After overcrowding issues and hundreds of complaints over the past few years, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras after-party could move to Allianz Stadium following a plan by the NSW Labor Government to increase the number of events that can be held there each year.
NSW Premier Chris Minns slammed the years-old cap on Sydney events each year, commenting that the cap meant that NSW was missing out on millions of dollars a year in economic activity and the tourism and jobs it brings with it.
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras CEO Albert Kruger said there were no plans to move next year’s 2024 after-party to Allianz Stadium, but that after discussions with the government, if Mardi Gras organisers wished to relocate the event, they could. Allianz Stadium can accommodate 55,000 people.
“Ever since the after-party began to bring in big international acts, it’s suffered from being too exclusive and not an event that can accommodate the whole community,” said Paddington resident Ben Blackburn.
“If it wasn’t the escalating ticket prices, it was the vanishing ticket availability, and if you were lucky enough to get a ticket you still weren’t guaranteed to be able to get into the Hordern itself.”
A potential move of the after-party to the Sydney Football Stadium would “make the event more equitable – and just like the Domain parties of WorldPride, more fun”, said Blackburn, who is also supportive of the other proposed changes to how the Sydney Football Stadium operates.
While events at Sydney Football Stadium and the Sydney Cricket Ground have been a point of contention for residents worried about noise and traffic, Minns earlier this month sent a blunt message to opponents of the change that the precinct belongs to the city, not to them.
“If Sydney, which is a city of millions of people with a vibrant and active nightlife with many, many young people, it’s going to be active and have an energy to it, and it can’t act like the town from Footloose where we try and stop all activity after dark,” he said.
Stay tuned!
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