Despite a development cost that can stretch into the billions, sports stadiums run the risk of being fully activated on just a handful of weekends each year.

The massive infrastructure spend under way in South-East Queensland, the decades-long redevelopment of the Sydney Olympic Park and a swathe of multi-billion private stadium developments around the country are providing examples of what’s at stake.

Cox Architecture director Stuart Harper says that in the US nearly 40 stadiums have been announced as property plays by private developers in the past year, “and in our context in Australia, governments are becoming aware of that”.