Goodbye Gabba: Iconic cricket venue to be demolished after 2032 Olympics
The Gabba, one of cricket’s most iconic grounds, is controversially to be demolished after the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
It will be replaced as the home of cricket in Queensland by a £1.85bn, 63,000-capacity stadium which is set to be the centrepiece of the Brisbane Games – despite local authorities’ repeated promises not to build a major new venue.
But the Gabba could yet stage the cricket at that Olympics – if the sport is retained following LA 2028 – in a swansong before it is knocked down and the land redeveloped.
Queensland premier David Crisafulli announced the decision on Tuesday, saying he regretted reneging on an election promise but insisting that upgrading the Gabba would take too long.
“The experts advised it could not be delivered in the time frame we inherited. There is no longer enough time to get that done,” Crisafulli said.
“It came down to a choice; a choice between the embarrassment of hosting the Games at QSAC [Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre] or a new stadium at Victoria Park.
“It became a choice between spending billions on temporary facilities and temporary stands that delivered no legacy or securing the future of AFL [Australian rules football] and cricket at a new home.
“It became a choice between delivering a Games with an eye to the future or rewinding the clock four decades.
“In the end the choice was clear: the Games must be held at a new stadium at Victoria Park.”
Victoria Park will also house a new aquatics centre for the 2032 Olympics just a few hundred metres from the new stadium.
On his broken promise, Crisafulli added: “I have to own that and I will and I am sorry and it’s my decision and I accept that decision.”
Cricket is returning to the Olympic programme in LA after a 128-year absence, setting up a potential farewell to the Gabba four years later.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing to see an Australian cricket team win gold at an Olympic final? The Gabba’s swansong,” Crisafulli said.