Brisbane to ditch 'too expensive' $2.7bn Gabba rebuild in favour of new $3.4bn stadium

A significant review of Brisbane's Olympic preparations is poised to discard the $2.7 billion Gabba renovation proposal in favour of a more expensive new venue, according to various reports. It is understood that the review led by former Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk will recommend a $3.4 billion stadium built at Victoria Park in Herston.

Notably, the review was initiated due to concerns over the high cost of the Gabba's process of renovation. Meanwhile, despite this, the aforementioned quirk, the plan shares similarities with an earlier venue proposal for Victoria Park in March, which Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann applauded as "fantastic."

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“Obviously, the focus is the stadium for us, but the way that proposal flows, there’s education facilities, there’s hospitals, there’s green space … it just looks something that you’d like to think governments of all persuasions will (like),” Swann said of that proposal.

“Those brand new stadiums bring people to the city. It’s great for tourism. This place (Brisbane) is growing. In 20 years’ time, we’ll have four million people here. I know it’s easy to say ‘why are you spending money on the stadium’?, but every big city has stadiums, hospitals, schools … there’s a place for everything. We think that proposal really suits us, as does the stadium, (for) us and cricket primarily and the Olympics, but I think from a legacy point of view the whole development proposal certainly looks like it should be considered by those in authority," he added.

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The Gabba stadium boasts a capacity of around 37,000 for AFL games. Notably, the authorities are planning to shift the matches of Brisbane Lions to the proposed new venue at Victoria Park. Apart from this, there is a plan to relocate the Brisbane Arena "from above the tracks at Roma Street underutilized section of the adjacent Roma Street Parkland," as reported by Nine.