I have been going to sports events and big music concerts in stadiums around the world for, ahem, some decades - and what I know is that city centre venues work better than out-of-towners.

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Watching live sport or music is about sharing. It's about the feeling that large numbers of people are united in their passion. We sway, we chant (sometimes in opposition to the other end) but we do it together. That's a large part of the fun of it.

And that fun is all the greater if people mingle before and after the event.

I've crowded into trains to Cardiff to watch Wales get stuffed by New Zealand - and hung around afterwards to drink with Kiwis. The hanging around after is part of it, and you don't do that if there's a drive home.

And I've walked through a forest in Berlin to watch FC Union Berlin play soccer at the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei (Stadium at the old forester's house, so called because the place really is in a forest - but a walkable one from public transport). The feeling of togetherness as we all walked together through the trees is unforgettable. Would you get that in the walk from the car park?

But - let's dream a bit here - a stadium in Commonwealth Park would be next to the tram stop. Places to congregate and drink tea or beer or shiraz would surely spring up. They would be places to share outrage about the penalty the referee failed to give. They would be places to relive the Matildas' sizzling goal in the last moments of injury time. They would be places to rejoice that Bruce Springsteen retains his power. His voice may be croaky but he's still the Boss.

You........

© Canberra Times