ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the inverted-bowl design was an interesting idea and he will examine the unsolicited submission for a Civic Stadium closely.

Barr said the Civic pool site still had its issues - including contamination - but the proposal outlining how to fit a 30,000-seat stadium on it was worth a closer look.

Canberra's leading tourism, business, hospitality and sporting bodies grouped together to create the plan, which they gave to both Barr and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Barr was impressed with the inverted-bowl stadium, which was one of the keys to the proposal.

It needed less space than other stadium designs because it used a series of upper tiers that were staggered inwards towards the field - as opposed to traditional designs where the stands slope further away from the playing field.

Barr had ruled out a Civic Stadium, stating it was too costly and problematic.

He'd moved towards a preference for redeveloping Canberra Stadium at Bruce, with Exhibition Park a back-up option.

Barr expected the cost of a Civic Stadium to be at the high end of the proposal's estimated $495-$736 million.

The submission called for the stadium to be part of next year's ACT and federal budgets, but Barr was adamant that wouldn't happen.

He doubted it would be in the federal budget either, but did say Canberra could expect a final decision in 2024.

"I welcome the initiative of bringing forward the submission," he said on Monday.

"There's many, many elements that need much more detailed examination.

"There's nothing I've seen yet that says, 'This is a goer', but there are some interesting ideas - particularly around stadium design.

"I think the costs for the stadium component are likely to be at the higher end of the spectrum that's been put there and that doesn't include any site contamination issues.

"We'll look at it, but I just want to very clear that there will be no announcements in the ACT budget next year of $1 billion for a new stadium."

Another one of the proposal's keys was Albanese's government gifting their ACT counterparts AIS land to help fund the project.

The federal government's currently considering what to do with the AIS site, but Australian Sports Commission chief executive Kieren Perkins has ruled out a mass land sale.

Barr said Albanese's government would need to change that position to enable AIS land to be redeveloped to help fund a Civic stadium.

The Prime Minster's office didn't respond to The Canberra Times' inquiries.

"I take on face value what Kieren Perkins said at the press club that the endorsed Australian government position then the land-swap element that is part of the proposal isn't on the table," Barr said.

"That would require the Commonwealth to reverse their position on that matter.

"We'll just have to take it as a preliminary unsolicited proposal ... but the one thing of value it does add is a stadium-design model that would fit on that site."

Barr was still cautious about the proposal and needed to have more detail before he could back the plan.

Contamination from the leaking pool was one issue that hadn't been considered by the submission, while he was also curious about how the stadium remained below the current height limit of 25 metres.

The submission stated the inverted-bowl design would satisfy Canberra's height requirements.

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Barr said there would need to be significant excavation downwards for this to be possible.

He backed the proposed roof model - taken from Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium - but said it needed to be tested to ensure the grass didn't get "cooked" in the Canberra summer.

"The issue itself will be the site itself has potentially quite significant contamination risks given there's been leaking from the pool for years," Barr said.

"It does require extensive excavation to have an inverted bowl for a stadium.

"It's not entirely clear to me is how you get that under the 25m height limit the site currently has.

"The steeper stands are an interesting concept, but you have to dig down a long way to keep it within a total height of 25m above ground level.

"Or you have to go through a planning variation, which obviously adds years to the process."

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