“Biggest day in our history”: Lions CEO’s huge claim about new Brisbane stadium

Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann couldn’t have been more thrilled with the announcement of the new 63,000-seat stadium to be built at Victoria Park on Tuesday.

With the stadium green-lit by Queensland Premier David Crisafulli for the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, the Lions will spend only seven more years at the Gabba before moving into their new state-of-the-art home.

While the Lions have won multiple premierships since the Fitzroy-Bears merger which saw the side move to Brisbane including just last season, Swann says that Tuesday’s announcement was the biggest day in club history.

Swann expects the new stadium to ‘future-proof’ the club which should see its earning capacity from home games spike and he believes the Lions couldn’t have gotten a better deal than what they’ve ended up with.

“I was talking to Leigh (Matthews) and some of the people who have been here forever, it’s the biggest day we've ever had, to be honest,” Swann told SEN Whateley.

“It just shores us up for the next 40 or 50 years. We’ll play in a stadium that's going to be the best in the world. 

“As I said before, we've grown it and it’s going to future-proof us, we should make more money than we've made where we are now. 

“It’s all those sorts of things that future-proof your footy club. We can't get a better deal.”

With the new Victoria Park stadium set to be the new home of the Lions, Queensland Bulls, Brisbane Heat and international cricket in Queensland, the AFL club will have sole use of the ground throughout their season.

Swann thinks that the Lions will be uniquely positioned as a result as a single-tenant club with a stadium that exceeds a 50,000-capacity.

“You look around at those that own their own stadiums like Geelong, but this thing's going to be 63,000 (capacity) and it’ll just be us,” Swann added.

“Even there’s other big stadiums like Optus, but they have West Coast and Freo, this is just us, it’s our ground.

“It'll be huge for us. It’s massive, I think it’s the biggest day in our history.”

Swann spoke about the stadium’s modelling, how he expects Victoria Park to transform the city and more in his extended chat with Gerard Whateley.

Listen here