No, stadium
construction costs are half that i.e £126m. As I understand it, these costs are going to be borne by private developers, in return for access to the site for other pruposes (industrial, retail, housing etc). Private developers are not going to put up the money to build a stadium unless they can be persuaded that the linked development rights are worth AT LEAST that amount (otherwise there would be no potential for profit). Therefore, the Taxpayer is foregoing a site which could otherwise be sold for £126m+. On top of that, the Government is pledging to spend another £114m of taxpayers money to provide necessary infrastucture (transport, roads, etc).
Therefore, the true cost to the taxpayer of this proposal is £240m Stg. And that is for a medium sized stadium, in the middle of a field in the country. All of which comes before the estimated operating cost to the taxpayer for the first four years alone of another £37m! Plus any overruns in the infrastructure. This is an absolutely insane amount for a stadium which none of the three sports really needs or wants.
Why not forget the stadium and auction the site for development to the highest bidder, on condition that the successful bidder builds the infrastructure himself? That way, all the risk falls upon the developers, and none on the Government.
Meanwhile, the Government could take the £37million and divide it pro rata between the three sports to use as each thinks best for itself. Rugby could develop Ravenhill etc, the GAA Casement (or wherever) and the IFA could use their share either to fund the redevelopment of Windsor, or in conjunction with BCC, help secure the best of the two or three privately-funded stadia which have been mooted for Belfast.
P.S. Does anyone in his right mind really believe that such a project will come in at less than forecast? The forecast itself has more than doubled since this scheme was first proposed!
Even with the Government's own optimistic estimate, there will only be 23 events per year. How is it going to be economic to build ancilliary facilities, other than a few dreary takeaways, a couple of "theme" bars and a Travellodge etc? Remember, this is a former prison site, itself built on the site of a former airfield. Sites for prisons and airfields are chosen precisely because they are away from everything else. As I understand it, the Maze is three miles from Lisburn and nearly two miles from the nearest Railway line (no station, not even a halt, btw). Lisburn doesn't even have a hotel ffs! All the roads around the Maze are farm roads i.e. little better than single lane in places. The only feasible access will be down one single spur, as yet unbuilt, from the M1 (itself only two lanes in each direction), along which 95% of the traffic will have to travel. (There are neither plans nor budget for any Rail link, btw).
Therefore, for a midweek game, hoping to attract, say, 30k fans, this will mean maybe 10k vehicles all converging on the one exit of a dual carriageway to get to the same destination. At the same time as the Belfast rush-hour is using Belfast's main artery to/from the South and West. Maybe in winter, when it's dark and wet. And that's only getting to the game.
Afterwards, those self-same 10-15k vehilces will all be starting up as soon as the final whistle goes, since there will be absolutely sod-all reason for hanging around an empty stadium, in an empty industrial park, surrounded by fields. Madness.
Windsor could easily and cheaply be redeveloped to a capacity of 20-25k, which is what most fans think is adequate. (My grandfather was once part of a 70k crowd at Windsor, btw, though they really crammed them in in those days!) Myself, I'd go for bigger (30-35k) in a new stadium somewhere in Belfast. Either is preferable to the Maze (imo)
Only because the paddock in front of the SS is closed to standing fans. Knock down the SS and re-build close to the pitch. There should be more than adequate space for a 6-8k seater stand. (Btw, the SS is only one stand - both the North and the Kop are quite close enough. At the Maze, all four stands will be very distant - esp in the corners)
I don't know how many stadia I've visited (over 80 in GB alone), but it's well into 3 figures, covering several sports, in four continents. It is quite clear that unless designing an iconic venue (e.g. Beijing Olympics), for reasons of cost, engineering constraints, logistics, sightlines and comfort and safety, all modern stadia fall into one of two categories. Small to medium are often "shoebox"-style i.e. four rectangular stands around a pitch. Medium to large stadia are usually "wraparound" bowls. You can incorporate all the fancy Arches (Wembley) or cladding (Munich) yopu like, but they are increasingly becoming entirely homogenised - like the fans, as it happens. This accounts for the loss of atmosphere, even at redeveloped traditional stadia, like Old Trafford.
I don't know about GAA, but I absolutely guarantee that if/when the Maze is ever built, recreating the atmosphere of the Windsor Roar won't even feature in the build spec.
P.S. I'm no Linfield fan, or even of Windsor Park (I'd prefer new in Belfast), but as someone who's seen sport in all sorts of places, I can't remember anything better than the second half of that Saturday night last November when 14k GAWA sounded like 44k, as we roared the lads to victory against Denmark from a goal down. Priceless.
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Originally Posted by Steve Bruce
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