Proposed new Darwin stadium

[Aussie in exile]

They have to A. Get an A-League soccer team, and B. Have you been to Townsville during wet season? It's 90% humidity, the constant 30 degree days feel like 40 degrees and the temperature only drops a few degrees at night but humidity remains. It's hardly conducsive for soccer teams (all from the South) to be running about for 90 minutes.

So zero chance of ever getting a AFL club there then

 

[Roogal]

So zero chance of ever getting a AFL club there then

Probably an odds on better chance because Townsville during Winter is very much like Victoria in late March. It's much drier and the days are either overcast or sunny with temps in the low 20s.

 

[Aussie in exile]

Probably an odds on better chance because Townsville during Winter is very much like Victoria in late March. It's much drier and the days are either overcast or sunny with temps in the low 20s.

The wet season doesn't end till around may so that would be a big problem.

 

[Mr north man]

$300m is a lot to pay for 2 AFL games per year. Unless they're hoping to pick up the matches that Tassie drops if/when they get their own team?

FWIW Option 1 from the OP would be my choice.

Well yes I agree considering the NMFC will looking for new home once the Tasmanian deal ends .

 

[Seedsfan]

Well they spent $250 million to build a 25,000 capacity rugby only stadium in Townsville for 11 rugby games per year. I think that it has been used for one State of Origin, a boxing bout and a concert in addition to the 11 games per season since being opened. It probably makes better sense to spend money developing cricket grounds because at least they do get used all year round. I think that in Townsville's case it possibly might have made better sense to re-develop the Riverway's Stadium as a 20,000 capacity cricket ground that could have been used for the trifecta of T20 Cricket, a couple of AFL games per season and NRL.

But you aren’t going to play international cricket there in the wet season. Also nobody cares about the AFL up there

 

[Seedsfan]

The ARU don't play in Townsville and its dedicated rectangular stadium is too small for cricket ... French cricket possibly

The thing that must thoroughly irritate the Federal Liberal Party is that even though it was funded in the 2016 Federal election as a blatant vote buying exercise, they still didn't win the seat then or in 2019.

It has hosted test rugby

 

[Roogal]

But you aren’t going to play international cricket there in the wet season. Also nobody cares about the AFL up there

Oh I can thoroughly dispute you wrong on that. The local Aussie rules competition in Townsville engages as many teams as the local Rugby League competiton with more players playing in the Aussie Rules teams. The local Aussie Rules comp actively recruits soldiers from Lavarack Barracks as a means of involving them with the greater Townsville community. If it hadn't been for the Cowboys being raised there by the NRL as a strategic move to route the growing influence of Aussie Rules in Townsville, then local rugby would have continued struggling against the growing influence of the AFL across the North of Australia in the 90s (from Darwin to Cairns). Particularly 328 km North of Townsville in Cairns where Aussie Rules definitely dominates. Riverways Stadium was established to give Townsville a decent cricket and AFL facility comparable to what you'd get in any Southern regional city and to give those two codes a showpiece for cricket and Aussie Rules. Does'nt sound like "nobody cares about AFL" up there to me. You might have travelled up there for the odd holiday r even a couple of rugby games, but I lived there for 9 years. So I might just know exactly what I am talking about.

The construction of the Country Bank Stadium was merely a pork barelling exercise by the Turnbull government to try to capitalise upon the wave of emotion of the Cowboys winning their first NRL premiership. Nothing more and nothing less. While the people of Townsville happily took the $250 mil, Stadiums QLD's own modelling during constuction reported that the cost didn't justify long term viability and usage potential. Fittingly, the shameless pork barrelling didn't result in either a seat or a swing in votes to the Liberal Party.

Back on the subject at hand, the idea for the proposed Darwin stadium development only has merit if they can secure an AFL licence, but again $250 mil seems to be an excessive amount of money to invest in a stadium that only seats 20 odd thousand. The 27,000 capacity Metricon Stadium certainly didn't even come close to that cost while the final cost of developing Ballarat's Mars Stadium as a 20,000 venue by 2026 (including the $28.65 mil spent on it to date) is projected at only $88 mil. The Devil will most certainly be in the detail of what they are proposing for Darwin. Perhaps they're banking on Darwin becoming an unsafe federal LNP seat?

 

[Seedsfan]

Oh I can thoroughly dispute you wrong on that. The local Aussie rules competition in Townsville engages as many teams as the local Rugby League competiton with more players playing in the Aussie Rules teams. The local Aussie Rules comp actively recruits soldiers from Lavarack Barracks as a means of involving them with the greater Townsville community. If it hadn't been for the Cowboys being raised there by the NRL as a strategic move to route the growing influence of Aussie Rules in Townsville, then local rugby would have continued struggling against the growing influence of the AFL across the North of Australia in the 90s (from Darwin to Cairns). Particularly 328 km North of Townsville in Cairns where Aussie Rules definitely dominates. Riverways Stadium was established to give Townsville a decent cricket and AFL facility comparable to what you'd get in any Southern regional city and to give those two codes a showpiece for cricket and Aussie Rules. Does'nt sound like "nobody cares about AFL" up there to me. You might have travelled up there for the odd holiday r even a couple of rugby games, but I lived there for 9 years. So I might just know exactly what I am talking about.

The construction of the Country Bank Stadium was merely a pork barelling exercise by the Turnbull government to try to capitalise upon the wave of emotion of the Cowboys winning their first NRL premiership. Nothing more and nothing less. While the people of Townsville happily took the $250 mil, Stadiums QLD's own modelling during constuction reported that the cost didn't justify long term viability and usage potential. Fittingly, the shameless pork barrelling didn't result in either a seat or a swing in votes to Liberal Party.

Exactly they get soldiers from the army from AFL states to boost the numbers.

It still doesn’t address the fact that you aren’t playing international cricket there in the wet season. Plus there is no demand for an AFL stadium

 

[4eva Youngy]

Didn't they have a A league team up there before?

They had a team called North Queensland Fury


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[4eva Youngy]

They had a team called North Queensland Fury


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com