Adelaide Oval

[Stuckey]

I was just wondering what others feelings were on the new Adelaide Oval.

Being a bit of a traditionalist I do feel the soul of the ground has been torn out almost entirely.
But as an Adelaideian I see the desperate need for people to access the city more often then is currently happening.
So 40-50,000 people that otherwise wouldn't have gone to the city 22-25 weeks of winter is going to be a massive improvement for the city and considering Adelaide's public transport is basically only directed towards the city the additional infrastructure required is minimal.

So I guess do the pro's outweigh the con's, IMO I guess they do. To me it seems Adelaide Oval as it once stood, had to die for the City of Adelaide to grow.
As a non-AFL fan and a large fan of spending an entire test match sitting in front of the scoreboard this will offer very little benefit to me but to the city as a whole I feel the benefits are almost brushed aside when they should be front and centre to paint a far more positive picture of what is taking place.

One major sticking point I do have is the expenditure though. I was just reading today that of the committee that are deciding how the 1/2 billion dollars that have so far being spent on the new ground. All are from the SANFL and SACA. It appears to me that the government has written a $500,000,000 check and basically handed it over for others to spend? All the while other sports are begging for support just the find facilities and equipment to function.

It is a sad state of affairs but I do hope once this stadium is built the financial benefits to the area with make us all forget the dodgie way we got here.

[shinAUFC]

Being that i live near football park and do the weeky shop at westlakes im freaking stoked !! Unless u live in the area u just dont understand.

It will bring the city alive and honestly i hope to see cafes along the torrens in the future.

Im a traditionalist, but not when it stops positive moves forward

[EdDog]

It will be good for the city. Good for the AFL clubs.

But the money could have been spent on so MANY different things.

It's good to have it upgraded but damn, half a bil goes a long way.

[bpowell454]

Hate it, hate this government, waste of money. All the signage around the ground say "a world class stadium in the cbd", it makes us look so pissant. Build an etihad stadium, not a crows or AFL fan but if port can't fill a stadium why should the rest of us have to pay for it?

A world class stadium with sails and the seats don't go 360 degrees. Should have been kept as was for the cricket (not a cricket fan either) and a new stadium built.

Funny how Mike Rann said that the state election just gone was also a referendum on whether we should have a new hospital or a new stadium. The primary vote went to liberals but the seats went to labor but we still got the new hospital.

[Interloper]

It will be good for the city. Good for the AFL clubs.

The 2 AFL clubs don't agree with you at present.

I think the stadium will be a physical structure when it's finished, good for watching cricket, OK for aussie rules (too narrow for the ideal), serviceable for other sports.

But it's not worth the expense to subsidise the luxury of rent-seekers within SACA (and now SANFL) that they should be able to afford themselves.

[sevengoals]

Adelaide Oval is great for cricket.
But 500million for the renovations is heaps.

[Agostinho]

I'll miss the old oval, but I think its a good thing. It will do wonders for the city.

As good as building a new stadium? Probably not but that ship has sailed so probably not worth worrying about anymore.

[Old Gregg]

They've royally fucked what was one of the most beautiful cricket ovals of the world (in itself a major drawcard for Adelaide), probably at a greater cost than building a brand new stadium, all while there is a perfectly good, purpose-built footy ground at West Lakes with a greater capacity than what our AFL clubs require...

[Stuckey]

One thing I am also conserned about is the stadium itself.
I have sat in the new members stand on a couple of occasions and I have to say sure it looks great and is a needed upgrade from the old members stand. But the stand has clearly been built on the same base area as the old stand meaning the facilities can't increased to cater for the extra seats.
I fear this will happen for all the other new stands as there wasn't much more room on offer for the new stands to be built especially the new Bradman stand.
I hope I'm wrong but I can see this being an absolute dog's dinner of a stadium.