[COM] Memorial Drive upgrade

[Brucetiki]

I didn't realise that the show court was getting a makeover as well until I drove past the site today. What looks like a mini version of the centre court roof has been erected and the court has been sunken to allow for more seating. I know there are a lot of detractors here but I honestly think MD is becoming quite a decent 'boutique' tennis centre.


Source

I was one of those detractors but I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised at how this project is coming along. Once the MD upgrade has been completed and if the new Arena gets built, we could be in the running to host a real annual tennis tournament in the lead up to the Australian Open.

We had an ATP/WTA 250 tournament in 2020 and a WTA 500 tournament in 2021.

Realistically, that's probably the best we're going to get in terms of tennis tournaments.

[rev]

We could try get the ATP Finals series, which comes in just under the main Grand Slams.
We could also try and get included in the ATP Master series, three of the tournaments are held in the US and the Shanghai Masters was cancelled this year.

We don't necessarily have to aim only for the lowest tier the ATP 250 only.

Could also go for the WTA Finals event. And a WTA 1000 tournament. These are the top toers behind the Grand Slams.

[AndyWelsh]

Big update for you of progress today:














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[AndyWelsh]

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[VinyTapestry849]

Why couldn't we have just bulldozed the old one and built a fantastic world-class venue instead of such a band-aid solution? It's an eyesore.

[rev]

Why couldn't we have just bulldozed the old one and built a fantastic world-class venue instead of such a band-aid solution? It's an eyesore.

But you're in support of the arena across the river.

[VinyTapestry849]

Why couldn't we have just bulldozed the old one and built a fantastic world-class venue instead of such a band-aid solution? It's an eyesore.

But you're in support of the arena across the river.

Because it's worth building and it's not a band-aid solution.

[rev]

Why couldn't we have just bulldozed the old one and built a fantastic world-class venue instead of such a band-aid solution? It's an eyesore.

But you're in support of the arena across the river.

Because it's worth building and it's not a band-aid solution. Go and bother someone else with your sarcasm.

What is it that you actually want to see, the new arena proposed across the river?.. Or a full blown upgrade of Memorial Drive?
Do you think having both would be financially viable for those venues?

[VinyTapestry849]

But you're in support of the arena across the river.

Because it's worth building and it's not a band-aid solution. Go and bother someone else with your sarcasm.

What is it that you actually want to see, the new arena proposed across the river?.. Or a full blown upgrade of Memorial Drive?
Do you think having both would be financially viable for those venues?

What I want is the river bank arena. I also would have liked the memorial drive to have been bulldozed and have been built from scratch instead of putting a crappy roof over it and calling it a day basically.

[Patrick_27]

Because it's worth building and it's not a band-aid solution. Go and bother someone else with your sarcasm.

What is it that you actually want to see, the new arena proposed across the river?.. Or a full blown upgrade of Memorial Drive?
Do you think having both would be financially viable for those venues?

What I want is the river bank arena. I also would have liked the memorial drive to have been bulldozed and have been built from scratch instead of putting a crappy roof over it and calling it a day basically.

You didn't answer his question... As mentioned, having both venues wouldn't be viable, so which is it to be?

[VinyTapestry849]

What is it that you actually want to see, the new arena proposed across the river?.. Or a full blown upgrade of Memorial Drive?
Do you think having both would be financially viable for those venues?

What I want is the river bank arena. I also would have liked the memorial drive to have been bulldozed and have been built from scratch instead of putting a crappy roof over it and calling it a day basically.

You didn't answer his question... As mentioned, having both venues wouldn't be viable, so which is it to be?

Why wouldn't it be viable? Ones for tennis, ones for events. Who's saying its not???

[gnrc_louis]

What I want is the river bank arena. I also would have liked the memorial drive to have been bulldozed and have been built from scratch instead of putting a crappy roof over it and calling it a day basically.

You didn't answer his question... As mentioned, having both venues wouldn't be viable, so which is it to be?

Why wouldn't it be viable? Ones for tennis, ones for events. Who's saying its not???

A 10,000-15,000 seat stadium at Memorial Drive solely for tennis + the Riverbank Arena would be a colossal waste of resources.

[VinyTapestry849]

You didn't answer his question... As mentioned, having both venues wouldn't be viable, so which is it to be?

Why wouldn't it be viable? Ones for tennis, ones for events. Who's saying its not???

A 10,000-15,000 seat stadium at Memorial Drive solely for tennis + the Riverbank Arena would be a colossal waste of resources.

1. It was never going to be 15k seats, the site purely isn't big enough. I they wanted that many then they'd have to build up.
2. It would hold tennis events all year round, but even if it was built or not it, both options will still be slow to gain profits large enough to cover the debt
Its a band-aid solution what they're doing now and not worth it imo

[Patrick_27]

Why wouldn't it be viable? Ones for tennis, ones for events. Who's saying its not???

A 10,000-15,000 seat stadium at Memorial Drive solely for tennis + the Riverbank Arena would be a colossal waste of resources.

1. It was never going to be 15k seats, the site purely isn't big enough. I they wanted that many then they'd have to build up.
2. It would hold tennis events all year round, but even if it was built or not it, both options will still be slow to gain profits large enough to cover the debt
Its a band-aid solution what they're doing now and not worth it imo

Good planning would find the space for an arena on Memorial Drive, be that through the removal of Memorial Drive (the road)/redirecting it, or using site of both the current tennis centre and the Next Gen gym. Had the funding and support of the state government been there from the get-go there would have been the funding for it to be a 15,000 seat arena; however Labor spent years mulling over a new CBD arena whilst the Libs had other plans with AVM. The current situation we're presented with is as stupid as the Libs election pitch in 2014 for a new stadium over the rail yards for AFL while maintaining Adelaide Oval for cricket. Why have two large capacity venues within a stones throw of each other operating on alternate seasons when you could have one venue multi-tasking both sporting codes? The EXACT same applies here.

[VinyTapestry849]

A 10,000-15,000 seat stadium at Memorial Drive solely for tennis + the Riverbank Arena would be a colossal waste of resources.

1. It was never going to be 15k seats, the site purely isn't big enough. I they wanted that many then they'd have to build up.
2. It would hold tennis events all year round, but even if it was built or not it, both options will still be slow to gain profits large enough to cover the debt
Its a band-aid solution what they're doing now and not worth it imo

Good planning would find the space for an arena on Memorial Drive, be that through the removal of Memorial Drive (the road)/redirecting it, or using site of both the current tennis centre and the Next Gen gym. Had the funding and support of the state government been there from the get-go there would have been the funding for it to be a 15,000 seat arena; however Labor spent years mulling over a new CBD arena whilst the Libs had other plans with AVM. The current situation we're presented with is as stupid as the Libs election pitch in 2014 for a new stadium over the rail yards for AFL while maintaining Adelaide Oval for cricket. Why have two large capacity venues within a stones throw of each other operating on alternate seasons when you could have one venue multi-tasking both sporting codes? The EXACT same applies here.

Thats True tbh.