If the Dunedin City Council gets the go-ahead to remove a section of the former Dunedin Art Gallery situated at the northern end of the ground - and it seems a fait accompli - then the Otago Cricket Association can push on with a planned expansion which it believes will future-proof the venue.
The proposed $5 million development will undoubtedly result in a hugely improved Oval and will, OCA chief executive Ross Dykes believes, make the boutique ground the No 1 test venue in the South Island.
He hopes that will result in regular international fixtures against higher calibre opponents.
The next phase is to improve the practice facilities and build up the embankments.
But there are no plans to install lights to cater for day-nighters and New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan does not consider a new capacity of 6500 adequate to stage one-day internationals against the likes of Australia or England.
The availability of quality accommodation could also hold the Oval back, with the improved venue suited to host test matches but only the odd limited-overs international against lesser cricketing nations.
That poses one question: is $13 million - the $8 million spent developing the University Oval into a first-class and international venue, plus the proposed $5 million upgrade - actually value for money if Dunedin is left with a ground that cannot host major cricket fixtures like the Chappell-Hadlee series?
Those sorts of fixtures cannot be played in the $198 million Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Despite being slated as a multi-use facility, the stadium is not designed to host cricket matches.
That means more than $200 million will be spent and there is nowhere in the city to play the sort of cricket matches which traditionally attract the biggest crowds.
The trade-off is the purists get an idyllic setting to watch test cricket but the spin-off crowd - the sorts who enjoy the beer and the entertainment on the embankment just as much as the crash and bash of limited-overs cricket - have to watch from home.
The harsh economic reality is New Zealand Cricket will always schedule fixtures it believes will be popular elsewhere, simply because it can get more paying customers through the gate.
Dunedin historian Peter Entwisle has been a critic of the DCC's plans to remove the former Dunedin Art Gallery.
From his perspective he cannot understand why a building with significant historical value is being chipped away when the city already has a cricket venue with lights, a capacity of about 30,000 and a proud history.
The future of Carisbrook is unclear, but cricket is unlikely to return to the ground.
Too much money and time has been invested at the University Oval to go back now, and keeping a venue that large on the off-chance an ODI is scheduled would not make much sense.
The obvious answer was to build a larger stadium at Awatea St which could have accommodated cricket.
Of course, that would have pushed up construction costs considerably.
Perhaps the University Oval will remain a work in progress, and there will come a time when the installation of lights and expansion of capacity will become a necessity.
The other issue is where the current art gallery tenants - the Highlanders and the New Zealand Academy of Sport South Island - are to go.
Otago Rugby Football Union Richard Reid is supportive of the University Oval development but uncertain where the Highlanders will relocate.
Forsyth Barr Stadium is an option but the Highlanders will need a temporary solution until construction is complete.
It would not be a surprise if the cash-strapped franchise and soon-to-be evicted tenant asked the DCC for some financial support to find new digs.
That may add even more money to the expanding University Oval bill.
