News Home base: Caulfield

[Lord Nev]

AFL hands Melbourne strict deadline on Waverley Park move

Melbourne has until June 30th.

www.sen.com.au

 

[schmuttt]

AFL hands Melbourne strict deadline on Waverley Park move

Melbourne has until June 30th.

www.sen.com.au

Well, at least we will have closure.

 

[Lord Nev]

Well, at least we will have closure.

Kinda, sort, but not really? Not sure we know for sure about Caulfield by then, and we can still move to Waverley after the Tiges are done...

 

[schmuttt]

Kinda, sort, but not really? Not sure we know for sure about Caulfield by then, and we can still move to Waverley after the Tiges are done...

Knowing MFC they'll find a way to kick the van down the road.

 

[Dancing Potato]

Knowing MFC they'll find a way to kick the van down the road.

This would explain our long-running history of foot injuries at the club.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Knowing schmuttt they'll find a way to punch the truck down the road.

 

[Lord Nev]

Demon is in the detail as Caulfield D-Day looms​

Your humble columnist has written the deal to get the Melbourne Demons Football club into Caulfield is closer to dead than done despite what the football club spruik.

But are they about to pull a Lazarus and come back from the dead?

Betsy has been told that the odds of the football club moving to Caulfield could be shortening from the long, long odds they were just weeks ago.

The club, of course, want to build a new $100 million training base at Caulfield, including installing a tunnel underneath the racetrack that would see racing close for around 12 months.

To the surprise of no-one, the Melbourne Racing Club are not so keen on the idea.

Nor are the State Government, considering the impacts on racing – or at least until recently perhaps.

While they have told partners and media publicly they were confident, the Demons are now quietly confident they are finally making headway behind the scenes on their bid to make Caulfield their new home. Betsy has been told they have made progress in a variety of areas, including within the State Government.

After they sacked their CEO and current Racing Victoria board member Paul Guerra, there had been media reports that the Demons may have hired some well-connected consultants to assist on strategy and to potentially help deal with the government.

Leading the project for the football club is board member Geoff Porz, with speculation they have made progress on the tunnel issue too and may have somehow found a path forward.

They need to get moving though – the AFL and the Caulfield Trust, who manage the racetrack precinct, have both given the Demons until June 30 to pitch their plans and show they can cover a $70 million or so funding shortfall to fund their dream.

But if the Demons have made progress – and have a solution where both parties could coexist – then no one has told anyone in racing.

Figures Betsy spoke to in the racing world on Wednesday are still unconvinced there will be a football kicked in anger at the precinct.

You would imagine if the football club had 40 days to fund or convince many to move into the backyard of the Melbourne Racing Club, the racing folk would know the intimate details of what could happen. They don’t.

Another racing insider described racing’s dealings with the football club as ‘’shambolic’’. Racing Victoria, too, are believed to be of the view there is little to no incentive to have Melbourne move in.

Most of this is redundant if Melbourne can’t find the cash.

Racing insiders remain convinced neither the state or federal governments will hand a football club tens of millions of dollars in a budget cycle where both are clawing back initiatives popular with voters to correct their struggling budgets.

The Chairman of the Caulfield Trust, Sam Almaliki, famously said that the Demons want ‘’to build the Taj Mahal, and so far, they’ve only got budget for a granny flat.”

As amusing as Almaliki’s comments were, some within the government didn’t like his honesty [or perhaps just jealous of his hall of fame zinger].

It is likely if the club can’t get government money, they will rely on their network of cashed up supporters. It’s a big ask, but not impossible.

End of the day, a compromise between the two seems unlikely. So what’s the most likely scenario?

The government extends their deadline post the November state election, the election is fought and whoever has the keys to parliament will deal with it.

So while the deal is still on life support, it has a heartbeat.

Demon is in the detail as Caulfield D-Day looms, beers hinge on Cup hero and Jenni, the wrong kind of Leek and owner kept receip

Demon is in the detail as Caulfield D-Day looms Your humble columnist has written the deal to get the Melbourne

betsy.com.au

 

[Bluelegs]

Demon is in the detail as Caulfield D-Day looms​

Your humble columnist has written the deal to get the Melbourne Demons Football club into Caulfield is closer to dead than done despite what the football club spruik.

But are they about to pull a Lazarus and come back from the dead?

Betsy has been told that the odds of the football club moving to Caulfield could be shortening from the long, long odds they were just weeks ago.

The club, of course, want to build a new $100 million training base at Caulfield, including installing a tunnel underneath the racetrack that would see racing close for around 12 months.

To the surprise of no-one, the Melbourne Racing Club are not so keen on the idea.

