HopgoodGanim Lawyers has provided a full suite of legal services to support the Brisbane Lions’ relocation of its training and administration base to Brighton Homes Arena at Springfield, Ipswich, continuing an ongoing relationship with the AFL club that goes back more than 20 years.
“HopgoodGanim is proud to be involved in this significant sports project with the Brisbane Lions, with the new stadium anticipated to bring broader benefits for the community,” said HopgoodGanim Partner Nicole Radice.
“It is not often stadiums are created from scratch, and our firm was approached right from the start to provide legal services for the creation of Brighton Homes Arena and to support the Brisbane Lions’ relocation.”
HopgoodGanim has advised the Brisbane Lions across corporate governance, property, employment, litigation and general commercial contractual matters since the early 2000s.
The $80 million facility represents the biggest investment in an AFL club training precinct in history. It includes the 10,000-seat Michael Voss Oval, a 50-metre indoor training field, aquatic recovery pools, a high-performance gym, high-tech learning and teaching facilities, an auditorium, parkland and offices. It boasts locker rooms of equal size for the Lions’ men’s and women’s sides.
As well as giving the Brisbane Lions a dedicated facility for its AFLW team’s home games, the new arena will further the growth of AFL in the Ipswich region. No other AFL club has a high-performance facility purpose-built to cater for both their men’s and women’s teams.
“We are raising the bar for AFL high-performance with this new facility at Springfield, particularly for women in sport,” said Brisbane Lions Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Samson.
“The valuable support we’ve received from companies such as HopgoodGanim Lawyers has helped us get set up in this stadium, which will be an important base for AFL in Queensland into the future.”
Senior practitioners have led the firm’s involvement, including relationship manager and Partner Ms Radice; Partner Blake Frost, who leads HopgoodGanim’s construction practice; Partner Ivan Orola from its property practice; and Partner Darrell Jardine, who leads the hospitality and tourism practice.
“Our experienced team has worked collabouratively from the outset, engaging with stakeholders including council lawyers and officers, project managers and representatives from the builder to navigate the complexities of a project of this significance and deliver quality outcomes,” said Mr Orola.
“We have advised on legal matters from the underlying transaction and related tenure for the stadium right through to helping negotiate complex funding agreements for the facility at a state, federal and council level.”
HopgoodGanim’s team are now negotiating avenues and pathways for future development and use of the facility, including legal agreements with businesses such as gyms and café operators.
The new arena has been made possible by a $20 million contribution from Ipswich City Council, $18 million from the Queensland Government and $15 million from the Australian Government, as well as significant investments from the Brisbane Lions and the AFL.
The club’s AFLW and VFL matches and fixtures including AFL preseason matches, Academy matches and community engagement events will be hosted at Brighton Homes Arena, while men’s premiership games will remain at the Gabba ahead of its proposed redevelopment for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Find out more about HopgoodGanim’s property practice and our expertise delivering construction projects, commercial contracts and planning services for property development, resources, infrastructure and significant state projects; as well as advising sporting, leisure and liquor clients.
About HopgoodGanim Lawyers and Effective Governance
HopgoodGanim Lawyers is a leading Australian independent legal and advisory firm operating nationally and internationally with a focus on Asia from our two key locations of Brisbane and Perth. We offer highly skilled and agile legal teams across key sectors and areas of practice. In all of our areas of speciality, our lawyers are recognised by legal publications as leaders in their fields.
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