Off topic but slightly related, the New South Wakes government is proposing to spent over $1 billion dollars replacing two football stadiums in Sydney. One is the Sydney football stadium which was built in 1988 and the other is the Olympic stadium built for the 2000 Olympics.
I have some support for the Olympic stadium rebuild, as it is an oval unsuitable for watching rugby and soccer, however a renovation seems like a more appropriate solution considering it is less than 20 years old. I have no support for the football stadium rebuild though as it is still in decent condition and usually gets crowds under 15k with only a few sell outs a year.
The government justification is that these stadiums are out of date and modern ones are needed to attract big events. I don't buy this though. Events will always be held in Sydney no matter what the stadiums look like because it is a tourist destination and the most populated city in Australia. At the moment it hosts things like the Bledisloe cup, Rugby league finals, rugby sevens, World Cup qualifying, college football, and loads of big name concerts. I don't really see shiny new stadiums bringing in many more events.
To me this reeks of a government finding a reason to give tax payer dollars to sports teams, developers, and construction companies in return for political donations. I wish they were not so corrupt and more like Calgary's city council who seem to be looking out for everyone instead of being in the pocket of businesses.
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-1...08?pfmredir=sm