This was on the news this morning. The funding is from Federal government in time for 2032 Olympics.

Will LK have a role? Bullets/ NBL? Boomers games/ qualifiers?

Please speculate.

Yes this will be future home for concerts, basketball, netball etc

Are Brisbane struggling off-court though?

It sounded like the NBL feel Nissan Stadium is a bit too small.

Obviously 16k would be a massive jump in capacity. I guess doesn't hurt to have the infra available if they end up growing?

Adelaide jumped to a 7,800-7,900 average this year with 5x 9k games in a row.

It’s not totally ridiculous that a Brisbane side could get 10-12k attended in 10 years’ time. Lots and lots and lots of work required obviously.

Good to have that as a medium-long term plan to work towards though.

I'd hope the NBL would at least be able to provide input for the new stadium. I remember the management back in the 90s were given the opportunity to provide input for needs for the development of John Cain Arena and declined, resulting in one of the worst places to watch basketball in Australia

That sounds like the old NBL hahaha

Yeah AEC is better than JCA, but don't tell the South Aussies that.

Loeliger has said once before he expected the crowds to double once they move out of Nissan arena. Was never going to be the location long term. Apparently the location of Nissan arena is not ideal. Maybe se qlders could elaborate....

I think 5,000-6,000 would be the avg crowd once built , maybe another 5-6 years post build, 8,000 is possible per game.
16,000 people though, max capacity, very unlikely.

Sydney max this season about 14,000

This is exactly what the majority owner of the bullets is in for. Said as much in an interview few months ago. That's been his mo with sports franchises, capitalise on the venue and location, performance of the team is an afterthought.

Bullets member since they returned. Can confirm that NA, while good as far as sight lines and proximity to court, certainly isn't in a great location, especially if you're coming from north of the river. No real transport hub nearby, though shuttle buses run from nearby Garden City bus station.

I don't think anyone ever thought NA was a long term proposition, CEO said as much on a member's forum when they moved in, with Brisbane Live stated as the goal even then around 4 years ago. We'll still go to games regardless but looking forward to having a central stadium with pre and post game eating and entertainment options as well as the potential for walk up crowds, which wouldn't be happening at present.

Should add that, with a majority of games played during daylight savings, the current location makes arriving before tip off for those working standard office hours tricky as well, with M1 traffic likely not helping matters.

I agree, there would be a significant demographic of people that aren't necessarily big nbl fans that would consider going to a game for the entertainment value, where timing of games and location of stadium - and even how good the stadium is, play significant factors to the considered entertainment value.

For Adelaide, even though 36ers Arena isn’t actually very far from the AEC, negligibly I’d even say, the AEC is a more attractive location by virtue of sort of being city based rather than a suburban stadium.

With the tram access as well, it plays into the idea you could go to a bar after in the city and generally makes planning a night out much easier.

If you’re Brisbane, and you’ve got a new stadium right in the city with easy public transport access - it’s a gamechanger IMO.

Perth went from Challenge Stadium with a capacity of 5,000, straight to Perth Arena and basically never had an attendance lower than 10,000. And there were games at Challenge in their final season there that didn't even sell out.

Aside from deplorable on court results, my understanding is that Brisbane is doing well as a club with membership, corporates etc.

Levien said in an interview a couple months ago that the ownership group were mindful that a new playing venue would be built for the Olympics and that the club was working towards a shift there once it becomes available.

DreamShake has already correctly stated that the current venue is fairly poor for a number of reasons. That Brisbane has continued to get good crowds there whilst being flogged is a good sign.

Playing out of Roma St would be an amazing opportunity. Car, bus, train all easily viable options for patrons coming towards the area from all directions of SEQ. With food and entertainment options nearby, no reason Brisbane couldn't easily at least double current crowd figures and then some.

I'm a basketball junkie and watching a game in the city would encourage me to consider making a trip to SE Queensland when the Sixers are in town.

Nissan Arena....nope.

I think Brissie having that capacity is very good for the club and the NBL.

If they plan ahead and start to market memberships (in excess of 5000) soon they can get a decent amount in from Day 1.

The only thing with such a move is the costs. I estimate the costs would be a lot more and the breakeven point of seats sold would be quite high.

So they have to have a high attendance rate ore lse risk losing money, lots of it.

Really depends on the agreement though doesn't it.

Adelaide removes some seats via creating a courtside bar and the upper deck covered by curtains etc.

There’s definitely scalability that can occur, it just depends on the agreement in place.

How many concerts occur over Christmas/festive period? I think the NBL could navigate it so that it’s not a case of NBL vs concerts making the price higher, but NBL vs nothing.

