The ACT government was urged to consider building a 10,000-seat indoor arena as part of a stadium precinct, newly-released documents have shown.
Documents, released under freedom of information, show the government was told to consider the arena as part of a proposed Civic stadium.
The proposed precinct would have included a 30,000-seat rectangular sports stadium, a 10,000-seat arena, a shared outside broadcast compound, hotel and public transport hub.
The government was also told to consider partnering with property developers to off-set the development costs of a new stadium and entertainment precinct.
The report, prepared by MI Associates, was prepared in 2017 as Venues Canberra was preparing a brief to inform the location of a major event and entertainment precinct.
"This precinct would include a replacement stadium and arena. The precinct would be designed to attract new events, visitors and locals, increasing the quality of offering to current attendees and maximise economic benefits to the city and surrounds," the report said.
The report said any stadium redevelopment must be on a site where there was the opportunity to develop other entertainment facilities otherwise it would not be financially viable.
"Over the last decade there has been a shift away from the development of single-purpose focused spaces to the creation of flexible spaces that cater for a more diverse event calendar, focused on live entertainment rather than purely sport," the report said.
"A stadium redevelopment by itself is unlikely to provide a fully self-funding investment stream. In selecting a site, it must have the opportunity to develop other class assets such as the hotel, commercial, retail, education or a centre of sports excellence."
The report said the government should consider building the arena alongside the Civic stadium. It said the arena should have the capacity to include different seating models to allow for crowds of 2500, 5000 and 10,000.
The government was also urged to consider partnering with a private investor for the project.
"Government funding would be required to support the overall development of a precinct concept to attract private investment, and to realise the potential," the report said.
"The opportunity to partner with property and/or development investors should be considered to both off-set the development costs and, to drive the marketing, uptake and ongoing utilisation of the site.
"Though these benefits would need to be assessed against the risks, where a private developer may look to seek short-term high-yield outcomes that compromise the sports, tourism and community values of the precinct."
The 10,000-seat arena is not the same as the 8000-seat music venue currently under consideration by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, which he said could be placed on the Civic pool site.
Mr Barr revealed plans for a music venue, loosely modelled on Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, in an interview with The Canberra Times last year.
In the interview he said the proposed pavilion could potentially host basketball games but its purpose was to fill a gap "bigger than" the Australian Institute of Sport arena.
This proposal does not include a stadium.
Mr Barr said last year a stadium on the Civic pool site was at risk of being "dead space" if the project went ahead. He has since said the government was instead considering replacing the ageing pool with a 8000-seat music venue.
A group of Canberra's peak tourism, business, hospitality and sporting bodies have recently launched a bid to build a new stadium and convention centre in Civic. The group's plans include a stadium that would be able to be built on the existing site, eliminating the need to move Parkes Way.
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