The Neverending Issue of the Gabba Pitch

[The_Wookie]

The Courier Mail reports that THE LIONS are set to emerge victorious from The Gabba turf war, avoiding a million dollar brawl between football and Stadiums Queensland. Also of note: Brisbane wants it current rental agreement of about $35,000 per game to be discounted.

 

[The_Wookie]

The AFL has had problems in the past with concerts before so it. ACDC for example. my main concern has been player safety for the season for the AFL due to the re-turfing and not cricket pitch for the ashes as long as that is playable. that doesnt mean the Lions have to train on the pitch, though.(though i doubt that happens anyway) They just have to work with cricket to get the best outcome for the city. there was a late edit to my post as i didnt think i have made that clear.

bumpy pitches happen and i agree. not a shock that it happens after a rugby match. but bumpy pitches can happen if there is an underlying concern with the turf giving way. see Asian Cup with suncorp. a lot of the (valid) complaints are due to this happening during the game. that is as much a player safety issue as a look issue. I not defending the a-league. the same situation applies to them as every other sport. you got to "win" your way to better facilities("win" as in why this has to be the case). but you have to make do with what you got and by pointing out the issue it becomes public, you hope it fixes it. It is exactly the same as what cricket has done here. again, my original post has cricket as much(if not more) in the sights as AFL.

the clause is the same main reason as every other sport which shares arenas in the world. 2 NBA matches, for example, had to be cancelled due to ice hockey. that is all i wanted to point out. sharing has benefits and negatives.

most AFL complaints have to do with player safety. but that doesnt mean the AFL doesnt complain about similar bad turf. it doesnt happen as much as the AFL has good contracts with stadiums and all credit for them for working hard on that(and they are yes, less fussy than soccer)

Wasnt too long ago that soccer folk freaked out over a 3mm difference in the height of grass at Adelaide Oval.
http://forum.insidesport.com.au/235...tobecutatAdelaideovaluntildaybeforeGrandFinal

 

[aCunningPlan]

Well the AFLW is not playing at the Gabba, so cricket can be happy with an extra couple of weeks.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Wasnt too long ago that soccer folk freaked out over a 3mm difference in the height of grass at Adelaide Oval.
http://forum.insidesport.com.au/235...tobecutatAdelaideovaluntildaybeforeGrandFinal

so? shock horror, clubs are not happy about not being able to train a day before in match conditions(which is what they seem to be "freaked out" about). in other news, Brad Scott has opened his mouth. heck, most of the people on that forum dont really care and neither did the A-league.just a puff piece with a nice headline.

this will hopefully get the GABBA surface to adequate levels for round 2 and the Ashes. Cost a lot of political capital to get this change. it will cost a lot more to move any scheduled matches. hopefully, all parties can resolve the issues relating to this and make sure it doesnt happen again.

 

[The_Wookie]

so? shock horror, clubs are not happy about not being able to train a day before in match conditions(which is what they seem to be "freaked out" about). in other news, Brad Scott has opened his mouth. heck, most of the people on that forum dont really care and neither did the A-league.just a puff piece with a nice headline.

this will hopefully get the GABBA surface to adequate levels for round 2 and the Ashes. Cost a lot of political capital to get this change. it will cost a lot more to move any scheduled matches. hopefully, all parties can resolve the issues relating to this and make sure it doesnt happen again.

Was reinforcing your point, dont be so defensive.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Was reinforcing your point, dont be so defensive.

i was a bit defensive

this whole issue does raise the prospect of having a suitable AFL training/AFLW oval and home in Brisbane. Hopefully, the lions will get theirs like the bushrangers got the Junction Oval. And they don't have to wait around for years. Use the Goodwill on that rather than picking a direct fight with the GABBA. would be more beneficial long term i feel.

"Cricket" might have "won" in Queensland but the fact the bushrangers have to play a home final in Alice Springs and not in Victoria showcases that AFL has "won" in its homeland.

 

[Our Game]

So the AFL and it appears AFLW will suffer because of an Adele concert ? - compo ?

And i guess it is also a possibility that there is also an element of Northern state bias against footy - i do remember a SCG boss stating that the SCG would never have a drop in - or over his dead body or never while he was at the wheel etc etc a couple of years ago.

Thats about the real story the QLD cricket people including the idiot groundsman Mitchell should remember the shithole that the Gabba was before the AFL millions started flowing into their coffers from the Lions games FFS it had a dog track around it.

What about the pathetic crowds the cricket get to Shield games they wouldnt even pay for the ground staff.

 

[Go GWS!]

