The New South Wales government "has bought back ANZ Stadium, securing the long-term dominance of rugby league and football in Sydney's west and ending the ambitions of one sports minister, while realising the dreams of another," according to Roy Masters of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.
The Baird government will pay up to A$220M ($162M) "to buy out the final 15 years of the ownership" of the former Olympic stadium by Infrastructure Capital Group, Australian Football League Chair Mike Fitzpatrick's majority-owned infrastructure fund manager.
The day-to-day operators of the stadium "will continue to be Stadium Australia Group, headed by CEO Daryl Kerry." A buyout of the remaining seven years of its contract "would have cost the taxpayer an additional" A$10M ($7.4M). More significantly, it means Premier Baird "has not handed control of the running of the Homebush stadium to the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust" with whom Sports Minister Stuart Ayres was closely aligned during the "stadium wars" when A$1.6B ($1.2B) in funding for sports infrastructure was "bitterly contested." With the "stadium wars" now over and most of the A$1.6B "to be spent converting ANZ from its current elliptical-shaped playing surface used by AFL to rectangular dimensions," the dream of former NSW Sports Minister Graham Annesley "has been achieved" (SMH, 6/14).
