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Western Sydney business leaders are pitching for Beyonce to play Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park as the US megastar kicks off her World Renaissance tour in Stockholm this week.

Senior business figures wrote to Venues NSW in March urging it to prioritise the state’s biggest arena, Accor Stadium, as the “best venue to secure Beyonce” should she tour Australia.

Beyonce performs during her I AM tour at Accor, formerly Acer Arena, in Homebush in 2009.Credit: Angela Brkic

They regard Accor as the superior venue, sited geographically closer to the singer’s fan base and with twice the audience capacity of 42,000-seat Allianz Stadium in Sydney’s Moore Park.

Their pitch comes amid concerns the government agency that controls the two stadiums on behalf of NSW taxpayers might offer up Allianz in the city’s east for major concert blockbusters ahead of arenas in Olympic Park and Parramatta.

Venues NSW boss Rod McGeoch had invoked the name of the 28-time Grammy Award winner, along with the Foo Fighters, to lobby for the removal of the cap on the number of major concerts performed at Allianz.

“The thought that somebody like Beyonce might not have been able to come because of a cap issue, I mean it’s an issue we’ve all got to grapple with,” McGeoch told 2GB last month.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, with Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, John Graham, at Allianz Stadium last week.Credit: Janie Barrett

Allianz was rebuilt by the former NSW government at Moore Park at a cost to taxpayers of almost $900 million. Since reopening in October, it has hosted Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, while Robbie Williams plays there on November 16.

Last week NSW Premier Chris Minns announced he had directed Venues NSW to lodge a development application that would lift the concert cap from four to 20 events a year. Potentially that would allow Beyonce to play Allianz if Australian tour dates opened up in November and beyond.

Allison Taylor, chief executive of the Sydney Olympic Park Business Association and one of the letter’s three signatories, told this masthead her organisation was supportive of the cap being lifted on Allianz Stadium but not at the expense of concert blockbusters coming to Accor Stadium.

“When you think of concerts that have been held at Accor, they are the major acts in the world, like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Adele,” she said.

“So, why would a star like Beyonce and her promoters choose Allianz when the other major stars in the world choose Australia’s major events precinct, Sydney Olympic Park?

“This is not about reviving the stadium wars. Allianz is finished and government should be able to maximise the taxpayers’ investment. What we are asking for is transparency in the way major shows are allocated across venues under the control of Venues NSW and possibly funding investment by Destination NSW.”

Beyonce is one of those rare performers with the star cachet to sell out the 80,000-seat Accor Stadium.

She wraps up her European and North American tour in September and has yet to confirm Australian or Asian dates on her schedule. Concert watchers expect an Australian tour to happen any time from November but more likely in 2024.

The letter to Venues NSW was signed off by Taylor as well as the leaders of the Business Western Sydney and Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue.

“As the competition to host major entertainment and sporting events heats up, we’re keen to ensure that Western Sydney figures prominently for globally significant events and that our facilities receive the support they so rightly deserve,” the letter states.

When capacity was likely to be a major determining factor in the success of securing such world-class international acts such as Beyonce, it was “strange for our communities to hear [Venues NSW] pitching Allianz Stadium as the preferred venue”, it said.

Venues NSW spokesperson said the agency was focused on building a strong network of stadiums and major events across NSW and its venues had come off the biggest summer concert season on record.

In addition to Elton John at Allianz Stadium, Accor Stadium has staged shows for Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles. For the summer ahead, the agency has secured Pink concerts at both Accor and Allianz, as well as at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle. It said other acts – yet to be announced – were set to perform across its network.

The former NSW Government merged Venues NSW and the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust in 2020 to create a single organisation responsible for managing the state’s sporting and entertainment venues. McGeoch is a former deputy chair of the SCG Trust.

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