The Brisbane Cricket Ground, popularly known as The Gabba, is a multipurpose stadium located in the suburbs of the city of Brisbane, in the state of Queensland, Australia, and was due to be demolished for a future A$2.7 billion redevelopment project. The reconstruction of the stadium, which is mainly used for cricket and Australian Football League (AFL) matches, was to be fully funded by the state taxpayer and was not well received by local residents as it also required the demolition of a heritage-listed primary school and the use of the park.

Melissa Occhipinti of Rethink the Gabba, an organisation dedicated to preserving and improving the quality of life for the stadium's neighbours and providing a unified voice in defence of responsible development, environmental sustainability and social equity, was upbeat after her group's meeting with John Coates, who served as Vice President alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegation. Following the meeting, in which the reasons for the inadvisability of the demolition and rebuilding of the Gabba Stadium were explained to him, IOC Vice President John Coates said the project was damaging to the Games' brand and simply "didn't make sense". "We made the case to the Review Commission that we should abandon the Gabba and find another venue for athletics," Mr Coates insisted during his visit to Australia.

The influential Olympic businessman called for the rebuild to be scrapped in favour of the opening and closing ceremonies at Suncorp Stadium and athletics at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (formerly QEII Stadium) in the city's south.

Meanwhile, Brisbane 2032 organising committee chairman Andrew Liveris echoed Mr Coates' comments and criticised the time wasted in wrangling over venue improvements. John Coates tells the 2032 Infrastructure Review that the stadium proposal risks turning people against hosting the Olympics.

The representative of the Rethink the Gabba group appreciated the gesture from the head of the IOC delegation. "To see [Coates] come out this morning and really support all the recommendations we've been making to the government for the last three years was quite extraordinary," Occhipinti said. In one of his first acts in office, Queensland Premier Steven Miles halted the Gabba redevelopment plan and in January ordered a review led by former Brisbane mayor Graham Quirk. In a statement on Thursday, Brisbane 2032 organising committee chairman Andrew Liveris said Coates' views would be "listened to very carefully" and lamented the loss of time.

"We urgently need to move forward now that this independent review has been completed. We should not be re-litigating every decision on venues and infrastructure," concluded the man who will be in charge of organising the thirty-fifth Games of the modern era.

As for whether or not the controversial stadium will finally be built, State Infrastructure Minister Grace Grace said Liveris' and Coates' views would be taken into account, but she did not want to pre-empt the review by declaring the Gabba redevelopment dead. "We want to deliver legacy outcomes, transport and all the fantastic legacy projects we already have on the list, but we also need to deliver venues," the Minister said. "And... if there's a better way to do it as a minister, I'm more than happy to move forward and deliver them on those terms," she concluded.

The Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games will be held between 23 July and 8 August 2032, while the Paralympic Games will be held between 24 August and 5 September that year.