Logan mayor sets three-month deadline for Olympic stadium funding

2 months ago 5

Logan Mayor Jon Raven has set a three-month deadline to secure private funding to build a baseball and softball stadium in his city, or risk the diamond sport’s exclusion from the 2032 Olympic Games.

The project received two boosts on Tuesday, with a memorandum of understanding signed with Griffith University to provide land at its Logan campus for the stadium, and a commitment from the Brisbane Bandits to call the ballpark home.

With the sports roster for the Brisbane Olympics expected to be confirmed late next year, Raven said the project would realistically need letters of intent from investors by March for baseball and softball to have a home in 2032.

Griffith University vice chancellor Carolyn Evans and Logan Mayor Jon Raven sign a memorandum of understanding to build a baseball and softball stadium at the university’s Logan campus.

“I know the decision [on Olympic sports] is announced later in the year, but the sooner we have that proof that we’re serious and the investors are serious about making this a reality, the better,” he said.

To that end, Raven travelled to Asia in September to meet with potential investors and make his pitch to Japanese and Taiwanese teams to host spring training camps in Logan.

Since then, Raven said, the search for investors had spread even further abroad.

Griffith University has agreed to hand over land for a baseball and softball stadium at its Logan campus.

“Just this week, we’ve been engaging with investors from the UAE and the Middle East,” he said on Tuesday, minutes after signing the MOU with Griffith.

“There is a lot of interest from local builders as well. We’re looking forward to a joint venture that can bring people and bring investment from all over the world using the skills of our local trades and builders to make this dream come true.”

It was also a dream for the Brisbane Bandits, currently based at Holloway Field in suburban Newmarket.

Bandits part-owner and CEO of baseball operations Mark Ready said the ball club would “absolutely” move to the Logan stadium – expected to cost about $100 million – if it was built.

Bandits co-owner Mark Ready says the club would “absolutely” move to Logan if a new stadium was built.

This was a step up from September, when the Bandits stopped short of committing to a move.

“We’ve discussed many moves with the fan base of baseball in Queensland – they’d be happy to see a stadium built anywhere in south-east Queensland,” Ready said.

“We’ve been trying to get a stadium built in Brisbane for 14 years, to no avail.”

Baseball and softball have been in and out of the Olympic Games this century. They featured in the 2020 Tokyo Games after a 12-year absence, fell off the roster for last year’s Paris Olympics, and will return for Los Angeles 2028.

Lending her support to Logan on Tuesday morning, former Olympian Anna Meares – who was chef de mission in Paris and will be again in LA – said she had not been privy to any discussions about which sports would be included in Brisbane 2032.

“What I do know is that we need to go down from 40 sports in LA to 28 sports in Brisbane,” she said.

“So if there is going to be infrastructure and facilities already built, it would certainly go strongly towards the case of those sports.”

One potential obstacle would be transport links to the Meadowbrook site for a 5000- to 10,000-seat venue.

Raven said a proposed “green bridge” over the M1 near the Logan Hyperdome for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport – to be delivered through the South East Queensland City Deal – would be a vital link.

And not just for the baseball stadium – Griffith University vice chancellor Carolyn Evans said it would also be a game-changer for the Logan campus.

“Griffith University has been, for the last decade, saying the green bridge would make an enormous difference to this campus, and would make higher education far more accessible to the people of Logan, who are still underrepresented in universities,” she said.

“So if that could be part of this package, that would be another amazing legacy for people in Logan, and for our university.”

Raven said teams from all over the world would be attracted to the venue for off-season training and international competition.

“This isn’t just about playing baseball and softball for the Olympics. In fact, it’s about making sure we’ve got a legacy for the city of Logan,” he said.

“This will be our first major stadium for our city, and to have something international like this – a sport that has more than 450 million fans worldwide turning their eyes to Logan – is a great opportunity for our city and for Meadowbrook.”

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