The ACT government will invest in ongoing maintenance at Canberra Stadium but will resist any temptation to pour millions of dollars into a major upgrade as it tries to lure the Australian rugby league, rugby union and soccer teams to the capital.
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Officials have put on hold any major work at Canberra Stadium, insisting it has "solid and good bones and confident that it is still capable of hosting international events despite plans for a new $300 million stadium with a roof in Civic being put on hold.
Building a new state of the art venue in Civic have been put off until after 2020 as the government foots the massive bill for the Mr Fluffy asbestos clean-up.
But the government will continue maintenance costs and Canberra Stadium general manager Liz Clarke is confident the ageing venue will be able to handle international fixtures if the Kangaroos, Wallabies and Socceroos agree to play in Canberra.
"We need to be clever with what we do out there. There will be some improvements as we move forward, but to have the Asian Cup say, 'Wow', that demonstrates that we're still world class," Clarke said.
"It would be amazing to have a new stadium. But what we've got is solid and has good bones ... I think it's just refurbishments, we will have a maintenance program so it will be business as usual. We will be able to attract the big games ... watch this space."
The Brumbies have revamped their match-day experience for fans in the hope of attracting more people back to the venue, including using fireworks for the first time in a regular season match and seeing up a pop-up bar and food stall outside the ground.
More than 13,000 fans watched the Brumbies smash the Queensland Reds 47-3 on Friday night, but that was offset by 55,000 people at the Multicultural Festival in Civic.
The government invested more than $5 million on upgrading Canberra Stadium from 2009-14, including a $2 million facelift last year.
The Meninga stand is nearing the end of its lifespan and will need ongoing maintenance for spectator comfort, but ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said investment would be limited in keeping the ground at an international standard.
"There's an annual Capital Upgrades budget which is several hundreds of thousands of dollars which can be used, Canberra Stadium's level of amenities will not drop," Barr said.
"But we're not going to pour tens of millions of dollars into the facility. We'll look at things we can do and things that we can share between venues [at Canberra Stadium and Manuka Oval].
"There won't be new stands built at Canberra Stadium or anything like that. The delay at the stadium in the city is a handful of years, not a decade. We'll make sure it's maintained."
The Canberra Stadium surface was described as the best during the Asian Cup soccer tournament last month.
Crowd numbers also exceeded expectations, with more than 82,000 fans attending the seven games in the capital and it has reinforced the belief that Canberra can host marquee events.
The government wants to build on the momentum of the past three years, aiming for a Wallabies Test, the rugby league World Cup in 2017 and the Twenty20 World Cup in 2020 loom as options.
"We know that after the Asian Cup with some investment in the look and feel, you can deliver a better match-day experience," Barr said.
"Getting the national teams to play at Canberra Stadium again is the highest priority."
