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Opinion
Here’s a friendly tip for Queensland politicians: you can’t host the Olympic Games down at your local park.
Paris had the Parc des Princes and Stade de France, Los Angeles has the Coliseum and Rose Bowl, while Brisbane has… what, exactly?
And while the politics of building stadia will always be contentious for some, at a certain point the city of Brisbane needs to actually invest in sporting infrastructure if it seriously expects to host the Olympics in 2032.
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Why not kill two birds with one stone and allow A-Leagues club Brisbane Roar to invest in an upgrade of Perry Park in Bowen Hills?
It’s something chief executive Kaz Patafta hinted at during the club’s recent season launch down at Meakin Park in Logan.
With the A-League Women team set to play every game out of Perry Park this season and the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium simply too large for the men’s team, there’s a groundswell of support for an upgrade to the Bowen Hills venue.
Patafta believes his club is well-placed to lead that charge.
“We believe it is the spiritual home for football in Queensland and we want to activate that space for football fans,” Patafta said of his club’s new-found interest in Perry Park.
“As a professional club, we see ourselves as being not the main driver of that… but at least a big part of the activation of that space.”
Perry Park (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Why the hesitancy?
No doubt because as the long-standing home of the Brisbane Strikers – who finished third in FQP1 last season, effectively the second tier of Queensland’s football pyramid – there’s a complex web of stakeholders to engage.
But anyone with an ear to the ground knows Brisbane Roar’s latest leadership team – Patafta was named chief executive in July 2023, with Queensland-born former A-League defender Zac Anderson signing on as chief operating officer – have been quietly mending fences behind the scenes.
That’s important, because there was a time when the A-Leagues’ solitary Queensland club had virtually no relationship with the state’s governing body, Football Queensland.
A united front presents a better chance to go cap in hand and see if anyone is willing to match Brisbane Roar’s investment in a phase-one upgrade of Perry Park.
So how much is that investment worth?
“We believe, at a very high level and just from initial indications, that we could get the stadium to a boutique, modular first-phase environment with an investment of around $10 million to $15 million,” Patafta said.
That’s no small chunk of change.
But with current owners The Bakrie Group having tipped in an estimated $40 million just to keep the club afloat over the years, it’s an investment Patafta says they’re willing to make.
“From our perspective as a club, it’s just not economically viable – with where the A-Leagues are at – for us to be playing at Suncorp Stadium throughout the season.”
“That’s just a plain fact. It’s not something we’re trying to hide.”
Brisbane Roar are at home just once over the opening six rounds of the A-League Men’s season, while their Round 16 clash against Adelaide United has been pushed back to a Tuesday night in April to accommodate a country music concert.
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So why not move to Ballymore – former home of Super Rugby side the Queensland Reds and a stadium the Roar hosted both men’s and women’s games in last season?
Because aside from the sheer cost of renting the venue, it’s simply not a viable long-term option for fans.
The club’s solitary men’s fixture at Ballymore last season attracted one of the lowest attendances in their 20-year history, with supporters making it clear a lack of transport links and suitable seating was not something they were willing to contend with.
That’s not to say Perry Park doesn’t have its own problems, with a glaring lack of accessibility and corporate facilities chief among them.
Still, it’s the preferred option for football fans.
One of those is Chris McCoy, who co-founded online advocacy group Fair Funding for Football.
“Given the Queensland government has been happy to spend millions of dollars to build a boutique AFLW stadium in Springfield, along with millions to refurbish Ballymore into a Rugby Union training venue, we figured football deserves a seat at the table in terms of both infrastructure and funding,” he said.
“We just want to see football get its fair share.”
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
It’s a sentiment shared by Patafta, who is nevertheless quick to point out that any talk of upgrading Perry Park is, for the moment, just talk.
But it’s a beautiful dream – and one that would allow Brisbane to host football and other rectangular sports at the 2032 Olympics.
“Whilst there’s no confirmed public spending, we are well-placed to invest capital in Perry Park because from a business perspective, it does make sense for us,” Patafta said.
“It’s got to encompass the community, it’s got to encompass the integration of professional sport, it’s got to be boutique, and it’s got to be fit for purpose.
“We need to get all those things right.”