Brisbane 2032 organisers have left the door open to a proposed ballpark in Logan to host baseball and softball during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, despite no guarantee it will be built.
asserted
it → leave → guarantee
A pre-feasibility report into what would be a privately built stadium went before Logan City Council on Wednesday morning, but city planning, economic and community development general manager David Radich told councillors no private funding had been secured.
asserted
funding → build → councillors
“There are people that are generally interested [in investing], but there are no people that have committed to funding the stadium,” he said.
asserted
he → be → stadium
Interest to build the privately funded 4000-seat stadium, which could be expanded to 10,000 for the Olympics, had come from both Australia and overseas, Radich said, but he would not reveal from whom.
uncertain
he → build → whom
The pre-feasibility report noted the $156 million facility would be a harder sell for potential investors if baseball and softball were not included in the 2032 Olympic Games.
asserted
baseball → note → Games
Asked whether the proposed ballpark was part of Brisbane 2032’s thinking when it came to deliberations about the Games’ sports roster, organising committee president Andrew Liveris remained open to the idea.
asserted
Liveris → ask → idea
“We are in the process of assessing a range of sports and venues ahead of our sports program being confirmed and Venue Master Plan being progressed,” he said.
“Until such point in time that sports and venues are confirmed, we’re not ruling anything in or out.”
asserted
we → assess → anything
The proposal was largely met with positivity from Logan councillors on Wednesday morning.
asserted
proposal → meet → morning
Division 2 councillor Teresa Lane said the council should embrace the idea and “dream about something different”.
asserted
council → say → something
“When I go overseas and I go to countries and I see whack-a-doodle ideas come to fruition, I enjoy the living daylights out of them – things like Ba Na Hills in Vietnam and Ski Dubai,” she said.
asserted
she → go → Vietnam
“I always think it’s not actually for the residents that live there, but there are income-generating possibilities.”
asserted
that → think → residents
Mayor Jon Raven, who has championed the ballpark for more than a year, said it was “always a little bit of a niche concept” to pursue, but he suspected the community would get behind high-level baseball if it were on offer.
“The community is interested in sport and if it’s a low-cost activity that’s easy to get to, they’ll do it locally,” he said.
asserted
he → champion → it
“They’re not going to go all the way into Brisbane or the Gold Coast for something like that, but if it’s available locally, I think they’ll get involved.”
asserted
they → go → that
Raven said if the ballpark did not “stack up” for investors, it would not stack up for ratepayers.
asserted
it → say → ratepayers
“[We’ve been] able to access the big investors overseas in the US, in Taiwan, in Japan, who are absolutely mad about baseball and would just flex on the fact that they’ve got an Olympic-standard baseball diamond built and constructed in Logan,” he said.
asserted
he → access → Logan
“If nothing else, [this process] has turned the eyes of many investors to Logan where they had never been before, and it’s opened Griffith’s eyes to the fact that there is a lot of interest in their campus.”
asserted
it → turn → campus
Queensland Sport and Olympics Minister Tim Mander played down the Logan stadium on Tuesday, saying an alternative site, which was yet to be made public, had been identified for diamond sports should they be included for 2032.
asserted
they → play → 2032
But Raven said cynics should “watch this space”.
asserted
cynics → say → space
“We’re still hustling as hard as we can to try and find an investor, whether they’re local or overseas, and hopefully we’ll be able to land a couple of extra stadiums for Logan before the Olympics,” he said.
asserted
he → hustle → Olympics
Baseball Australia chief executive Glenn Williams, along with Softball Australia, has been involved in a years-long campaign for 2032 inclusion.
asserted
Williams → involve → inclusion
“We’ve been well aware of what Logan would like to do for the proposed facility and we’ve shared ideas and plans around it,” he said.
asserted
he → like → it
“Anyone who’s interested in putting in an international baseball [and] softball facility is someone we’re supportive of.”
asserted
we → ’ → facility
Williams said Olympic inclusion would be a huge boost to his sport’s participation rates.
asserted
inclusion → say → rates
“There are some sports that take [Olympic status] for granted at times,” he said.
asserted
he → be → times
“For us, who’ve been on the Olympic calendar and off the Olympic calendar again, we realise the importance of actually being on that runway and having a team competing in the 2032 Games.”
asserted
we → realise → Games
Baseball is popular in East Asia, making it an attractive product for Olympic broadcasters in markets such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines, in addition to traditional markets in the Americas.
asserted
it → make → Americas
The Aporia
