Multipurpose sports arena being considered for Adelaide Oval / Riverbank precinct

A MULTIPURPOSE arena for concerts, events, soccer, tennis and basketball is being considered for the Riverbank precinct and a business case being prepared.

• New Adelaide soccer stadium is being considered at the highest level

AN ambitious arena that could host concerts, events, soccer, tennis and basketball is being proposed for the Adelaide Oval precinct.

One option being costed is understood to involve substantially funding the arena by selling off the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for commercial use, potentially a new shopping centre, and using Hindmarsh Stadium for housing.

A business case is being prepared and sites examined near the Memorial Drive tennis complex. It is believed to include an area west of Montefiore Rd, encroaching on North Adelaide Golf Club’s south-eastern tip.

The proposed site of the arena on War Memorial Drive.

State Liberal Party president and Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority deputy chairman John Olsen, speaking at a business lunch on Friday, urged serious consideration of the “emerging opportunity” for a multipurpose arena near the Oval.

It is understood the business case has been commissioned by the Adelaide Venue Management Corporation, which operates the Entertainment Centre, Convention Centre and Hindmarsh Stadium.

The proposal being examined involves relocating events from the Entertainment Centre, along with soccer from Hindmarsh, basketball from its Findon arena and, potentially, netball from its Mile End South stadium.

It includes examining a retractable grass soccer pitch, which would be slid back to enable concerts, events and basketball to be staged on their usual surfaces.

Mr Olsen, the Liberal premier from 1996-2001, said a multipurpose arena should be part of a discussion about the state’s future.

Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority deputy chairman John Olsen, centre, at a showdown. Picture: Sarah Reed

Speaking at an AmCham lunch about change in South Australia, Mr Olsen said the proposal was about being able to mix and match it with the interstate and overseas experience, as Adelaide Oval has.

“In the current consideration, as it relates to soccer, stadiums, etc, we ought to be looking at a consolidation in the sporting precinct of the Memorial Drive of a tennis centre, entertainment centre, perhaps soccer, basketball,” said Mr Olsen, also the SANFL president.

He said the capital cost would be reduced by using the security, food, beverage, kitchens and other facilities already built at the revamped Adelaide Oval, as part of a $535 million, publicly funded upgrade opened in 2014.

“I would hope that as the business study is developed, a range of options are built into that emerging opportunity,” Mr Olsen said.

The Advertiser yesterday revealed that a new soccer stadium is being considered at the highest level, ahead of the 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup bid, because no further upgrades are being planned for Hindmarsh.

Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ridgway, to whom the Venue Management Corporation reports, said the Government was always willing to listen to ideas about further strengthening Adelaide’s sporting, entertainment and tourism offerings.

“To date, though, no formal business case has been presented to me on the viability of a new stadium or arena for the CBD,” he told The Advertiser.

“My immediate focus is on extolling the many existing virtues of South Australia to the rest of the country – and the world.”

The Advertiser in January revealed a 6000-seat, canopy-covered stadium, hosting basketball, netball, concerts and other events, was proposed as part of a $150 million redevelopment of Memorial Drive. This would extend a $10 million upgrade to outside courts, funded by the Federal Government.

But the business case now being prepared is understood to be significantly more ambitious, both in scale and expense.

It is understood the arena business case was not discussed during talks ahead of the State Budget, which Treasurer Rob Lucas delivered on September 4.

Proponents are likely to face a tough task to convince Mr Lucas to loosen his purse strings, given he vowed his Budget would “clean up Labor’s financial mess”.

Originally published as Multipurpose sports arena being considered for Adelaide Oval / Riverbank precinct