"Knock the Gabba down" - Australia legend Allan Border calls for selling iconic venue
Australia legend Allan Border has called to "knock down" the Gabba or the Brisbane Cricket Ground and sell the property. He wants the proceeds to finance a new 60,000-seat stadium in Queensland amid uncertainty around the iconic ground's future.
Discussions about demolishing and upgrading the 129-year-old venue have been going on for a long time. However, the Queensland government recently rejected a plan to rebuild the Gabba for the 2032 Olympic Games for $2.7 billion and one for constructing a new oval stadium at Victoria Park for $3.4 billion.
Given the uncertainty, Cricket Australia (CA) is reportedly considering excluding Queensland from its Test venue lists after the 2025/26 Ashes, even though Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide will continue to host Tests till 2030-31.
“I’d be knocking down the Gabba and building a new venue from scratch at Victoria Park," Border told the Queensland masthead. "A brand new 60,000-seat stadium suits rugby, cricket, Aussie rules, and the Olympics, and the Gabba becomes housing.”
Instead of investing in a new venue, the Queensland government has approved a $2.7 billion plan to upgrade the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC), Suncorp Stadium, and the Gabba to prepare for the Olympics. The move hasn't gone down well among the sporting fraternity of the country, with major voices saying Australia needs to be better prepared for an event as big as the Games.
“Because we have an election coming up, nobody wants to touch the hot potato of announcing where the main venue would be. But I’ll have a crack and say knock the Gabba down for urban renewal, and because it’s on the city fringe, you could probably pay for the Olympics just by selling the property,” Border added.
The Gabba was Australia's most ferocious fortress for many a decade until India broke the streak in 2021. Still, Australia has just lost 10 of the 66 men’s Tests here, winning 42, drawing 13, and tying one.
"It’s sad, but they’ve got to have some certainty" - Border
The former Australia captain, who has a bronze statue at the Gabba, also suggested that CA can't be blamed for not giving the venue any games if there's such uncertainty around the venue.
"They haven’t got any certainty about the Gabba, so we’re off the roster,” he said in the same interaction. “It’s sad, but they’ve got to have some certainty, probably over the next four years, if they can use the Gabba or not.”
As of now, the only Tests the Gabba could be sure of hosting would be against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and against England in the next year's Ashes.