Three new Sydney stadiums will be built in the next 10 years and a new super trust set up to run major sporting infrastructure under a $1.6 billion plan unveiled by Mike Baird on Friday.
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But the Premier's stadium strategy was light on many details, pending negotiations with sporting bodies that will be invited to lock in games and possibly funding to help secure the venues.
A new 30,000 seat stadium to be built at Parramatta on the site of the existing Pirtek Stadium will be the first new stadium built. Mr Baird said he hoped it would be finished by 2019 and cost about $300 million.
At some point in the next decade there would also be a new 55,000-seat stadium at Moore Park to replace Allianz Stadium, and a new indoor sporting facility built in the inner city. No cost was provided for either proposal.
The overall package requires an extra $1 billion beyond the $600 million Mr Baird has already said would be funded from the proceeds of the privatisation of electricity assets.
"We have fallen behind the rest of the nation. We've fallen behind the rest of the world, and what we want to do is put us back on top," Mr Baird said.
But he defended the lack of detail behind the plans on the basis they could only be locked in once negotiations with sporting codes were settled.
"This is a significant amount of money and we are happy to provide that, but it is done on the basis of partnerships with the codes," Mr Baird said.
He cited the situation in Melbourne, where ownership of Etihad Stadium would revert to the AFL.
"We are absolutely open to that as well," he said.
"Whether it be content or whether it be financial contributions, we are happy to engage," he said.
The rationale for the $1.6 billion plan is to raise Sydney's stadiums to a level beyond those in other cities.
Sports Minister Stuart Ayres said: "It's not just about the size and the capacity, but it is about things like the ability for a female to access a toilet in an appropriate period of time; it is about being able to get through food lines. All of those things are crucially important to the experience."
To help allocate the funding, a new body is proposed to take the place of the existing Sydney Cricket Ground & Sports Ground Trust and ANZ Stadium board, which have been competing for events.
"For too long we've been fighting amongst ourselves rather than taking the fight up to every other city," Mr Ayres said.
Mr Ayres said this new board might not be set up by the end of the year.
The other elements of the stadium plan included a proposal to upgrade ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, which might include bringing seats closer to the sidelines of a rectangular field, or a retractable roof.
The site for the new indoor sporting facility in inner Sydney remains undetermined, as does the date at which the new Moore Park stadium would be built.
Beyond the next decade, Mr Baird said, a new stadium for outer western Sydney should also be built.
Labor's sports spokesman, Guy Zangari, said "the mix brought forward is probably what needs to be done" but criticised the vagueness of the proposals.
"If you're making a significant announcement about sporting infrastructure, wouldn't you know the details?" he said. "We've just been given ideas."
The new Parramatta stadium will provide a home for the Eels and for the Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Secretary of Unions NSW, Mark Lennon, criticised the focus on Moore Park.
"Why has the development of Allianz been prioritised ahead of ANZ?" Mr Lennon said. "Allianz is too far away from where most of Sydney's sports fans reside."
