New 80,000 Capacity Brisbane Stadium Highlights A 2032 Olympics Bid

Plans for an 80,000 seat Brisbane stadium have been revealed as the highlight of a 2032 Olympics bid for South-East Queensland, in a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Thomas Bach.

In the meeting, Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, Australian Olympic Committee president, John Coates, and Star Entertainment Group chairman, John O’Neill, presented the plans, stating the stadium would host the athletics and opening and closing ceremonies.

Along with the stadium, it was announced the bid masterplan includes two athlete’s villages, a faster rail network linking Brisbane and the Gold Coast and a second M1 Highway.

Premier Palaszczuk told Bach ‘there is no other place like Queensland on the planet’ and ‘we will provide a safe and welcoming Games.’

Australian Olympic Committee president, John Coates, said a new facility would need to be built, however, there was no requirement for it to seat 80,000 people, arguing a smaller venue would be enough.

“The maximum is 60,000, that’s what’s been provided in Tokyo, that’s what London provided,” he said.

“And that could be a stadium that could reduce to a lesser amount afterwards, depending on what the legacy is going to be; no requirement for 80,000.

“But probably, I think, a new stadium has to be prepared, but similar to the way that it was done with London, it could reduce to something afterwards.

“The days of 80,000, the days of 115,000 for Sydney is not required,” Mr Coates said.

Mr Coates said the Olympics would provide a boost to the entirety of Australian sport and leave a lasting impact for Queensland communities.

“Australian sport needs another impetus, it’s 32 years since we had the Games [Sydney 2000 Olympic] and we know what an impetus that was across a whole range of sports.

“Increased participation, there’ll be venues, the venues that have been talked of, the new ones, they’re all community venues that will be created in the most part, before the Games, they’ll be used by communities, they’ll be transformed for the Games and then they’ll go back to the communities afterwards,” he said.

If the proposal impresses the IOC, members of the Queensland delegation will present its final bid just before the Tokyo Olympics in July next year, with a final decision expected to be made by 2022.