There is still a long road ahead for the proposed $208 million upgrades at UTAS Stadium to be secured, with many factors playing into its timeline.
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The City of Launceston council announced its draft plans on Friday and the next steps for the concept depend heavily on the state government.
The Examiner has taken a look at what is needed next for the proposed upgrades.
State government's latest response
Since the upgrade announcement, the state government has remained tight lipped about if it will support the proposal and take ownership of UTAS Stadium.
It has stated it will not make a decision until the plans are endorsed by the council and presented to it formally.
Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson echoed what Premier Peter Gutwein has said when asked about the government's position.
On Monday, Mr Ferguson said it was a very exciting vision.
"If the report is adopted by the Launceston city council, we would invite them to provide that to us more of less as a submission to be considered in our stadia strategy," he said.
When asked how long the government would take to make a decision, if the council did approve and adopt the plan, Mr Ferguson said a timeline on the government making a decision could not be given.
"It would be a very big issue and a big consideration by the government, but of course with partnerships abounding we do see the excitement value around that," he said.
"It's got a lot to offer but its also big ask so we would be genuinely wanting to have a good look at it and work with council where appropriate."
What needs to happen?
The council proposed the project on its own, but it requires the state government to execute it.
If the state government does not take ownership, the upgrades will likely not take place. As a 2019 report found it was already a financial burden to the council and it would be unable to make significant upgrades. The report did not factor in the proposed costs of managing the envisioned year-round facility vision.
If the ownership was transferred it would be a matter of allocating funding and securing federal funding to make it happen. Alongside allocating yearly funding to be able to manage and run the stadium.
The preliminary timeline
Firstly, the council needs to approves the draft plan at its meeting on Thursday. This will be the trigger of a long road ahead.
The plans will need to be finalised, after extensive stakeholder and community consultation was undertaken.
At this stage it remains unclear if the council or the state government would be the one to finalise the upgrade plans. As the state government may reject taking ownership of the stadium until such a plan was finalised or its own stadia strategy completed.
If the plans were finalised, planning approval would then be sought and the project would go to tender. Before a company would be awarded the job and a construction timeline laid out.
A timeline on how long it will take to complete the upgrades has not been determined due to the infancy of the project.
Why the council has put the plans forward?
Launceston has not developed a new indoor sporting complex in more than 35 years.
The Northern Tasmanian Sporting Facilities Study in 2018 found there was a need to increase capacity of the region's indoor stadiums. With the existing three - Elphin, Silverdome and YMCA - not capable of meeting demand.
An additional nine courts were found to be needed in Launceston and up to four courts will be included in the proposed Northern Suburbs Recreation Hub in Mowbray, but an additional five were needed.
The draft plan propose three more at the Old Bike Track site.
Another factor was the costs associated with operating the stadium to the council.
It spends about $5.4 million each year on it, but factoring in other elements, such a revenue, it amounts to an average $2.55 million cost each year.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
