Tasmanian stadium protests

[David]

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/thousands-rally-against-a-new-700m-afl-stadium-in-tasmania-amid-housing-crisis/news-story/f07674121ecfd31abf5966d37fa7ab1a

I must admit to being surprised by how vehement the opposition to the Tasmanian stadium has been, and it's interesting to see how it's crossed political lines: you've got federal Labor backing it but state Labor opposing it, and right-wingers (Jacqui Lambie) and left-wingers (Andrew Wilkie) joining forces to bring it down.

Personally, I always feel disgusted by countries spending millions/billions on Olympic Games venues in the midst of rampant poverty and homelessness. That feels obscene for something that gets used once and then has little purpose thereafter. But I'm also sympathetic to the argument put by Gerard Whateley on AFL 360 that sport, like the arts, doesn't actually get that much funding in the broader scheme of things, and that it's unfair to put it up against health and education as you can make that argument every time and sport always loses.

I also wonder why the AFL were so insistent on the stadium when crowds are unlikely to be that high. Is Tasmania really big enough to get crowds in excess of 30,000 or so to games? And (forgive me if a million people have already asked this question and there's an obvious answer) why not just build a couple of new grandstands around North Hobart Oval?

Do we have any Tasmanians here (Mike? Tannin?) who have an opinion on this? What does everyone else think?

[think positive]

It’s not achieving a huge increase in capacity, it’s not necessary, I get why they are campaigning.

Not everyone in Tassie watches AFL, small state, small revenue base,

[stui magpie]

I read somewhere that the main case against upgrading the exiting Hobart oval is there's no space around it. It's (apparently) pretty much in a residential area, lack of parking and a number of other factors that would limit it's use as a multi purpose stadium (eg, for concerts). The spot the AFL and state government agreed on is an area crying out for development, apparently.

Update, here's a pretty good explanation of the logic. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-07/bellerive-oval-suitability-for-afl-matches-explainer/102310430

[blackmissionary]

[think positive]

i think they want north melbourne to relocate

[What'sinaname]

They want an entertainment area. A place where people can come to eat and drink. No other stadium has that, nor the space to develop such a entertainment hub

And....why would you build a small stadium. Populations are only going to grow. It would be short-sighted, like Marvel Stadium, which is really a nother stadium.

If it was like Optus Stadium, then it would host some significant and important events.

[stui magpie]

[What'sinaname]

^ That's all good and well if Tassie want to play home game in Adelaide. But, since they don't, they need one built in Tassie as none of the existing Tassie stadiums can be re-developed.

[pietillidie]

Even though I'm half expecting a selfish nimbyism to be playing a major role, it's very hard to judge this kind of thing at a distance. Even geography is hard to get a sense of unless you've lived somewhere for a while, driven the roads regularly, etc.

[think positive]