ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has sought to manage "everyone's expectations" on the timeline and priorities for the improvement of the capital's major sports venues, including Canberra Stadium, AIS Arena and the speculated potential of Civic.
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Brumbies and Raiders fans are unlikely to see any work occur on Canberra Stadium until 2025 at the earliest, and Barr ruled out any prospect of a brand new venue at Bruce being built.
"Nothing's changing in the next three or four years," he said.
"It's not, in the short-term, on the infrastructure priority list. It's on the medium-term list.
"It'll be for the second half of the decade. So we're playing at Canberra Stadium until at least 2025-2026.
"I just need to get everyone's expectations at that point, that there's nothing coming, there's no room in our budget for a brand new stadium."
Mr Barr did say there had been talks held with the new Labor government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for "potentially rebuilding a new stand in place of the Meninga Stand at Canberra Stadium", as well as sorting out "the future of the AIS precinct".
The Chief Minister said the federal government have already set aside funding for the AIS Arena - which has been closed since 2020 - to have climate-controlled air conditioning installed, but "a broader discussion on the future of the precinct" is ongoing.
They are awaiting further guidance from the Australian Sports Commission on its high performance priorities ahead of the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, Mr Barr said.
Improvements such a new stand at Canberra Stadium would increase capacity from around 27,000 to 30,000. For the ACT government it's an attractive "cheaper" option rather than a new building project to secure larger sporting events to the capital.
"But again, it's not going to happen in the next couple of years either," Mr Barr clarified.
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The Chief Minister was not enthusiastic about Civic as an option and believes the debate on the topic has been "misunderstood" by some.
"I think people have misunderstood the nature of the project, and what's possible on the site. You can only get a 20,000-seat stadium," he said.
"We have been told by the major sporting codes that for major international tournaments and for a lot of content, they want a 30,000-seat stadium before they'll bring the Australian teams here. That's not possible in Civic.
"So that's where making Canberra Stadium better and increasing its capacity option comes into the mix."
Mr Barr also gave an update on one of the big screens at Canberra Stadium which is currently out of order. He said replacement parts should have the screen functioning again within the next couple of weeks, with a new screen still six to 12 months away.
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