Premier Mike Baird unveils final plans for upgrading Sydney stadiums

ANZ STADIUM will be turned into the “best rectangular sports arena in the Southern Hemisphere” and Allianz Stadium upgraded - not rebuilt - under plans unveiled by Premier Mike Baird.

STADIUM Announcement

• SCG AND SFS REVAMP MORE REALISTIC THAN REBUILD
• BAIRD WANTS NEWS COMPLEX ON ANZ STADIUM SITE
• WARATAHS REJECT THE ‘DEAD ZONE’

SYDNEY’S ANZ Stadium will be turned into the “best rectangular sports arena in the Southern Hemisphere” and Allianz Stadium upgraded within its existing footprint, under plans unveiled by Premier Mike Baird.

After days of speculation, in which Sports Minister Stuart Ayres went rogue by advocating for the complete rebuilding of Allianz Stadium on Moore Park land, Mr Baird finally unveiled his latest stadiums policy, confirming ANZ and Allianz will be upgraded — not rebuilt.

Parramatta Stadium is being rebuilt, with the work expected to be complete in 2019.

The rectangular and roofed ANZ will provide an amazing atmosphere for matches of all codes.

An artist’s impression of the revamped rectangular ANZ Stadium.

The plan will bring fans closer to the field.

A retractable roof will allow the stadium to be fully covered.

It means ANZ will continue to be the main focus of sports and major events in Sydney, rather than switching to Allianz, nearer to the CBD.

Mr Baird also recently advocated for a rebuild of Allianz — at a cost of $1 billion — but the move caused anger from long-term tenants Sydney FC, the Waratahs and Sydney Roosters, who faced moving out for at least three years while the rebuild took place.

“We are going to make ANZ Stadium the best rectangular stadium in the Southern Hemisphere,” Mr Baird said today.

Aside from changing shape of the arena, there were few other details about what other upgrades will be carried out, or exactly when work will finish.

A budget of $1.6 billion has been set to rebuild Parramatta and upgrade ANZ stadium and the cash left over from those use will be used to give Allianz a makeover.

Premier Mike Baird with FFA Head of Corporate Affairs Kyle Patterson, NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, NSW Sports Minister Stuart Ayres and ARU CEO Bill Pulver at the announcement today Picture: Phil Hillyard

Mr Baird was unable to say what monies will be spent on which stadiums.

He did however announce that as part of the ANZ upgrade, which should commence before 2019, a series of major sports events had been locked in.

These include 20 years of NRL grand finals and Origin matches.

There will also be 10 years of Bledisloe Cup matches, a Lions tour match and 12 Socceroos matches over 12 years. There will be 12 Matildas matches.

Mr Baird was forced to repeatedly defend Mr Ayres after he advocated for rebuilding Allianz Stadium on part of Moore Park, and conceded the process of reaching agreement between the codes and stakeholders had not been easy.

The hi-tech plan for Allianz Stadium. It will now be upgraded rather than rebuilt with whatever money is left over from the redevelopment of ANZ and Pirtek Stadium, in Western Sydney.

How Pirtek Stadium/could look once the upgrade is completed.

It comes amid reports Mr Ayres had been locked out of talks between the government and sports codes over the last 48 hours.

“This was never going to be an easy process — there are multiple stakeholders, multiple codes with multiple clubs,” Mr Baird said.

“We need to ensure we get it right and over the past 48 hours the minister has done an extraordinary job to get to a position where we are today.”

Mr Ayres denied being locked out of talks and said he was confident of holding onto his job.

In a move that could be interpreted as a major slap down for Mr Ayres as Sports Minister, Mr Baird confirmed that Infrastructure NSW will manage, deliver and advise on the ANZ and Allianz stadiums upgrades rather than the sports portfolio.