Suncorp stagnation: No progress yet on plans for stadium upgrade

2 months ago 16

The planned upgrade of Suncorp Stadium is not as advanced as Premier David Crisafulli has made out, with government searches showing no progress has been made.

On October 7, two days after the Broncos’ grand final win, Crisafulli said work had already started to upgrade the 52,500-seat Milton stadium.

“I was asked about whether or not I think there is the opportunity to improve the capacity there, and the answer is yes,” he said in October.

David Crisafulli at Suncorp Stadium in October for the Brisbane Broncos’ premiership celebrations.

“The things that I’ve been looking at in recent months tells me that there’s the opportunity to get some extra seating, including some pretty good quality stuff as well.”

That followed on from comments Crisafulli made the previous week, after a sold-out NRL semi-final at the stadium.

“I’m not talking about just normal bare-bones maintenance, depreciation maintenance – I’m talking about a proper investment into the stadium,” he said on September 28. “Again, that work’s being undertaken.”

However, right to information requests lodged with Stadiums Queensland, along with the Department of State Development and the Department of Sport, produced no evidence of any such work being undertaken.

All three RTI requests found a total of zero documents related to planned upgrades at the stadium.

When confronted with the RTI results, a spokesman for Crisafulli confirmed progress had not gone beyond budget deliberations.

“We have made commitments to upgrade Suncorp Stadium ahead of 2032, and that will absolutely occur, with internal discussions around budget arrangements under way,” he said.

A planned upgrade to Suncorp Stadium under the previous government would have included a large exterior screen.

The government’s priority, the spokesman said, was to get “get those venues that don’t current exist up and out of the ground” in time for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

As premier, Opposition Leader Steven Miles promised a Suncorp Stadium upgrade as part of his response to Graham Quirk’s 60-day Olympic venue review.

“Our Broncos brought home two grand finals – it’s only right that their home turf, the iconic Suncorp Stadium cauldron, gets the upgrade it deserves,” Miles said this week.

“So far footy fans have been fed a slick slogan, but now it’s time for action. That starts with the premier telling Queenslanders exactly what will be delivered, when and for how much.”

The stadium’s sporting tenants were certainly keen for upgrades.

Dolphins chief executive Terry Reader said improvements considered during the previous Olympic infrastructure plans, which included a new screen suspended from the roof and installing additional seating at the sites of the current screens, were “balanced and considered”.

Those plans also allowed level five function areas at either end of the stadium to face the playing surface, rather than outside.

“That would slightly increase capacity,” Reader said.

“It also included new infrastructure to improve flow coming in and out on Castlemaine Street.”

Queensland Rugby Union chief executive David Hanham agreed there was room for improvement.

“Suncorp Stadium’s been the home of the Reds for two decades next year and it’s still the best rectangular stadium in the world, in our opinion,” he said.

“Anything that enhances the experience for our fans and corporate guests is welcome and we’ll keep working with the stadium to continue to give our Reds fans the best night out at the football.”

Comment was also sought from the other Suncorp Stadium tenants, the Broncos and Brisbane Roar, along with concert promoters Live Nation, Frontier and TEG Dainty.

As for the kind of technological advancements that were possible in modern stadiums, the man charged with delivering the venues for Brisbane 2032 said the sky was the limit.

Announcing the new delivery partner for Olympic venues on Wednesday, Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority chief executive Simon Crooks said one only had to look to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for inspiration.

“You walk in there, you don’t need to have a ticket – it’s facial recognition,” he said.

“The gates open for you. You can buy things just by picking them up and then your credit card’s linked to your face. The rooms that you go into, if you’re in a restricted area, that room will just let you in. That whole technology suite they’re beginning to do now, we don’t.”

GIICA chief Simon Crooks says facial recognition technology could be used in Games venues.

Suncorp Stadium operator Harvey Lister, the Asia-Pacific chief executive of Legends Global, said he was delighted at talk of improvements.

“We are deeply aware of the next generation of technologies, design features and patron experience enhancements emerging throughout our industry globally,” he said.

“Around the world, major stadiums generally require expansion works or upgrades every 20 years and a stadium as busy as Suncorp Stadium, with over 50 major events and more than 1 million attendees every year, deserves to be kept up to date with current technologies and facilities like what we anticipate will be delivered at the new oval stadium in Victoria Park.”

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