ADELAIDE OVAL – WHO PAYS – WHO BENEFITS

The proposed upgrade of Adelaide Oval would appear to be a political folly, as the numbers to not appear to support this proposal.

I do not have access to the actual numbers but using the information bandied in the press and some basic assumptions to be economically viable, ticket prices would be beyond the reach of many.

Using the following assumptions the cost of capital and maintenance per ticket alone would exceed $50.

Assumptions                                                                      $

Capital Cost                                                        600,000,000

Annual Maintenance (say 3%)                              18,000,000

Total Seating Capacity                                                 50,000

Average Paying Patrons                                               30,000

Number of Events per Year                                                30

Costings

Interest/Return on Investment (say5%)                 30,000,000

Capital Cost per Ticket                                                      33

Maintenance per Ticket                                                      20

Capital and Maintenance per Ticket                                   53

If maintenance costs were only 1%, the capital and maintenance cost of the ticket would still be $40.

On top of this are the costs of running Adelaide Oval (staff, water, electricity etc) and the costs of staging the event (AFL, Cricket, Entertainment).

Will the attendees pay the full cost of the event, or will the privileged few, benefit from the taxes we will all be paying to support this folly.  As a commercial enterprise, I doubt that anyone would support it.