Crisafulli said the RNA Showgrounds was one of Brisbane’s most important venues, which was long overdue for an upgrade.
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“It gives a new life to the Ekka, one of the most important cornerstones, where the country meets the city,” he said, adding that the annual show would go on.
The showgrounds became a government priority as the Brisbane Arena was dropped from the Games plan, and will now only proceed if private funding can be secured.
RNA chief executive Brendan Christou said the upgrade would be a “game-changer” for the historic venue, and thanked Crisafulli for his government’s support.
“From an RNA perspective, we’ve been celebrating agriculture for 150 years. And for anyone who has come to the Ekka in the last decade or so, you will see that we’ve undertaken a regeneration of the site to ensure that the eka can remain for another 150 years.
“The last piece of the puzzle for us is the main arena. And quite frankly, if this didn’t come along, we were unable to fund those upgrades,” he said.
“So what this means is the Ekka will remain in Brisbane, in this location, for another 150 years.
“Importantly, it will restore significant heritage assets and provide the much-needed accessibility that those stands were never built to have.”
After the long-awaited review by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Co-ordination Authority, Crisafulli finally unveiled Brisbane 2032’s definitive venue plan on Tuesday, with a new 63,000-seat, $3.79 billion stadium at Victoria Park.
The stadium will also require improved connections between Victoria Park and the showgrounds, train stations at Roma Street and Bowen Hills, the CBD and Fortitude Valley, set to revitalise Brisbane’s inner-north.
The showgrounds already host music festivals, and the stadium will be designed with major concerts in mind, potentially undermining the business case for the Brisbane Arena.
An artist’s impression of the RNA Showgrounds, which will host the main athletes’ village, and a new arena.Credit: Queensland government
The government rejected the review’s recommendation the Brisbane Arena be built with taxpayer funds at the GoPrint site at Woolloongabba, between the existing Gabba stadium and the under-construction Cross River Rail station.
The arena was originally slated to host Olympic and Paralympic swimming, which would instead be held at a 25,000-seat, $650 million aquatic centre at Centenary Pool, on the edge of Victoria Park.
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