SYDNEY (Reuters) - Brisbane Olympic chief Andrew Liveris has weighed in on the debate over the venues for the 2032 Summer Games, saying he would "love" a purpose-built arena as the main stadium for the sporting spectacular.
Newly elected Queensland State Premier David Crisafulli last week announced a seven-member board would conduct a second review of the venue options and report within 100 days.
Crisafulli's predecessor Steven Miles had rejected a plan for a A$2.7 billion ($1.7 billion) revamp of Brisbane's Gabba cricket stadium as well as a proposed new A$3.4 billion Olympic stadium in the inner city's Victoria Park.
His solution, the use of the Lang Park rugby stadium to host the opening and closing ceremonies with the athletics taking place in the ageing QSAC venue in southern suburbs of the city, was described as an "embarrassment" by a group of local Olympic champions.
Crisafulli last week reiterated his view that a major new stadium was not required but Liveris, the president of the local organising committee, has come out strongly in favour.
Liveris said a revamped 30,000-capacity athletics stadium at QSAC would present revenue issues and a rebuilt Gabba would be restricted by the size of the site, leaving Victoria Park as the best solution if the transport links were right.
"What better visual than to have a new stadium at Vic Park? ... I would love it, to be perfectly frank," Liveris told the Toward The Games podcast.
"If a stadium like that appears at Victoria Park, that fits the future of cricket and football perfectly, and has private sector funding that gives it a return model like Optus Stadium out in Perth, of course Andrew Liveris would say at that 'wow, what a great answer for the Olympics'."
Most of all, though, Liveris said, he and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wanted some certainty over the venues so they could start planning properly.
The IOC awarded Brisbane the 2032 Olympics in 2021 but the advantage they enjoyed over previous hosts by having 11 years to prepare has largely been squandered by debate over the venues.
($1=1.5523 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
