More members than Gabba seats: Brisbane Lions chairman Andrew Wellington weighs in as Olympic rebuild stalls

The Brisbane Lions could soon have more members than there are seats at their home ground, making the mooted Gabba redevelopment an urgent priority for the club’s attempts to continue growing in Queensland.

Lions fans celebrate after defeating the Blues in the preliminary final match at the Gabba. Picture Lachie Millard

Brisbane Lions chairman Andrew Wellington says the club could soon outgrow its Gabba home with record membership and attendance numbers pointing to a not-too distant future in which a larger venue is required.

Speaking at the club’s season launch at Howard Smith Wharves on Tuesday, Wellington revealed the Lions were well on their way to surpassing 55,000 members off the back of roaring on-field success under coach Chris Fagan and strong backroom leadership.

“The good news is that as a club we are in fantastic shape. We already have over 42,000 members and more than 85 per cent of our hospitality offerings for the season are sold,” Wellington said.

“We continue to target over 55,000 members for this year. It’s not so long ago these numbers were unthinkable.

“To give some context – in 2004 after the historic three-peat of premierships we had just over 30,000 members and that was the highest until 2021 when we reached 40,000. Since then we have continued to set record levels of membership each year.”

Roughly half of Brisbane’s home games last season were a sellout and Wellington prophesied more of the same this year and beyond with Fagan leading one of the most talented lists in the AFL to regular finals appearances.

The Lions chairman declared the club had proven its capacity to draw big crowds to the Gabba and could soon outgrow the ageing 42,000 capacity stadium.

The official attendance of 36,012 is displayed on the big screen during the 2023 AFL preliminary final match between the Brisbane Lions and the Carlton Blues at the Gabba. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“With record membership, more than half our games sold out in 2023 and (with) a population that continues to grow, surely no one could doubt we can consistently fill a larger stadium (if it was) available,” Wellington said.

His comments come at a time where the $2.7b Gabba redevelopment plan has hit a major roadblock in the wake of comments from Olympics powerbroker John Coates and Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner.

Former AOC president Coates told the Courier-Mail this month “we should abandon the Gabba” rebuild, while Schrinner declared the project was “dead, buried and cremated”.

In November 2018, the Stadium Taskforce Report ruled that “without significant replacement and enhancement” the Gabba’s “remaining useful life” was 11.6 years – the middle of 2030.

After Wellington’s comments on Tuesday night, it appears the Lions could shorten that timeline.

The Gabba rebuild, which was drawn up to become the centrepiece of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, would boost its capacity from 42,000 to 50,000 for sporting events – a welcome increase for the Lions, though with the caveat of displacing their home games for a number of seasons while in development.

A mooted temporary move to the RNA Showgrounds was shot down late last year when the State Government’s redevelopment proposal asked the Lions, Queensland Cricket, Brisbane City Council and RNA to shell out almost $100m.

Lions fans celebrate after defeating the Blues in the preliminary final match at the Gabba. Picture: Lachie Millard

Given the upgraded venue would have likely seated little more than 20,000 spectators, it would have proved a costly move for the Lions who by that point expect to have three times as many paying members on the books.

A win-win for the Lions would be a staged development approach to the Gabba, in a similar vein to that at GMHBA Stadium which allowed Geelong to continue playing games at its home ground while the venue was upgraded.

The Cats’ fully refurbished 40,000-seater, which cost less than $350m over five stages, will be unveiled for Round 1 against St Kilda.

The Gabba Stadium Project Validation Report, released in November last year, included two options that could allow the Lions to play at the venue during its redevelopment.

The first was a partial rebuild and refurbishment that would retain the north and south stands, with an anticipated cost of $2.55b.

Another option would be to retain a significant portion of the existing structure including the base concrete slab and rebuild the seating bowl, which would also increase the capacity to 50,000 but at an estimated cost of more than $3b.

Regardless of where the Gabba redevelopment lands, Wellington’s comments on Tuesday signalled a statement of intent by the Lions to become a dominant force both on and off the field.

And the immediate focus was made crystal clear: win a premiership.

“Being close (to winning the premiership) last year doesn’t guarantee anything for this year but, knowing we were close, we know we need to get a bit better in some areas,” Wellington added.

“That is within our capabilities and the group is prepared to put in the work and focus on the improvement required to win the premiership this year.”

Originally published as More members than Gabba seats: Brisbane Lions chairman Andrew Wellington weighs in as Olympic rebuild stalls