Brisbane Arena rivals circle as project goes to market

The Queensland government will soon conduct market soundings to determine the shape of the Brisbane Arena project on Roma Street.

The proposed 17,000-seat indoor stadium has been earmarked as Brisbane 2032’s Olympic swimming venue, with a drop-in pool to be installed for the duration of the Games.

The Live Nation/Oak View Group/Plenary consortium’s design for Brisbane Arena in Olympic swimming mode.

During the market soundings, potential bidders, unions, construction firms and other potential stakeholders will be approached to help set tender requirements for the $2.5 billion project.

Originally a market-led proposal with the working name of Brisbane Live, the arena was the brainchild of AEG Ogden (now ASM Global), which has management rights to Suncorp Stadium and the maligned Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall.

Brisbane-based ASM Global chairman Harvey Lister has been pushing the proposal for almost seven years, but this masthead revealed in October he would face stiff competition from a consortium including Live Nation and US sports development company Oak View Group.

That consortium has proposed to both build and operate the arena with minimal investment from taxpayers.

Although federally funded, Brisbane Arena would remain a state project. Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the market sounding would begin “in the coming weeks”.

“Feedback will be sought from key industry stakeholders on a range of aspects including market conditions, procurement models and practical delivery of the project,” he said.

Live Nation Asia Pacific president Roger Field said the consortium, which also included Australian public-private partnership (PPP) specialist firm Plenary Group, said he welcomed the “fair and competitive process” and was keen to get started.

“Because we bring our own capital, we know our consortium can deliver affordability,” he said.

“... Arena developments are a rare opportunity in Australasia, so whilst it may but be a model unfamiliar, it’s a proven successful strategy for delivering world-class venues around the world.”

But Lister said a PPP approach would not be appropriate for the building of an Olympic venue, as it tended to slow down the process.

“In this situation, government cannot abrogate its responsibilities in delivering these facilities and you can’t just pass it down the line to somebody and wipe your hands in time and say ‘I hope you are ready in time’,” he said.

“Because the reality is the premier, the deputy premier and the relevant ministers are all still going to be primarily held responsible for delivering everything that is needed for this fantastic event, so I don’t see that a PPP makes any sense at all in this circumstance.”

Field said the main variable in the consortium’s delivery timetable was how long the government’s market sounding and procurement processes would take.

“The combined experience of our consortium would ensure a streamlined completion of Brisbane Arena with only one procurement process,” he said.

“This is a favourable contrast to alternative models that would require separate procurements for the design, construction and management stages, invariably chewing up more time and resources.”

The private delivery model was one Brisbane’s immediate summer Olympic predecessor, Los Angeles, had embraced.

AECOM executive vice-president Bill Hanway, who has a leading planning role with Los Angeles 2028, said it was a model that harked back to the 1984 Games, also hosted by LA.

“The costs are less than the revenue that can be earned during the Games and mostly that’s because LA is one of the biggest sports cities in the world,” he said.

“There are more international-quality venues in LA than any other city that I’ve ever worked on, so we’re not actually building any new venues in order to host the Games.”

Sources close to the process said another two players were likely to enter the fray to deliver the Brisbane Arena.

Miles said the new arena would be a world-class, highly accessible and well-connected venue.

“It will revitalise an underutilised inner-city precinct by helping Queensland to attract a greater variety of entertainment and international sporting events and strengthen Brisbane’s tourism sector,” he said.