One of the causes of Mardi Gras' financial loss in 2014 was the poor box office result for the party held after the parade.
Mardi Gras co-chairman Paul Savage said the party would be retained in some form: "It may look a bit different but we've got to change with the times and remain relevant to the breadth of our own community".
Rolik said the Mardi Gras parade had followed many different routes during its 37-year history.
"It's previously started at Sydney Town Hall or at St Andrew's Cathedral and gone up Bathurst Street," he said. "In other guises, it's started at St Mary's Cathedral and gone up College Street so it has had a number of different routes over time."
Rolik added: "Obviously there's a lot of history connected and certainly I think people would argue Taylor Square and Oxford Street are an important thing but there could be other options."
Any changes to the parade will have to deal with issues such as the ripping up of George Street to lay tram tracks as well as disruption to traffic and existing public transport routes.
Savage said the proposed changes to the parade had been discussed with the City of Sydney, Destination NSW, the state government's tourism and events agency, and major corporate backers.
"It's basically bringing our messages to a wider audience," Savage said. "We'll keep the history of Darlinghurst very much central and core to that, [but] we're reaching a broader audience by potentially looking at another route into the city."
Rolik said any change to the parade route would require both a feasibility study and community consultation.
The City of Sydney will provide $20,000 for the study but spokeswoman Jodie Minus said the council would not comment on the possibility of moving the parade route.
Destination NSW spokeswoman Holly Hearne said: "The concept is an interesting one but would require new traffic management plans and visitor experience opportunities would need to be discussed."
Hearne said a new parade route could engage a larger audience, introducing regular Mardi Gras revellers to new facilities at Darling Harbour and increase business for city retailers.
"A change of route would require new traffic and crowd management planning, and possibly the requirement for more resources, such as volunteers and parade marshalls," she said.
Mardi Gras expects to implement the new route in 2018, which will be the 40th anniversary of the parade.
However, Rolik said plans depended on the state of the city: "If it turns out part of the planned parade route is a bomb site with cranes and ditch digging we're just going to have to work with that."
This year's Mardi Gras parade on March 7 starts at Hyde Park and goes along Oxford Street to Taylor Square before proceeding along Flinders Street to Moore Park.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/sydney-gay-and-lesbian-mardi-gras-parade-to-find-a-new-path-into-city-party-20150220-13j5vx.html#ixzz3lyY6rtlH
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