Agree, I’m amazed its been closed this long, even allowing for COVID.
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Well…the dole cheque doesn’t stretch that far to include tolls to get to Parra. 
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I tried visiting this shopping centre a few weeks back and there was a queue of cars as I approached. There was a sign at the entrance that said the car park was “full” so I didn’t even bother driving in. This was in the middle of the day, on a weekday. Some really bad planning here if you can’t even get into the place.
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First time this has ever been said unironically
Mate, I stood in the terrace in the pre-renovated ground on many a cold Saturday afternoon and it was average. The place is practically Wembley now compared to what it was 20 years ago.
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Dear Telstra and/or Venues NSW
Please upgrade your cell tower at McDonald Jones Stadium
and/or
Please install superfast Wifi at McDonald Jones Stadium.
My phone reception dies in the arse like the Knights did in today’s game whenever a crowd attends any event.
Signed
Someone who isn’t @Radiohead and is a Knights and Jets member.
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But I agree, phone reception was crap when I was there yesterday arvo, and that’s on Telstra as well.
Absolutely agree - the suburban NRL venues I’ve been to have been well below standard. At Mt Smart bring in food trucks to feed the fans!
When the AFL consolidated its venues, there was a lot of resistance at first, but in hindsight, it was the right move. The improvement in facilities has made a huge difference for fans. Everything about the game day experience - from getting to the stadium, using the bathrooms, grabbing food, to leaving afterward - is miles ahead of what you’d get at a suburban ground.
Just ask anyone who used to go to Waverley Park. the public transport was terrible, and the facilities were even worse. Centralizing venues makes it much easier to build the infrastructure and transport links that fans actually need.
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They just needed to keep one more as a smaller ground. A ground in Melbourne that has been steadily redone like what Kardinia Park has had would be ideal, probably only half the size even. Think AAMI Park but an oval.
It’s the same debate that’s going on up here in Brisbane, although the boutique stadium here needs to be a rectangle moreso than an oval like in AFL-dominated Melbourne.
they actually did. Carlton get a payment each year to keep princess park up to AFL standard in case its needed. it was in 2006 when the Commonweath games put the MCG out of action for a while.
we don’t need a boutique afl stadium anymore as the lions built one in Springfield for the women’s team. For Rectangle sports, Ballymore is getting a massive upgrade for the Olympics and i expect it will become the rectangular boutique stadium for the roar and potently the reds
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And looks like the old QEII Stadium (former Broncos home ground - now the QSAC) is getting an upgrade for the Olympics as well…
So Brisbane will be more than adequately catered for with larger scale sporting venues.
The QEII upgrade has been replaced by a new build at Victoria Park
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Central Coast Stadium at Gosford has a new naming sponsor: polytec Group. Tonight’s NRL match between the Rabbitohs and the Sharks will be the first event at the venue under the polytec Stadium name.
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Allianz Stadium turf mystery solved, $6m fix needed for drainage
The mystery over the shocking wet weather playing surface at Allianz Stadium has finally been solved after a month-long investigation by engineers and global turf experts.
Comprehensive tests on the grass and drainage uncovered soil and sand contamination issues from when the ground surface was first laid four years ago while the stadium was still under construction.
A repair job to replace the entire playing surface base and grass is expected to cost $6 million, although building insurance is likely to cover the expense rather than taxpayers.
The surface at the $870 million venue will be ripped up and removed after the Wallabies v Argentina Test match on September 13 and the stadium closed down for 10 weeks.
The report found that water on the ground during heavy downpours was draining at only 40 millimetres per hour — just a tenth of the amount that it should be.
The turf experts found the issue at Allianz was caused by having nine per cent of clay in the earth layer below the stadium turf. The maximum level — according to turf experts — should be two per cent.
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Not a good thing for the new stadium.
Sydney FC will have to look for a new ground in that time (probably be Kogarah Oval or Leichhardt Oval).
Take it to Wollongong or Canberra. See if people in those cities will go to ALM games.
Or hell. Im all for pissing off Sydney FC. 
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The surface works also means Allianz Stadium will not be able to host any NRL finals matches in week two and three. That leaves Accor Stadium and CommBank Stadium as finals venues for those two weeks.
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