[COM] Adelaide Oval Redevelopment

[Wayno]

One benefit of driving to an AAMI footy game is the pre-match car park BBQ with beers and many friends. A long-term and low cost cultural tradition for many. Similar is widely done for AO cricket matches, although it's more often a case of cooked chicken, cheese, olives and champagne.

Can't readily do either if you catch PT - carrying gas bottles is probably not encouraged on buses or trains. lol.

Realise you can drop into various city establishments for a feed/drink as an alternative, but the cost will simply be prohibitve for many, especially families.

Maybe there's an opportunity here. Perhaps leverage the surrounding parklands to encourage pre-match picnics. Perhaps setup several free BBQs and Sell BBQ food packs? Anyone have further ideas how to sustain or even expand this pre-match tradition without driving and without needing to pay full tote at a pub or restaurant? Personally I think it's a worthwhile venture.

[Matt]

I thought barbecue terraces was a part of the original plan for Adelaide Oval?

A few more coin operated barbecues in the parklands would be great to keep the pre-match BBQ tradition going while encouraging the use of PT.

[Kasey771]

Taken Thursday 23 May2013:

[Matt]

Looks like the southern stand is almost ready for the roof sections... exciting.

How's it looking from Memorial Drive?

[Pants]

I'm as for development as the next guy on here and voted for this as a SACA member, but I can't help feeling a bit sad about just how much of a concrete monster the Oval's turning into.

Looking at the pics of a soon-to-be cauldron taken as a view from the (reduced, sanitised) hill, really gives an indication of just how far removed this place will be from the beautiful ground it was. I expect to adapt soon enough and accept that progress is a good thing, but I wonder how many people are now thinking about what's been lost here.

[[Shuz]]

-Yawn-

I can't wait until that stupid Northern mound finally gets built over, and the whole ground is enclosed, like a proper stadium should be.

[ml69]

I'm as for development as the next guy on here and voted for this as a SACA member, but I can't help feeling a bit sad about just how much of a concrete monster the Oval's turning into.

Looking at the pics of a soon-to-be cauldron taken as a view from the (reduced, sanitised) hill, really gives an indication of just how far removed this place will be from the beautiful ground it was. I expect to adapt soon enough and accept that progress is a good thing, but I wonder how many people are now thinking about what's been lost here.

Sorry dont feel the same way. I think the way it looks at the moment is kinda like the worst it will look because all you see are huge bare concrete terraces, it won't look so brutal once seats are in and the curved roof forms are in place.

One thing I do miss is the city skyline view from the oval ... but that's the price of progress.

My hope is that the northern end doesn't get redeveloped into another stand. If that happened, then the iconic qualities which make Adelaide Oval special really will be lost. At the moment, I think it's the best balance that it could be.

[claybro]

Sorry dont feel the same way. I think the way it looks at the moment is kinda like the worst it will look because all you see are huge bare concrete terraces, it won't look so brutal once seats are in and the curved roof forms are in place.

One thing I do miss is the city skyline view from the oval ... but that's the price of progress.

My hope is that the northern end doesn't get redeveloped into another stand. If that happened, then the iconic qualities which make Adelaide Oval special really will be lost. At the moment, I think it's the best balance that it could be.

As well as the price of progress, it is also the price of democracy. What is continually overlooked is that at the last state election, there was a very clear choice, between Labor and the upgraded oval, and Lib and a new stadium on the hospital site. In fact, Labor completely derailed the Libs with this concoction of the upgraded oval, somehow they tapped into the very Adelaide mindset of allowing change, but in a compromised form, and won the election. What we have is a compromise. Not a complete stadium, not a picturesque oval, and time will tell how it compares for atmosphere once complete.

[cruel_world00]

People harping on about views, vibes, complete stadium, concrete overload, price of progress etc... I don't think you realise.... no one gives a rat's about that stuff when going to sporting grounds. There are stadia around the world that have tradition but usually it's because of what happens on the pitch that makes it memorable.

Even Lord's got swept up in Wall-E fever with their redevelopment:


On TV, all those views will be preserved because the cameras will be able to fly around the ground and make it look spectacular, which is probably the most important factor; great advertising for the city of Adelaide with a sporting field in the middle of the city.

The BBQs will still go ahead. Not EVERYONE is going to catch public transport to the ground, similar to every other major event in every city in Australia. But is it a massive loss if the BBQs become a thing of the past? I don't know. What do they actually add to the football experience, particularly if you're not one of those people who participates?

For what it's worth, I think Adelaide Oval is going to be great when completed and will be a thousand times better than that hole at West Lakes and look way better with new stands instead of the poor excuses that were the Chappell temporary looking seating.

I can tell News Limited already have their negative "articles" lined up for the opening rounds and we should expect teething issues with 50,000 punters attending, but that's what happens. They'll iron it out and after a few games it should be smooth sailing.

Bring on 2014.

[Wayno]

-Yawn-

I can't wait until that stupid Northern mound finally gets built over, and the whole ground is enclosed, like a proper stadium should be.

Lol. Do you have a track record of retaining friends? anything less than a week doesn't count

[[Shuz]]

-Yawn-

I can't wait until that stupid Northern mound finally gets built over, and the whole ground is enclosed, like a proper stadium should be.

Lol. Do you have a track record of retaining friends? anything less than a week doesn't count

Well, I'm sorry you prefer sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the fact that the stadium once complete, will resemble a giant toilet bowl.

Don't get me wrong, the redevelopment is great. It can just be better if they did away with the northern mound.

[Nathan]

It can just be better if they did away with the northern mound.

100% disagree. The northern mound is what will keep it "Adelaide Oval", and there's no good reason to fill it in. There's so many other things the C shape of stands resembles, but you're obviously fixated on the one the Advertiser peddled.

[Matt]

So bored of this pathetic "toilet bowl" analogy, particularly when it came from the same arsewipe of a paper that lobbied for it in the first place.

[claybro]

So bored of this pathetic "toilet bowl" analogy, particularly when it came from the same arsewipe of a paper that lobbied for it in the first place.

Hmm, aside from the gushing masses who think this development is somehow paying due diligence to the history of the oval,.. amongst the general football going population out there, is a nagging feeling that the Northern end will somehow detract from atmosphere, and make the stadium feel incomplete. But most were happy with this compromise just to get AFL into the CBD. Leaving the figs and the scoreboard was a giant compromise to the old Adelaide establishment, many of whom are SACCA members, and had the developers not had to contend with this, a much more uniform and functional stadium with more shelter would have resulted.

[Kasey771]

-Yawn-

I can't wait until that stupid Northern mound finally gets built over, and the whole ground is enclosed, like a proper stadium should be.

I would pay good money to be a fly on the wall in Anne Moran's office on the day somebody puts forward a serious proposal for your silly idea. Her head might just explode;)