Nor are the State Government, considering the impacts on racing – or at least until recently perhaps.

While they have told partners and media publicly they were confident, the Demons are now quietly confident they are finally making headway behind the scenes on their bid to make Caulfield their new home. Betsy has been told they have made progress in a variety of areas, including within the State Government.

After they sacked their CEO and current Racing Victoria board member Paul Guerra, there had been media reports that the Demons may have hired some well-connected consultants to assist on strategy and to potentially help deal with the government.

Leading the project for the football club is board member Geoff Porz, with speculation they have made progress on the tunnel issue too and may have somehow found a path forward.

They need to get moving though – the AFL and the Caulfield Trust, who manage the racetrack precinct, have both given the Demons until June 30 to pitch their plans and show they can cover a $70 million or so funding shortfall to fund their dream.

But if the Demons have made progress – and have a solution where both parties could coexist – then no one has told anyone in racing.

Figures Betsy spoke to in the racing world on Wednesday are still unconvinced there will be a football kicked in anger at the precinct.

You would imagine if the football club had 40 days to fund or convince many to move into the backyard of the Melbourne Racing Club, the racing folk would know the intimate details of what could happen. They don’t.

Another racing insider described racing’s dealings with the football club as ‘’shambolic’’. Racing Victoria, too, are believed to be of the view there is little to no incentive to have Melbourne move in.

Most of this is redundant if Melbourne can’t find the cash.

Racing insiders remain convinced neither the state or federal governments will hand a football club tens of millions of dollars in a budget cycle where both are clawing back initiatives popular with voters to correct their struggling budgets.

The Chairman of the Caulfield Trust, Sam Almaliki, famously said that the Demons want ‘’to build the Taj Mahal, and so far, they’ve only got budget for a granny flat.”

As amusing as Almaliki’s comments were, some within the government didn’t like his honesty [or perhaps just jealous of his hall of fame zinger].

It is likely if the club can’t get government money, they will rely on their network of cashed up supporters. It’s a big ask, but not impossible.

End of the day, a compromise between the two seems unlikely. So what’s the most likely scenario?

The government extends their deadline post the November state election, the election is fought and whoever has the keys to parliament will deal with it.

So while the deal is still on life support, it has a heartbeat.

Demon is in the detail as Caulfield D-Day looms, beers hinge on Cup hero and Jenni, the wrong kind of Leek and owner kept receip

Demon is in the detail as Caulfield D-Day looms Your humble columnist has written the deal to get the Melbourne

betsy.com.au

Betsy be like

 

[stEdy]

Can we employ James Magner

James Magner

Age

38

Ht

182cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.8

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

6.5

4star

M

2.9

3star

T

4.5

5star

CL

3.1

5star

No current season stats available

D

19.2

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

7.8

5star

M

3.2

4star

T

5.0

5star

CL

5.4

5star

to build the tunnel

 

[Lord Nev]

The couple of important bits:

The Minister for Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos, was quizzed about the new facility in a 2026-207 budget estimates hearing last week when he said the State Government supported the project.

Dimopoulos said it was “incorrect that it has stalled”.

“I have good confidence that they are on track,” Dimopoulos said.

“There’s some work, obviously, that the environment portfolio is doing to ensure that they can work in tandem with the racing and in tandem with Mount Scopus’s move to that site.

“But I genuinely feel that Melbourne Football Club are looking good on that site.”

“I’m very supportive.”

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Minister for Environment, Enver Erdogan, said he met with Melbourne chairman Steven Smith and Demons’ executives on the day Paul Guerra was sacked as CEO last month.

Smith and vice-president Geoff Porz had taken over entirely from Guerra as the leads on the move which is required to finally bring the football team and administrative staff under one roof.

Minister Erdogan said progress on the project continued.

“I met with the Melbourne Football Club chair and some of the executives shortly after taking the portfolio,” Erdogan said.

“In fact, it was the day in which the CEO left the role, in fact, on the same day.

“But I think they have ambitious plans, to say the least, and I think that’s fantastic.

“Yes, they are on foot. It’s progressing and I’m very supportive.”

If approved, the training base would take several years to build and significantly disrupt the racing calendar at Caulfield.

The Government has maintained the community’s access to the site and any new facilities remained a priority.

The new headquarters could help upgrade community facilities such as walking and bike tracks and park land for locals.

 

[schmuttt]

Tick tock...

 

[stEdy]

Would be a huge heist in this fiscal environment at State level to find that much cash

 

[Lord Nev]

Would be a huge heist in this fiscal environment at State level to find that much cash

Yeah but come down to our fiscal environment...