“However, it currently does not meet the necessary standards.”
The plan for the Queensland Tennis Centre – jointly lodged in the 100-Day review by both tennis bodies – retained most existing infrastructure, adding a new arena, and increasing temporary and permanent seating capacity by a factor of thousands.
“We don’t believe we’ve gone overboard in terms of the requirements,” Pearson said.
“We’ve worked with the International Federation to come up with a plan that has been acceptable to them.
“[The plan] would ensure that amongst the … Pat Rafter Arena, plus a new one, plus the outside court seating – which will be all temporary – we can get somewhere close to what we need.”
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He said the International Tennis Federation required an arena that could seat 10,000 people, as well as smaller arenas with seating capacities of 5000 and 3000 each.
The Queensland Tennis Centre’s main arena – the Pat Rafter Arena – currently holds 5500 permanent seats.
Pearson added the proposed upgrades aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s “new norms”, which steer host cities away from expensive facilities unlikely to be used for future events.
“We don’t need something that can seat 14,000 people … I think we’ve got a great stadium here in Pat Rafter Arena, [but] if we can get a second arena, that would be fantastic, and we can build temporary seats for all the other courts.
The Queensland Tennis Centre hosts the Brisbane International – founded in 2009, a year after the centre was built – which broke attendance records in December last year.
Across the event’s eight days, 100,333 people attended, and four sessions broke all-time attendance records.
The Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority’s review findings are set to be released on March 25.
