By Cameron Atfield
When grunge rockers Pearl Jam take to the stage tonight at the old QEII Stadium in front of an expected 35,000 crowd, its aluminium grandstands will feel the weight of patrons the first time in more than three years.
In fact, the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, as the stadium is now known, has not seen regular crowds in its cavernous stands since the Brisbane Broncos switched to Suncorp Stadium in 2003.
Figures obtained by brisbanetimes.com.au show that over the past five years, 434 events had been held at the 49,000-seat stadium, with an average patronage of just 1687.
The last major crowd-drawing event to be held at the stadium was U2's Vertigo tour, held three years ago in November 2006.
Since then, QSAC's temporary stands, which were erected for the 1982 Commonwealth Games, have stood empty and virtually unused.
brisbanetimes.com.au has repeatedly asked the office of Sports Minister Phil Reeves to reveal the maintenance costs of the stands, but those requests have been refused.
But Mr Reeves said the stands were constructed of low maintenance materials and if they were removed, Brisbane would have no place to host outdoor concerts when Suncorp Stadium was unavailable.
"There is no intention of dismantling grandstand seats when a venue of this size is attracting attention from promoters to host outdoor concerts," he said.
"We've previously looked at the costs of removing the stands, however given the minimal work required with the upkeep of the stands and the increased demand by promoters there is no intention of removing them."
Mr Reeves said along with school athletics carnivals, QSAC had hosted the National Athletics Championships and the State Athletics Championships in recent years.
"These events don't pull a 'football sized' crowd, however the venue is Queensland's best athletics facility, it allows Queensland to host these events and gives Queensland athletes the opportunity to compete at a national level in front of home fans," he said.
"If the venue was not there, there would be every chance of artists such as Pearl Jam and AC/DC bypassing Brisbane entirely."
Opposition sports spokesman Jack Dempsey said nobody doubted the value of the facility as a sports training and administration hub.
But he said the State Government needed to do more to ensure that a 49,000-seat stadium at the site remained viable.
"I think Queensland needs this type of facility, but it needs to be properly managed and needs a proper feasibility study," he said.
"It's a costly and underused venue and more needs to be done to market and attract events to the stadium."
Mr Dempsey said the Government needed to come clean on the cost of the continued upkeep of the old stands.
"It's just another way that this State Government is hiding the truth," he said.
"They just keep chucking money into this bottomless pit because they haven't got the management skills."
Along with tonight's Pearl Jam concert, QSAC will also host two sold-out AC/DC concerts in February.