Business cases for the redevelopment of Allianz Stadium in Moore Park and ANZ Stadium in Homebush, made public today, reveal that both projects will deliver negative returns on the New South Wales government's investment. Taxpayers will need to subsidise the stadiums over their life cycles, according to the documents.
The cost-benefit analyses by KPMG show that the financial cases depend heavily on increasing major events at Allianz, which risks cannibalising revenues from ANZ, currently the preferred venue for finals and internationals. The government has committed $2.3 billion to its stadium plans, including $729 million to replace Allianz with a 40,000-45,000-seat stadium and $810 million to convert ANZ to a rectangular field.
The redevelopment has been contentious, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian scrapping a predecessor's plan focused on western Sydney. The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust, including figures like Alan Jones and Tony Shepherd, lobbied for the upgrade, citing fire and safety breaches at Allianz. The opposition has questioned the urgency and priority of the spending.
KPMG considered four options for Allianz, from a base case addressing safety issues for $341 million to rebuilds costing up to $775 million. The government chose a $729 million knockdown and rebuild. All options showed negative cost-benefit ratios, with rebuilds scoring 0.93 and refurbishment 0.62, where 1.0 indicates a positive return.
The base case assumed fewer NRL games than the historical average, which Labor's Linda Voltz criticised as making it appear worse. KPMG justified this due to Allianz's poor facilities. The Greens' David Shoebridge called for common management of both stadiums to avoid competition for crowds.
