ANZ Stadium kingpin slams NRL's David Smith THE gloves are off in Sydney's stadium wars, with an ANZ Stadium powerbroker accusing the NRL of giving Western Sydney fans "a massive slap in the face" by lobbying against Homebush's Olympic Park. ANZ Stadium Advisory Board chairman Robert Webster has attacked after The Daily Telegraph revealed NRL chief Dave Smith was bankrolling a study to examine turning Moore Park's Allianz stadium into Sydney's pre-eminent sports venue. Mr Webster said the NRL plan would "devastate" Sydney Olympic Park, jeopardising thousands of jobs and the viability of hotels, businesses, Allphones Arena and the Royal Easter Show venues. He said it would lead to 40,000 stadium seats being ripped out of Western Sydney and saddle taxpayers with a $1.85 billion bill. "If this NRL plan was to get any traction it would be the most shortsighted decision ever made regarding sport in NSW,"" he said. The NRL plan is a $1.85 billion red herring, completely counter to the state government's stadia strategy and a massive slap in the face for the heartland of rugby league. Mr Webster was the minister in the Greiner and Fahey governments responsible for developing Homebush Bay for the 2000 Olympics. Mr Smith is among sports powerbrokers lobbying the Baird government over how best to invest at least $500 million to modernise Sydney's outdated stadiums. The privately owned ANZ Stadium is hoping the government will fund about $250 million of its $350 million redevelopment proposal unveiled last week. But Mr Smith believes sports fans would be better served if Sydney's biggest football stadium was near the CBD, with a mid-tier stadium in Sydney's mid-west and a third venue built further west once the Western Sydney airport project is well under way. Robert Webster. David Smith Source: News Corp Australia The NRL is investing $750,000 to jointly fund with the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust a "concept design evaluation" for Allianz, sources confirmed. Work on the study has begun assessing two options: refurbishing the existing Allianz venue with between 45,000 and 55,000 seats or demolishing it and building a new 65,000-seat facility. Mr Smith told colleagues Sydney Olympic Park lacks atmosphere, is compromised by poor transport and many ANZ Stadium seats are too far away from the sidelines. If Allianz became Sydney's biggest stadium, sources say Mr Smith believes a new 40,000-seat venue should be built on the Parramatta Stadium site. Mr Webster said it would cost at least $1 billion to knock down and rebuild Allianz with the necessary car parks; another $400 million to develop a new Parramatta stadium and $300 million buying back the ANZ lease and "mothballing" or knocking it down. John Lehmann comment SYDNEY can spend billions creating world-class stadiums but they won't be worth tuppence if NSW's transport boffins keep performing like provincial hicks. After watching Katy Perry's Sydney show on Saturday night, my wife and two young daughters were walking on air as we emerged from Sydney Olympic Park's Allphones Arena. It was after 11pm but we were on a high as we skipped down Olympic Boulevard with 20,000 other happy fans. It only took seconds for the good vibes to be swept away as we arrived at the train station to join a long snaking queue of people trying to buy train tickets. Only one ticket window was open and the queues for the small number of machines were equally long. After lining up for more than 40 minutes with other angry concertgoers, we ran to a Central-bound train, but only a small number of platform stairwells were open. Then we sat motionless on the train for another 15 minutes waiting to depart. It would be after 1am before we made it home to the inner west. As I sat on the train, watching the colour drain away from my children's exhausted faces, I wondered how often transport minister Gladys Berejiklian catches the train to Homebush to see her department's ineptitude. It's 14 years since the Olympics and the bureaucrats still can't get the basics right. Transport is still a mess Originally published as NRL's Smith accused of Eastern bias