out” 
It’s a 3.5 hour drive from Burnie to Hobart. It can take that long to drive from Noosa to Coolangatta in bad traffic, and that’s just in the geographically tiny SEQ area.
yep. I had to explain to my workmates from melbourne once that Brisbane to Cairns is only about 80 km shorter than brisbane to melbourne after one workmate asked me to “pop up this afternoon” to fix a computer
Lol, yep a nice an easy 20 hour drive to Cairns
Maybe that’s why the Bruce Hwy is in desperate need of repairs and upgrades given the amount of people just ‘popping up the road’ to Cairns on a regular basis 
Having travelled on highway’s in the far north - they also have lot of random roundabouts.
Cricket Tasmania intends to move out of Bellerive and to the new stadium and it has been designed with cricket in mind and hopefully will be the first venue in the world to be given a Test match under a roof.
That’s not much room and still doesn’t solve the issues of the freezing weather, crappy conditions, terrible parking and transport to and from the venue, it’s a residential area and the residents hate when events are on and council restrictions on times and the number of events per year that can be had there.
Yep, but this one is often being used as a reason against it too by those against. They say it’s cheaper for us to go to Melbourne to go to games which not only puts money in their economy but is complete bollocks. I can take my family of 4 to Hobart and have a night accommodation, go to a game and have some food for under $500 including petrol compared to around $2k for going from our airport to the game.
Plus having games in Launceston and Hobart gives both ends of the state a chance to go but there are many people already planning their trips to go to Hobart and we’d go a couple of times.
Imagine the events Hobart may be able to attract with such a stadium and what that can do for the economy there. We all want investment in hospitals and schools but ultimately we cannot stifle progress in the 21st century. The country needs this as much as Tasmania itself. We are a very rich nation. We can have stadiums and infrastructure as well as good hospitals and schools. It’s so short sighted by those who endlessly whinge about stadiums. For a country like ours I wish we had more stadiums than we currently do.
Well in that case they may as well get rid of Bellerive, or do what they did with Footy Park in Adelaide and keep the oval, and some of the facilities, but turn the rest of the land into housing.
Yep, exactly what I’ve been saying should be done through this and it would solve many other problems if they could. It’s been well over a hundred years since Bellerive was placed there but apparently we can’t ever look at moving things like that!
Also, not sure if it’s been mentioned but I just remembered, Bellerive Oval has gone back to that name as the naming rights deal for Blundstone Arena expired at the end of September.
I somewhat disagree - there are big ongoing dollars in having venues that can hold events regularly, if the Tasmanian State Government is serious about boosting tourism then they need to invest. The AFL (and possibly Tasmanian Cricket, maybe the Hurricanes, in the future) can act as anchor tenants that gives the facility potentially 30-odd weeks of usage a year on top of whatever else they can attract sport and entertainment-wise.
We’re already seeing in Brisbane (separately from the Olympics issue) that the lack of suitable venues is already impacting some musical acts going there. This has a significant impact on tourist income coming into in the city - being able to host stadium gigs brings millions of dollars in, per gig.
We need the right balance, especially when its Governments who are funding the lions share of the cost - honestly, I think the expenditure NSW is undertaking for Panthers Stadium is a waste, Sydney doesn’t need another upgraded rectangular stadium, if the sports want Government-backed and funded stadia then it has to be under a centralised model.
The next stage of the Ballymore redevelopment will kick off with an election commitment from Queensland Labor to fund a business case and project validation report for the proposed new Eastern Stand and Olympic Sevens high-performance centre.
Stage Two of the redevelopment is proposed to create an 8,000-12,000 capacity stadium - perfect for the growth of women’s rectangular sport.
Cricket Tasmania has announced a four-year deal with SharkNinja, a global kitchen and home appliances company, to rename the Bellerive Oval ground.
SharkNinja is also the naming rights sponsor of A-League Women, whose 2024/25 season starts November 1.
The venue was previously called Blundstone Arena.
I had seen that and wondered who it was, thanks!
The new Queensland premier has again ruled out a “new” stadium for the Olympics in Brisbane on ABC Radio today. Which seems to be at odds with the Brisbane Lord Mayor who wants Victoria Park again to be considered. Also he reiterated that QSAC won’t happen either. Surely that means we’re back to the Gabba rebuild as the only option? Which makes me wonder why they need another 100 day review if there’s only one option?
The Penrith Panthers are celebrating a huge step forward with their stadium proposal after the Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Department ticked off the $300 million redevelopment.
The development will increase crowd capacity from 22,500 to 25,000 at the ground with a new western grandstand and a significantly redeveloped eastern grandstand. There is also the ability to add another 5000 when hosting concerts.
All player amenities will be upgraded, female facilities will be a focus, there will be four new change rooms, women’s toilets will be significantly increased, and there will more food and beverage outlets.
The next step now will be finding a contractor, however, there is a possible issue with the government dealing with a land claim on the site by the Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC).
It has been reported, however, that the government “is confident of working through” the appeal and the land is expected to remain in public hands.
Let’s hope it remains in public hands!
Interesting update from yesterday’s launch of the 100 day review of Olympic venues. The terms of reference for the review are now back to including “new” venues. It’s carefully worded but it seems new venues are back on the table, however it says no “extra” or additional stadiums. To me this might mean Victoria Park and Hamilton are still out because they might be deemed extra or additional. I guess if the Gabba was then repurposed to something else it wouldn’t be a net extra stadium.
Anyway, I kind of feel the ToR now brings Albion Park back into the mix as a bit of a dark horse. And my gut feel is it might come down to Albion Park or the Gabba.
ASM Global, which legally gifted concert and sporting tickets to powerful politicians, has been paid by taxpayers to manage the state-owned venue, also known as Suncorp Stadium, for more than 20 years.
But state-hired consultants from KPMG found repeated examples of where a government organisation might manage operations as successfully as the private company.
After the KPMG report was delivered in 2022, ASM again successfully tendered for the management contract.
Stadiums Queensland, the state authority that owns nine venues including Lang Park, defended its decision to proceed with the tender following KPMG’s review.
