New Stadium required

[SaintsSeptember]

It made great sense for the big clubs to play at the big new venues.
Carlton was one of them, so it made no sense for THEM to use Princes park.
If North had owned it things might have been different.

 

[Rob]

It made great sense for the big clubs to play at the big new venues.
Carlton was one of them, so it made no sense for THEM to use Princes park.
If North had owned it things might have been different.

I doubt it, because the smaller clubs never had the resources to be able to maintain their own ground. Never mind that they drew some horrendous crowds there as well. If they were playing out of a crappy ground (even if it was their own) crowds would have continued to decline as people's expectations rose.

That was why the Dogs moved from the Whitten Oval - they saw the writing on the wall. As much as people romanticise these old grounds, not many of them would be prepared to stand on the terraces every 2nd week in the cold, much less subject the rest of their family to it. If they get 20k to a game at Docklands, you can be pretty sure the same game would get 10k or less at a suburban ground.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I doubt it, because the smaller clubs never had the resources to be able to maintain their own ground. Never mind that they drew some horrendous crowds there as well. If they were playing out of a crappy ground (even if it was their own) crowds would have continued to decline as people's expectations rose.

That was why the Dogs moved from the Whitten Oval - they saw the writing on the wall. As much as people romanticise these old grounds, not many of them would be prepared to stand on the terraces every 2nd week in the cold, much less subject the rest of their family to it. If they get 20k to a game at Docklands, you can be pretty sure the same game would get 10k or less at a suburban ground.

I cant argue with that, but i still think Princes park was a good size to be useful for some of the clubs. The thing is, Carlton wasn't one of them, and the government was never good at supporting the AFL with infrastructure. ( access /roads etc ) s**t they still close the citylink tunnel for maintenance when there are games on at Docklands.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Just listening to SEN - sounds like the State Gov't will commit to a new rectangular stadium to cost approx $200 million in Melbourne's South East, providing they get the new A-League franchise.

 

[madmug]

Just listening to SEN - sounds like the State Gov't will commit to a new rectangular stadium to cost approx $200 million in Melbourne's South East, providing they get the new A-League franchise.

Wow. So it'll be 2 rectangular stadiums for 3 teams which hardly ever fill the one current stadium. Whilst 9 AFL clubs have 2 stadiums!

Makes perfect sense

 

[The_Wookie]

Wow. So it'll be 2 rectangular stadiums for 3 teams which hardly ever fill the one current stadium. Whilst 9 AFL clubs have 2 stadiums!

Makes perfect sense

2 rectangular stadiums for 5 teams..,..who hardly ever fill them.

Victory
City
Rebels
Storm
Team11/WMG

 

[jmac91]

2 rectangular stadiums for 5 teams..,..who hardly ever fill them.

Victory
City
Rebels
Storm
Team11/WMG

Don't Forget AFLX. I know they play at Docklands but still

 

[madmug]

2 rectangular stadiums for 5 teams..,..who hardly ever fill them.

Victory
City
Rebels
Storm
Team11/WMG

Don't Forget AFLX. I know they play at Docklands but still

Can include the 2 BBL teams in with the 9 teams for 2 grounds then.

 

[The_Wookie]

Can include the 2 BBL teams in with the 9 teams for 2 grounds then.

absolutely.

About 60-65 rectangle sports games between the teams, maybe up to 70 odd if you include rep fixtures, finals and ffa cup matches.

versus

about 100 regular season afl matches + finals, any preseason and aflw games at Docklands, 1 major cricket test, 16 BBL matches and any associated WBBL games. Throw in Kardinia Park and you hit close to 140-150 matches a year.

Financially the sum total spent at Aami Park (260 million + another 200 million if the Gov pays for the south east joint) v about 100m in funding for the MCG, and 190m in funding for Kardinia Park. The 250m for Docklands effectively buys grand finals at the current rate, for 20 years, and I dont consider that as part of this.

 

[mezaire]

Mentioned this in another thread about grand finals and home ground advantage, but surely a 3rd ground in Melbourne can fix this?
If the MCG has no tenants but has something like 2-3 games there a week and every club played 3 h&a matches there then no more issues?
If somewhere like Waverly could be changed back to hold 50,000 then surely a possiblity?

 

[Rob]

Just listening to SEN - sounds like the State Gov't will commit to a new rectangular stadium to cost approx $200 million in Melbourne's South East, providing they get the new A-League franchise.

According to twitter right now, some team from Western Melbourne have been given the nod. And they're building a privately funded ground near Werribee?????

Get your popcorn out.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Seems like the bloke that SEN had from the Dandenong council (I didn't catch his name or position in the council) was full of it. The bid failed. He also said the council would be replacing "most AFL ovals with loads of football pitches in the city as grassroots AFL had mostly died in the city whereas football is now huge". Perhaps he was a fake councillor.