Centre of the action but unlikely to host any Olympic competitions

One of the venues in Tuesday’s long-awaited Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games announcement appears unlikely to host Olympic events.

The RNA Showgrounds was the unexpected winner from Tuesday’s Olympic announcement, not only securing the athletes’ village and a train station upgrade but also a new main arena not recommended by the 100-day review.

A 2023 proposal to upgrade the Showgrounds estimated the cost at $137 million. The state government did not provide a cost estimate for the updated project on Tuesday, but Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie hinted at private investment associated with the athletes’ village, which will become a residential precinct after the Games.

The main arena at the RNA Showgrounds will be upgraded, with seating for 20,000, ahead of the 2032 Games.Credit: Queensland government

In his speech launching the plan, Premier David Crisafulli said the new 20,000-seat outdoor arena at the showgrounds would host “key events”, but Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris was adamant those events would not include Olympic and Paralympic competition.

The government had already agreed to move equestrian events to the new Toowoomba Equestrian Centre.

“That completely is an RNA upgrade for legacy reasons,” Liveris told this masthead.

Andrew Liveris at Tuesday’s venue announcement.Credit: William Davis

“We’ll just use it as overlay – it won’t be used for sports.

“It’s not intended to be used for sports, because that’s the site of the village. We’ll use it as a delivery thing, but we don’t have to worry about it from a sports point of view.”

Crisafulli said the RNA Showgrounds was one of Brisbane’s most important venues, which was long overdue for an upgrade.

“It gives a new life to the Ekka, one of the most important cornerstones, where the country meets the city,” he said, adding that the annual show would go on.

The showgrounds became a government priority as the Brisbane Arena was dropped from the Games plan, and would now only proceed if private funding could be secured.

RNA chief executive Brendan Christou said the upgrade would be a “game-changer” for the historic venue, and thanked Crisafulli for his government’s support.

“From an RNA perspective, we’ve been celebrating agriculture for 150 years. And for anyone who has come to the Ekka in the last decade or so, you will see that we’ve undertaken a regeneration of the site to ensure that the Ekka can remain for another 150 years,” he said.

“The last piece of the puzzle for us is the main arena. And quite frankly, if this didn’t come along, we were unable to fund those upgrades.

“So what this means is the Ekka will remain in Brisbane, in this location, for another 150 years.

“Importantly, it will restore significant heritage assets and provide the much-needed accessibility that those stands were never built to have.”

After the long-awaited review by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority, Crisafulli finally unveiled Brisbane 2032’s definitive venue plan on Tuesday, with a new 63,000-seat, $3.79 billion stadium at Victoria Park.

The stadium would also require improved connections between Victoria Park and the showgrounds, train stations at Roma Street and Bowen Hills, the CBD and Fortitude Valley, set to revitalise Brisbane’s inner-north.

The showgrounds already hosted music festivals, and the stadium would be designed with major concerts in mind, potentially undermining the business case for Brisbane Arena.

An artist’s impression of the RNA Showgrounds, which will host the main athletes’ village, and a new arena.Credit: Queensland government

The government rejected the review’s recommendation Brisbane Arena be built with taxpayer funds at the GoPrint site at Woolloongabba, between the existing Gabba stadium and the under-construction Cross River Rail station.

The arena was originally slated to host Olympic and Paralympic swimming, which would instead be held at a 25,000-seat, $650 million aquatic centre at Centenary Pool, on the edge of Victoria Park.

Crisafulli said the government still wanted Brisbane Arena but it would need to be privately funded.

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