Will it be wholly public owned or a partial private equity / consortium involvement?

Wow forgot about this news. Why don't Brisbane play at the Brisbane Exhibition Centre the older stadium when they won the 2007 NBL Championship?

Doesn’t that stadium hold 10,000 plus but where is it based in Brisbane?

Oh I mean the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall. It holds 13,500 but looking by photos some seats are too far from the middle of the court.

I was so envious of Brisbane having access to Boondall during the 80's. As much as I loved Apollo Stadium, Boondall was pretty impressive as a basketball venue

I didn't mind the Ent Cent, could easily overlook that it's a little dated.

Not suitable for the Bullets at the time though as it's an expensive hire and they didn't have the patronage to support staying there.

Problem could be the rent the govt charge. I know the entertainment centre & boondall was going to cost an absolute fortune & was likely going to lead to ongoing losses to the consortium back prior to the bullets coming back in.

Except for some play-off games, Brisbane Live won't be the permanent venue for the Bullets.

Management have made it clear several times that they want a venue they can own themselves, not somewhere they have to pay rent like they have done for a very long time.

Government are looking at upgrading facilities at Albion, just north of the city, for the Olympics. It is the odds on favourite location for the Bullets to relocate to.

Transport to Nissan Arena is atrocious. So much so that my friend and I drive from the far northside and park nearby (not paying for a parking pass). Only takes just over an hour to get there. It was always a stopgap due to the low cost of the rent, but apparently it has increased a fair bit.

They are expecting to have their own permanent home in the next 5-7 years.

Why build stadiums and then price tenants out of it?

Seems outrageous for taxpayer money. Use it feking efficiently!

KET - exactly!

I think the Boondall argument is a great one, forget that it is dated and location but that Brisbane once held the record for the biggest crowd to an NBL game so if they get this right then there's no reason why Brisbane can't be replicating a Perth for example and getting 10k every game.

I'm getting excited for this and I think league bosses would be very optimistic about it also... much easier to justify a Darwin for example being in the league (with the same model as Tasmania) or a Canberra, if Brisbane joins Sydney, Perth and Adelaide at getting massive crowds each game (can't include Melbourne as some crowds there were deplorable).

Melbourne United has consistently been amongst the lead leaders for crowds for a number of years now. I think they are fourth this year but that's on the back of Adelaide and Sydney attracting some great numbers.

Boondall will never happen. The guy who owns the stadium charges out the arse.

Maybe a once-in-a-while play-off game

I don't think he means literally going back to Boondall, rather the fact that once upon a time when Brisbane had a large and up to date venue people flocked to it. Boondall is a Joh-era dinosaur and needs to be consigned to a similar fate, knocked down and back into the swamp that it literally rises from.

Boondall, The Brisbane Convention Centre at Southbank and Nissan Arena are all owned by the Qld State Goverment through Stadiums Queensland or The Southbank Corporation. ASM Global operates Boondall and the Convention Centre though whereas Netball Australia operates Nissan Stadium...so the rental cost probably shouldn't be such a big issue as it has been. Of course, in saying that, I don't know how the rent is determined, but perhaps it depends on the different types of events each arena attracts and the competition and market. Any new stadium would also likely be owned by the State Government, same as the Gabba and Lang Park are. The new Brisbane Live venue will be awesome and a more central location for Bullets fans, but I doubt they will need the capacity every game. Hopefully a central location would increase the interest in the Bullets from fairweather fans. Otherwise, it's a bit of a joke with the State Governement recently claiming that one reason they need to knock down the Gabba for the Olympics is that it is tired and poorly maintained. Stadiums Queensland operate it. But that's another issue.

Interesting idea to use a smaller stadium for smaller games, but playoffs at Roma St. That might work. It will all depend on t(e sort of deal that Brisbane/ NBL can get for hire of the venue.

At the moment most trains seem to stop at Roma St. but there is a new Cross River Rail development. The Gold Coast train will no longer go to airport though, not sure about airport to Roma st for interstate visitors heading to the city to check in at accomm, watch game and make a night of it.

I wonder if LK will try to get in on the deal as a developer or co-developer in the precinct. Just speculation, but if he brought back the Bullets being aware of the Olympics bid it might prove to be a genius business move. One thing he does seem to do well is to acquire development opportunities before a boom opportunity.

LK managed to secure the development of the DEC in a good deal with the government/s too. I suspect he's very good at negotiating with senior bureaucrats and governments.

Just speculation, but if he brought back the Bullets being aware of the Olympics bid it might prove to be a genius business move.

PW fair point.

But it does seem to pan out well for the NBL/LK. And for broadcasters too, if they can get some lead in games with top tier (NBA?) players.