Logan’s pitch to build stadium for homeless Olympic sports
Logan City Council is making an audacious bid to host diamond sports at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, with plans to build a dedicated stadium to keep baseball and softball on the Games roster of events.
The diamond sports were dropped for the London 2012 Games, made a comeback for Tokyo 2024 and will feature at Los Angeles 2028.
But while a diamond was included in the now-abandoned plan to create an Olympic precinct at Albion Park, the Crisafulli government’s 2032 delivery plan did not include any obvious venue for baseball and softball competition.
Logan Mayor Jon Raven and Australian international softballer Kayla Waller at the site of what they hope will be the baseball and softball stadium at Brisbane 2032.Credit: Markus Ravik
The RNA Showgrounds, once home to the Brisbane Bandits in the Australian Baseball League and about to undergo a nine-figure upgrade, would have been a contender, but was ruled out due to the security overlay for the 2032 athletes’ village.
Enter Logan City Council, which has embarked on a plan to build a diamond sports stadium between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The city’s mayor, Jon Raven, said a permanent 5000-seat stadium, which could be temporarily expanded for the Games, could be built for about $30 million and be delivered without government support.
“We’ve been speaking to potential investors, both locally and overseas, now for about 18 months,” he told this masthead.
“Their big focus, initially, is what else can we do with the site.
“Because a stadium doesn’t wash its own face – they usually lose money, but they attract people.
“So what else can you put around it? Do you put student accommodation, hotels, food and bev, what does that look like? And what else can you turn it into?”
Central to Logan’s pitch was the opportunity for teams from baseball-mad countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan – and even Major League Baseball teams from the US – to play in the off-season to large television audiences back home.
The council has identified Griffith University’s Logan campus at Meadowbrook as its preferred location, after a sweep of land parcels that were flood-free, had access to public transport, and had land tenure.
Raven said the planned relocation of the Loganlea train station opened up the possibility of a pedestrian underpass of the Logan Motorway, and a new pedestrian bridge over the M1 near the Logan Hyperdome would provide another link to the precinct.
“[Griffith] obviously wanted to do their due diligence and see how it would impact their long-term plans, but they want to bring community into this space – especially in Logan, where lots of kids don’t necessarily think about university,” he said.
“If you bring them here for sport, for concerts, for community events, suddenly the university doesn’t seem that far away.”
A Griffith spokesman said the university was working to support external investment into its Logan campus “with the aim to deliver lasting benefits for students, staff and the wider community”.
The plan has been met with enthusiastic support from Australian diamond sports, both with rich Olympic history – the Australian women’s softball team has won one silver and three bronze medals in five Olympic appearances, while the men’s baseball team took out silver at Athens 2004.
Australian international softballer Kayla Waller said she could imagine being cheered on in Logan while wearing the green and gold in 2032.
“As a Queenslander, having a home Olympics in Queensland would be sensational – we can get one up on New South Wales, which would be perfect,” she said.
“I’m a Griffith University student as well, so being here would be incredible.”
The Australian baseball team celebrating silver at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images
Baseball Australia chief executive Glenn Williams, who was part of the silver medal-winning team in Athens, met with Raven in Logan this month to discuss the proposal.
“There’s been a tremendous amount of work that’s gone into it – it’s not just an idea,” he said.
“This is not just how do we get baseball and softball into Logan for a two-week period in 2032 – it’s how do we build something in a local area that will attract baseball for years and years and years to come.”
Williams said that could include an ABL side for Logan, which would be the city’s only national sporting team. The Logan Thunder Women’s National Basketball League side folded in 2014.
“Obviously, we’ve got some local stakeholders in Brisbane [the Bandits] who operate their team and have been very successful in the Australian Baseball League,” he said.
“But having an Olympic-quality baseball stadium in the state is something that would be extremely attractive for any team, so [a Logan ABL team] would be high on the agenda.”
Softball Australia chief executive Sarah Loh said, as Australia’s “original women’s sport”, softball was desperate to be part of the action at Brisbane 2032.
“We have pedigree. We have history. Why are we – to no fault of us – constantly having to fight to get into the Olympics?” she said.
“Sports should not have to fight so bloody hard when we really have the right to be in there. We’re not breakdancing – we have pedigree and we have a damn rich Olympic history.”
Baseball at Homebush during the Sydney 2000 Games.Credit: Robert Pearce
Brisbane 2032 Organising Committee president Andrew Liveris said if Brisbane were to include additional sports to go beyond 10,500 athletes, then those sports would have to pay their way.
“You can go above that cap if you have a revenue stream opportunity to pay for the additional sports,” he said.
“… If the diamond sports were accepted, they’d have to find an answer to that venue – it’s not on us, it’s on them if they want to be added to the program.”
Raven said he was confident he had the solution.
“Baseball and softball diamonds aren’t just about the game – they can be used for all sorts of different events. We could have live music. We have community events, because fundamentally, it’s a huge open space with a grandstand,” he said.
“If you can’t turn that into something amazing, you’re not trying very hard.”
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