The A-League Men team Sydney FC are set to seek millions of dollars in compensation from the Venues NSW to account for the findings of an impending review into their abode – the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) – faltering drainage system which the A-League club fears could block them from playing games at their home ground until 2026.
‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ stated that the review, due to be completed in the coming weeks, is expected to recommend the $828 million stadium – which only opened in September 2022 – be shut down for at least six weeks for remediation work required to address the ongoing issues with the playing surface to be carried out.
The Sydney Football Club, commonly known as the Sydney FC, is a professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier Men’s league in Australia, the A-League Men.
The 42,500-capacity Sydney Football Stadium, currently known as the Allianz Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multipurpose stadium in Moore Park, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Built as a replacement for the original now-demolished 45,500-capacity Sydney Football Stadium it officially opened on August 28th, 2022, and serves as the residence of the Sydney FC.
The Venues NSW is an agency of the Government of New South Wales that owns and operates several sporting facilities across New South Wales, Australia.
‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ further stated that no tenant at the Allianz Stadium will be hit harder than ‘The Sky Blues’ who play more games at the Moore Park per season than the Australian professional rugby league football club Sydney Roosters or the Australian professional rugby union team New South Wales Waratahs but, as the Sydney FC Chief Executive Mark Aubrey has noted that the top-flight team always seem to get the rough end of the stick as the Government agency tries to strike a balance between the requirements of the sporting teams with the need to generate big financial returns from the major events.
The Sydney FC is already frustrated by the lifting of restrictions on how many concerts can be held at the Allianz Stadium per year. Most of those will take place in the Summer months, during the A-League season, and each concert stage inevitably leads to turf damage – impacting soccer, due to the nature of the game, far more than the other football codes which can cope with a less-than-perfect surface.
But the prospect of a lengthy lockout – so soon after spending four years as nomads playing their home games at the 20,500-capacity Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in Kogarah and the 20,000-capacity Leichhardt Oval in Lilyfield as they awaited construction of the new Allianz – has further raised the Sydney FC’s ire.
The club’s business model is effectively built around the amenities at the Allianz Stadium through corporate hospitality, sponsorship signage and premium memberships – particularly the Tunnel Club, a pricey VIP section in which the fans can view the players warming up and walking out onto the field pre-match, an experience that cannot be replicated elsewhere. The club holds further fears about how the disruption could affect walk-up ticket sales and general momentum across the season, on and off the field.
Sources close to the situation, who were not permitted to speak publicly, say a specific compensation figure has not been discussed yet between the club and the Venues NSW. However, ‘The Sky Blues’ received $5 million per season from the Government when they were displaced after the old Allianz Stadium was knocked down – equating to roughly $350,000 per match across 14 home games.
That figure, according to the sources, is likely to guide what the Sydney FC will ask for this time around – as a minimum. So, for example, if they were forced to take six home games to Kogarah or Leichhardt, they could seek as much as $3 million from the Government.
Even in the best-case scenario of a six-week lockout the timing of the resurfacing could sting ‘The Sky Blues’. The club does not expect the work to begin until after the Wallabies (the Australia national rugby union team) host Argentina on September 13th, nor for a new surface to be relaid until after concerts by Kendrick Lamar (American rapper and singer) and Dom Dolla (Australian music producer and DJ) in December. There is also an international break in November which means that if there happens to be a small window between in which they can return to the Allianz Stadium their opportunities to do so might be limited.
It means that with the A-League Men’s fixture list to be released by the end of July a good portion of the Sydney FC’s home games will be scheduled with the venue to be confirmed (TBC).
Added Aubrey, “We are working with the Venues NSW and are doing our best to manage these issues. However, our proposals have so far been rejected. As a worst-case scenario we may not get access to our home pitch until January and that would be extremely damaging to our season from a commercial and competitions perspective. It’s frustrating that football and the Sydney FC, as the stadium’s only Summer tenant who plays the most games at the venue, will once again have to wear the brunt of these issues.”
The Allianz Stadium’s drainage problems made international news recently after the rugby union team British & Irish Lions Coach Andy Farrell – presumably unaware of the venue’s history – accused the NSW Waratahs of watering the field before Saturday night’s game for tactical reasons.
Last season, the A-League players rated the Allianz Stadium as the second-worst surface in the competition – behind only the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane – through regular polling conducted by the players’ union – the Professional Footballers Australia.
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