How much have stadium studies cost taxpayers? We tried to find out

The mere mention of the number seven when it comes to stadium studies can get the goat up of some parts of the government. So let's clear things up here. Yes, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has commissioned another study into a stadium option. But no, it's not a seventh feasibility study.

After trawling back through the journey, which started in 2009, we've found the stadium mentioned in six studies over the past 15 years. Some of those were directly related to the stadium location or design, others had the stadium involved in wider pieces of work (ie the City to the Lake proposal).

The first study was in 2009, another in 2013, an update to he City to the Lake plan in 2015, then a new stadium investigation in 2017. There have been two more since then - a Civic and Exhibition Park analysis in 2020, and a Bruce site examination last year.

When Barr announced the latest study in February - a technical site analysis for Bruce, likely to focus on the old Raiders headquarters - it took the total to seven.

Apparently the number seven is considered lucky, so let's hope that's the case for the stadium.It got Locker Room thinking. How much have all these studies cost over the past 15 years?

We shot off an email to the government department in charge on the same day Barr announced the new Bruce study on February 7. The first response came a week later - the first study in 2017 cost $22,000. Cheap as chips, so not a bad start.

"The cost of the MI Associates report, Canberra Stadium and Arena Precinct (November 2017) was $22,000 (inc. GST)," a spokesperson said on February 14. "In relation to the other identified reports, we are looking back through records to ascertain these costs."

But since then? Nothing. We already know the 2020 Civic report cost $200,000 and the one last year was another $300,000.

The latest one is part of a wider $1.9 million study to look at an expanded sports, health and education precinct in Bruce, a new convention centre and a multi-purpose hall at Exhibition Park. It would be unfair to attribute the full cost of that to the stadium.

The 2017, 2020 and 2023 reports add up to $522,000 in money spent on reports. If the new Bruce study takes up another $200,000, and we add in the four unknown amounts we'll probably land somewhere close to $1 million.

But we're still waiting for a response to get the figures for the other studies. After sending follow up questions on March 15, and again in recent weeks, there has been no further information.

Lucky we're patient. Must be all that practice waiting for a new stadium for 15 years.

A bit of excitement bounced around the capital last week after Barr went on to the afternoon show - CBR Wrapped with Rod Cuddihy and Gabi Elgood - on Mix106.3 to chat about the AIS Arena and its impending reopening.

The tone of the conversation led many to believe it was back online and ready to roll. It is getting very close, but we checked and it's not at that stage yet.

The arena - which has been closed since 2020 - is in the final stages of remediation work to upgrade the problems which led to it being shut indefinitely during the first wave of COVID-19.

Plenty of interested parties have reached out to request bookings, including the Canberra Capitals. But the Australian Sports Commission - the arena's operator and owner - is still working on a management structure.

The Capitals are keen to take games back to the venue to avoid clashes with events at the convention centre. The problem is, the WNBL is yet to finalise its draw so it is making bookings difficult.

We've been contacted by plenty of readers asking for us to follow up reports of a brutal headbutt in the ANU v ADFA AFL Canberra game on Anzac Day.

The incident lit up Reddit after witnesses said they were horrified by what happened. After plenty of calls and emails, we finally got to the bottom of it.

The ADFA player in question was slapped with a five-week ban. It's a pretty hefty punishment when you consider a Fijian Drua player got a two-week ban for his attempt in a Super Rugby game earlier this year.

"AFL Canberra has a thorough disciplinary process in place to deal with any breach of our rules and policies to ensure action is taken in a fair, consistent and timely manner," a spokesman said.

"The league takes very seriously any behaviour or conduct that constitutes being a reportable offence.

"All reports made in AFL Canberra matches are dealt with by AFL NSW/ACT's centralised football operations management and match review panel.

"AFL Canberra has had ongoing contact with representatives of the ANU and ADFA clubs to ensure they are aware of the severity of the incident and the processes in place to ensure the appropriate sanction was handed to the offending player."

We told you last week about federal politician Andrew Leigh targeting a quirky milestone. Leigh was on the verge of completing an ironman hat-trick if he managed to finish the Port Macquarie event last weekend.

We're happy to report Leigh got through with flying colours and hit his target of "around the 11 hour mark".

The member for Fenner sent us a message to let us know his legs were slowly starting to move again. He did the 3.8 kilometre swim in 1:16 hours, the 180 kilometre in 6:19 hours and the 42.2 kilometre run in 3:46 hours.

What's next? Surely the Hawaii Ironman - a bucket list item for many athletes - is next on the list.

We keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting for an update on the A-League Men's bid for Canberra. Everyone seems to have gone to ground lately, unwilling to put a timeline on a Canberra team despite being so positive for more than 12 months.

It's understandable from an Australian Professional Leagues position. They've been dealing with the men's and women's finals series, and making some brutal calls about broadcast revenue and distribution to clubs.

It's been reported clubs could be facing a major hit, with funding to drop to around $1 million. That is yet to be confirmed, but it would be a 70 per cent drop from this season.

Canberra soccer fans are still eager to jump on board the A-League Men's train, despite the competition's struggles. We hear the investor funding is still sitting there waiting for approval. It seems likely the women's team will be the initial focus before a men's team joins later.