Magazine - A Look at the New ACT Stadium in World Cup bid

By Editor in Football on 17th May 2010 23:10

A new $270 million rectangular stadium will ensure Canberra will be one of the biggest winners if Australia secures the hosting rights to a soccer World Cup.

This vision of a new stadium which could potentially host a World Cup quarter-final is now sitting on the desks of international soccer's governing body. The Football Federation Australia and the Federal Government confirmed yesterday that Canberra would get a 40,000-seat stadium if Australia won the rights to the 2018 or 2022 tournaments.

The new stadium, understood to cost $270million, would take three years to build and would sit alongside the existing Canberra Stadium. The ACT Government would contribute $100million in current dollars to the construction.

The stadium would be part of a massive nationwide upgrade of football grounds at an overall cost of $2.8billion.

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said last night the territory was committed to the stadium project, although it would only go ahead if the bid was successful. ''A major stadium of this type would obviously be well beyond the capacity of the ACT to afford by itself and this is an opportunity if the bid succeeds to secure a magnificent piece of sporting infrastructure for the territory,'' Mr Stanhope said.

Source & More: www.canberratimes.com.au

Read more articles in Football, by Editor or from May 2010.