Gabba crowds in 2016:
Cricket - 191067
AFL - 187816

Details:
Cricket crowds at the Gabba in calendar year 2016
Heat: 27507, 33783, 34601
Aus v NZ Test: 66325
Aus v India ODI: 28851

 

[bigleague]

The Courier Mail reports that THE LIONS are set to emerge victorious from The Gabba turf war, avoiding a million dollar brawl between football and Stadiums Queensland. Also of note: Brisbane wants it current rental agreement of about $35,000 per game to be discounted.

$35k per game and they are complaining? The Broncos pay something like $250k per game & at one stage the Titans were paying $300k per game!

 

[Hollow Knight]

$35k per game and they are complaining? The Broncos pay something like $250k per game & at one stage the Titans were paying $300k per game!

The match day fee is meaningless in isolation because it's part of a larger agreement where we also pay them in the order of two million dollars a year in rent for our administration and facilities. It's sending us to the wall.

 

[Our Game]

Gabba crowds in 2016:
Cricket - 191067
AFL - 187816

Details:
Cricket crowds at the Gabba in calendar year 2016
Heat: 27507, 33783, 34601
Aus v NZ Test: 66325
Aus v India ODI: 28851

As I said the tests only average 10,000 a day at the Gabba = not sellouts and with the Lions at the bottom of the ladder their crowds are way down on past years but will improve a lot once they start winning again.

 

[Our Game]

The match day fee is meaningless in isolation because it's part of a larger agreement where we also pay them in the order of two million dollars a year in rent for our administration and facilities. It's sending us to the wall.

It sounds like you would be better off building your own facilities with the AFLs/Qld Govts help

 

[Go GWS!]

As I said the tests only average 10,000 a day at the Gabba = not sellouts and with the Lions at the bottom of the ladder their crowds are way down on past years but will improve a lot once they start winning again.

Either way, cricket has more bums on seats... for now!

 

[Hollow Knight]

It sounds like you would be better off building your own facilities with the AFLs/Qld Govts help

Yeah, it's not like we haven't been trying for at least 5 years now. The Government didn't give a shit until the women started playing well.

 

[stmookeyj]

Yeah, it's not like we haven't been trying for at least 5 years now. The Government didn't give a shit until the women started playing well.

Government up here also gets accused on spending in the wrong areas if any mention of building a new stadium is on the agenda (Fix the health system, what about the mines and jobs etc). Think it will be another 5 years before anything is done for the Lions with the Commonwealth Games taking up the current funds (3 men and a koala care about that although it gives the excuse for the tram line to link to Helensvale) and a new stadium in Townsville for the Cowboys next cab off the rank.


I guess something forgotten in this is that I can't recall the Gabba ever being used for a concert of this magnitude. Normally these concerts are held at Lang Park (refuse to call it the corporate name where possible) but obviously the Roar/Reds/Broncos had the bookings. The only other big venue in Brisbane that could handle the crowds Adele drew (QSAC, formerly QEII) I believe has big problems with traffic management and local residents, and wouldn't have hosted anything like this for about a decade. Based upon that theory coupled with the central 360 stage as opposed to the regulation stage set up at an end that I believe Beiber used, I would suggest that nobody on the Gabba's ground staff would have had the experience or knowledge given the almost unique circumstances in how to deal with turf damage of that magnitude. Other stadium staff who have hosted 360 degree stage shows would have at least known what to do in that situation.

 

[Aussie in exile]

It sounds like you would be better off building your own facilities with the AFLs/Qld Govts help

Its been a mystery to me for some time as to why the AFL hasn't built a stadium in Brisbane.
It would be paid for in 10 years and long term would save the game a lot of money.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Its been a mystery to me for some time as to why the AFL hasn't built a stadium in Brisbane.
It would be paid for in 10 years and long term would save the game a lot of money.

Never been a need for it, unless there was 2 or 3 well supported AFL teams in Brisbane then how is it going to make money ? and who is going to use it in summer when the Gabba is available for cricket ?.

I think footy Park in Adelaide got used by baseball in Summer, footy park in Canberra was maybe the same, Football used to own a ground in Erskineville ( ?) in Sydney but sold it in the 1930's (?), but baseball is not really going to generate $$.

Stadiums must be used all year round with $$ generating tenants.

Etihad is different, multiple tenants all generating $$ combined with cricket and concerts etc in summer and the stadium is quite central.

The local Brisbane comp used to play their GF at the Gabba.

 

[Rob]

Its been a mystery to me for some time as to why the AFL hasn't built a stadium in Brisbane.
It would be paid for in 10 years and long term would save the game a lot of money.

How much do you think stadiums cost?

 

[Ned_Flanders]

How much do you think stadiums cost?

Given metricon cost $144m, meaning each game would have to net profit $1m+ before interest "to pay it off in ten years", im guessing a lot less than this

 

[Garlic muncher]

How much do you think stadiums cost?

Should have been my reply