Brisbane to build main stadium on parkland for 2032 Summer Games

SYDNEY – A new 63,000-seat stadium and a national aquatics centre will be built in an inner-city Brisbane park for the 2032 Olympics, Queensland state Premier David Crisafulli announced on March 25 as he unveiled the third venue plan for the Games.

He said another 20,000-seat boutique stadium would be constructed at Brisbane Showgrounds, while some events have been moved out of the city to regional Queensland.

Brisbane’s Queensland Tennis Centre will be upgraded with the addition of a new 3,000-seat showcourt, while the Gabba ground will host cricket at the Games before being torn down.

“Finally, Queensland has a plan. The time has come to just get on with it,” Mr Crisafulli said in Brisbane, adding that the organisers could now get started on constructing and refurbishing the various arenas.

The issue of venues has been a matter of much political conflict since the Games were awarded to Brisbane in 2021, returning the Games to Australia for a third time after Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000.

Two years ago, the state’s then centre-left Labour government announced plans to expand the famous Gabba cricket ground and create a new 17,000-seat indoor stadium for the Games.

Mr Crisafulli scrapped those plans on March 25, saying Australia would have wasted “billions” on temporary facilities that “delivered no legacy”.

The 63,000-seat stadium was billed as a “world-class” venue that would also host other major sporting events in future, including cricket.

Temporary seating would boost the capacity of the new national aquatics centre to 25,000, the state government said, hosting swimming, diving, water polo and other sports.

Smaller venues such as the Gold Coast Hockey Centre will also be upgraded.

The main athletes’ village would be built nearby at the existing Brisbane Showgrounds, while two smaller villages would be located on the Gold Coast