Government stays quiet on operator bids
The Barnett Government has refused to detail which companies are in the running to operate the new major stadium at Burswood.
The expressions-of-interest period for the stadium operator contract closed this month and, while Transport Minister Dean Nalder issued a press release on Wednesday to name the consortiums who had put in bids to build the airport rail link, Sport Minister Mia Davies has refused to name prospective stadium operators.
Despite the Government's secrecy, _The West Australian _ can confirm that AEG Ogden and the WA Football Commission have submitted bids.
A spokesman for Melbourne Stadiums Limited, which runs Etihad Stadium, said it had never been interested in bidding for the Perth stadium and speculation that it had was wrong.
AEG Ogden runs Perth Arena for the State Government and operates other venues, including Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Allphones Arena in Sydney.
"AEG Ogden can confirm that we have submitted a response to the EOI process for the management of Perth stadium and we look forward to the possibility of this wonderful new stadium for WA benefiting from becoming part of the largest family of stadiums in the world, operated by AEG," chairman Harvey Lister said.
A spokesman for the WA Football Commission, which runs Domain Stadium and has flagged its interest in running the new stadium for at least three years, said: "We can confirm that the WAFC and its global partners in Perth Stadium Management have submitted an EOI."
Last month, _The West Australian _ revealed the WAFC had launched Perth Stadium Management, a standalone business unit with Ticketmaster, Live Nation and Delaware North.
"We are obviously intent on getting the new Perth stadium management rights but if that doesn't happen, there is still a sound business operating model for Perth Stadium Management," WAFC chief executive Gary Walton said.
Asked why the Government refused to detail companies that had put in an EOI for the stadium management contract when it had released the names of potential rail tenderers, a spokeswoman referred the question to VenuesWest, the governance agency for the new stadium.
"Our decision not to release the names of the EOI respondents for the stadium operator is a commercial strategy to ensure the taxpayers' negotiating position is not compromised when completing procurements of this nature," VenuesWest chairman Graham Partridge said.
"This approach is consistent with the other contract awards managed by the State for the project, including pre-construction site works, Design Build Finance Maintain and several of the public transport elements."
