Is it time for a boutiqe cricket stadium in Melbourne?

OzBomber

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Thread starter #1
I think the time has come to build a stadium for low key international/domestic cricket matches. There's 30,000 there today which is great when you compare it to the size of grounds all around the world and here in Australia, but if you were looking at the MCG for the first time you'd think there was 5k there. Have 30,000 in such a big stadium also kills the atmosphere too.

I think if these games were moved to a different stadium or a new 30-35k stadium, the atmosphere would improve and it would help for the games against lesser supported sides and you could also have it for AFL.

Thoughts?
 

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Cotchin 9

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#2
Waste of money, don't care if Victoria play in front of a few hundred, should always be at the MCG.
 

Underarm

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#8
No. The t20 and 3 days at the cricket got higher than 30k, as well as the t20 derby. Wouldn't be used often enough.....
 

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aussierulesrules

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#18
How about we get WA one good stadium before worrying about a 3rd/4th for Melbourne
Ha ha, I like that one! :D :thumbsu:

Forgive my ignorance, but why can't cricket be played at Etihad?
It can be, although at this time of the year it's obviously needed for footy.
Then there is also the fact that a reasonable sized percentage of the population here don't like going to Etihad. For one, it seems anyone whose footy team doesn't play in any blockbuster, sellout type games there doesn't like it, because the only times they go there to watch their team there are only 20-30,000 there and the atmosphere isn't that great, so they think it's no good.
 

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#19
Etihad is perfect for 20/20. The G is a little big for players to take the risk on the long journey, if roped in to far its just silly. Besides 30k at the Etihad has more atmosphere than 30 at the G imo. That said it wont happen as profit from cricket is lost to the owners.

A dead game for Aussie fans, had it been a final there wouldve been 50k+.
 
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#20
I've been to a couple of matches at Etihad, and there is nothing wrong with it being used for cricket. But I suspect it is a question of cost, and timing. I dare say drop-in pitches are expensive to produce. And around this time of year, Etihad is getting prepared for football.
 

Outshined

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#22
It would be nice to have a second proper cricket stadium in Melbourne, but it won't happen (not for a long time, if ever). CA is happy as long as they are getting people to the games, irrespective of atmosphere or audience considerations. The AFL wouldn't even consider funding anything of the kind since they have the MCG and Etihad, so it's an expensive exercise to go about building a new 40,000 seat stadium for the sole purpose of hosting a couple of cricket games a year. Obviously you could potentially use it for other events, but I doubt you'd be making any money out of it.
 

Howard Littlejohn

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#23
I've been to a couple of matches at Etihad, and there is nothing wrong with it being used for cricket. But I suspect it is a question of cost, and timing. I dare say drop-in pitches are expensive to produce. And around this time of year, Etihad is getting prepared for football.
It was not great for the winter one day games that were played for a couple of years during the AFL split round. But that had as much to do with the fact that was mid-winter and hardly anyone was thinking cricket - plus being a pointless ODI series with no context to it.
It does seem a strange viewing venue for cricket too, though I am not sure why. For the most part it should just be like a day/night game, except all at night. It shoudl work well, and be fairer as both sides bat and field under lights, yet somehow it did not seem to work. Maybe in summer it would.
 

aussierulesrules

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#24
I think it's just more than time they dropped the entry prices of the ODI matches at the G. Too expensive and they were just lucky that there were so many there supporting Sri Lanka last night, otherwise it would have been a crowd of about 10,000.
Surely it would be better to have more there (due to cheaper prices) and get a bit of atmosphere and a better look and they would make a lot more money from food and drink sales and parking and so on, to help make up for the cheaper ticket prices.

As the saying goes, a crowd attracts a crowd, so the more you get there the more are likely to want to come, as the atmosphere of sporting events when there's a huge crowd is hard to beat. There's far less appeal in going to a 3rd (or less) full MCG, than there is in going to an MCG with 50,000+ there, especially when you can watch it all live on the TV.
 
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