Editorial: Brisbane’s 2032 Games must deliver on legacy

The Courier-Mail would urge all those involved in deciding the site of the new 17,000-seat indoor stadium for the 2032 Games to not forget the event is about legacy – and the only location that makes sense into the future for this new city-changing arena is at Roma St, says the Editor.

We have always said that The Courier-Mail’s strident support for Brisbane bidding to host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games was based on our view that the opportunity was about far more than just a few weeks of sport, and the associated party.

We agreed all the way back in 2015 when the SEQ Council of Mayors first floated the idea that the real benefit of such a bid would be to guarantee the delivery of transport and venue infrastructure that our region’s growing population would need, but that otherwise would likely fall victim to the usual endless arguments between politicians from different levels of government.

Fast-forward eight or so years and here we are, the city chosen to host the games in a touch over nine years from now – but there are ever-growing concerns the infrastructure benefits might be lost, including that the specific but necessary Games roads and rail funding is looking shaky.

A render of what a Cross River Rail train station will look like.

Now, Olympics host cities never have a smooth run to showtime.

Heck, in Sydney (and later London) they even made a sitcom about the trials and tribulations of the hapless organisers. But it remains critical that we keep focused on why it is we bid to host in the first place – legacy.

While most of the venues for 2032 will be either temporary or repurposed existing (or already planned) sporting facilities, Brisbane will get two brand new showpiece stadiums as a result. One will be the rebuilt 50,000-seat Gabba – with a massive new concourse that will provide a direct off-road pedestrian link above Main St to a new precinct on the old Go Print site and straight into the new Cross River Rail station there.

This will ensure that everyone who attends a concert or game there will be able to quickly get home, or continue on via what is promised to be a new off-road pedestrian link direct through the Mater precinct and into South Bank.

Workers inside the Downer rail manufacturing facility at Maryborough on Monday. Picture: Lachie Millard

This is critical. Anybody who has ever left the Gabba at the final siren of a big game knows the chaos of almost 40,000 people spilling on to footpaths not designed for the job.

The other new stadium will be an indoor one called either Brisbane Arena or Brisbane Live. This is planned to be a 17,000-seat indoor venue that would replace the role currently filled by the almost 40-year-old Boondall Entertainment Centre, 18km from the CBD.

For the Olympics, this venue would host the swimming in a drop-in pool and then perhaps the basketball finals in the second week of competition.

The plan has always been that it would be built on the site of another new underground Cross River Rail station, at Roma St – allowing a similar movement of crowds as at the Gabba, off-road and straight into trains heading home.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Downer rail manufacturing facility at Maryborough on Monday. Picture: Lachie Millard

The problem is that there are now whispered concerns that the timing does not work – that the need to pause the trains on the new line while arena construction happens would mean either massive delays for the new Cross River Rail or a six-year build, which could mean the 2032 Games deadline is missed.

Consequently, other options for the arena are being assessed – such as building it over the river on the current Visy site along Montague Rd at West End, or near Victoria Park to link to the new Metro.

We would urge all those involved to not forget that these Games are about legacy – and the only location that makes sense into the future for this new city-changing arena is at Roma St.

Just make it work.