Victoria’s AFL stadiums set to receive $500m in state-funded upgrades

[flinchfree]

Where's our whack?
Come on Jeffrey, isn't this why you have the love of Hawks supporters and BF members, to make AFL honchos and Government members alike squirm and give up more than our fair share...?

".............In a $225 million deal with the AFL, the grand final will stay at the MCG until at least 2057, while Etihad Stadium and its surrounding precinct will be upgraded

..............$241.6 million for suburban and regional grounds.
Women’s football will get a stack of cash, including $20 million to redevelop Ikon Park into the home of AFLW, $13 million for stage two of the Moorabbin Oval redevelopment, $10 million will be spent to improve Casey Fields and Whitten Oval, and Victoria Park will get $2 million in infrastructure upgrades. The budget also provides $60 million for community sporting grants and $5 million for Community Sports Infrastructure Loans."

 

[Ned Ryerson]

I’d be happier if we didn’t get government funding for the project. From a personal perspective I think training facilities should be paid for by the respective club and the league - not the taxpayer. I have less qualms with funding going to stadiums as they for broader use and can create ongoing employment.

Also - we’re a few years off breaking ground so this doesn’t shut the door on government funding coming through. There’s an election coming this year so the current regime are just announcing some sweeteners pre-campaign.

 

[Gralin]

Government and council funding always comes with strings

 

[MrPremiership]

Dingley facility will get some government funding. It's inevitable. Just a matter of time.

Given the project is some time off, I wouldn't have expected an announcement as part of the above.

 

[wahawk]

Where's our whack?
Come on Jeffrey, isn't this why you have the love of Hawks supporters and BF members, to make AFL honchos and Government members alike squirm and give up more than our fair share...?

".............In a $225 million deal with the AFL, the grand final will stay at the MCG until at least 2057, while Etihad Stadium and its surrounding precinct will be upgraded

..............$241.6 million for suburban and regional grounds.
Women’s football will get a stack of cash, including $20 million to redevelop Ikon Park into the home of AFLW, $13 million for stage two of the Moorabbin Oval redevelopment, $10 million will be spent to improve Casey Fields and Whitten Oval, and Victoria Park will get $2 million in infrastructure upgrades. The budget also provides $60 million for community sporting grants and $5 million for Community Sports Infrastructure Loans."

If we get gov funding we would have to open it up to the public for general use.
If we fund it ourselves then we decide when & who uses it.

But why not use this announcement to have a crack at someone

 

[KermitJagger]

If we get gov funding we would have to open it up to the public for general use.
If we fund it ourselves then we decide when & who uses it.

But why not use this announcement to have a crack at someone

Yeah seems like a really poorly thought post too because Jeff would absolutely hate the fact that the state government is spending $500m on something like this. If he pot-shotted it, it would be based on that and the fact that it is unabashed vote-mongering.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Essendon got government funding for their ugly tin shack out by the airport - so it’s not absurd to think that we may apply for funding also. The fact that it’s named the Kennedy Community Centre would make you think we intend for it to be a facility that locals can use as well - not just the club.

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Dreaming to think the hawks would get funding over other basket case clubs especially with a labor government in power and Jeff as Pres.

We need a liberal govt and we need to have Dingley through all its approvals and development ready to demand govt funding.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Dreaming to think the hawks would get funding over other basket case clubs especially with a labor government in power and Jeff as Pres.

We need a liberal govt and we need to have Dingley through all its approvals and development ready to demand govt funding.

You realise politicians aren’t nearly as petty as you imply here? You also realise that it was Kennett who hand picked and approached Julia Gillard to take over at beyondblue?

There are also two forms of government we could seek funding from - much like Essendon did. By the time we are breaking ground there could well be state and federal Labor governments and the facility would be nestled in safe Labor seats - so if you want to play the ‘all decisions are made 100% in political biases’ then we’ll most likely be fine should we apply.

Edit: Also can’t help but notice that the state Labor government is spending money on upgrades to Princess Park, which will benefit Carlton as well as AFLW, despite Carlton’s long standing links with the Liberal party.

 

[Roger Rogerson]

You realise politicians aren’t nearly as petty as you imply here? You also realise that it was Kennett who hand picked and approached Julia Gillard to take over at beyondblue?

There are also two forms of government we could seek funding from - much like Essendon did. By the time we are breaking ground there could well be state and federal Labor governments and the facility would be nestled in safe Labor seats - so if you want to play the ‘all decisions are made 100% in political biases’ then we’ll most likely be fine should we apply.

Edit: Also can’t help but notice that the state Labor government is spending money on upgrades to Princess Park, which will benefit Carlton as well as AFLW, despite Carlton’s long standing links with the Liberal party.

Not sure how beyond blue is relevant to be honest.

Princes Park has had a community flavour for some years now. Women's AFL, the VAFA GF is played there etc. Quite different to what we understand is a private facility at Dingley which hasn't commenced.

My response was to the OP which whinged about Jeff not being able to pull govt funding now. My position is that approval wise we aren't close enough to be banging the desk and demanding it plus we haven't announced whether it is publicly accessible which is critical to attract public monies. My point was if Jeff was going to pull a rabbit out with funding now it would only be under a liberal government because of his connections.

And as for politicians not being petty...Wow. come and work in the development industry.

 

[Birdofprey]

Where's our whack?
Come on Jeffrey, isn't this why you have the love of Hawks supporters and BF members, to make AFL honchos and Government members alike squirm and give up more than our fair share...?

".............In a $225 million deal with the AFL, the grand final will stay at the MCG until at least 2057, while Etihad Stadium and its surrounding precinct will be upgraded

..............$241.6 million for suburban and regional grounds.
Women’s football will get a stack of cash, including $20 million to redevelop Ikon Park into the home of AFLW, $13 million for stage two of the Moorabbin Oval redevelopment, $10 million will be spent to improve Casey Fields and Whitten Oval, and Victoria Park will get $2 million in infrastructure upgrades. The budget also provides $60 million for community sporting grants and $5 million for Community Sports Infrastructure Loans."

Gill must be laughing his arse off. He can keep diverting money to northern states to promote the game and let the election/political cycle do the work down in Victoria.

He will fly up to Gold Coast tonite, just to treat young Hamish to some steaks a few scotches. Life is good Hamo!

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Not sure how beyond blue is relevant to be honest.

Princes Park has had a community flavour for some years now. Women's AFL, the VAFA GF is played there etc. Quite different to what we understand is a private facility at Dingley which hasn't commenced.

My response was to the OP which whinged about Jeff not being able to pull govt funding now. My position is that approval wise we aren't close enough to be banging the desk and demanding it plus we haven't announced whether it is publicly accessible which is critical to attract public monies. My point was if Jeff was going to pull a rabbit out with funding now it would only be under a liberal government because of his connections.

And as for politicians not being petty...Wow. come and work in the development industry.

The beyondblue comment is to show that politicians can overlook the political allegiances - it didn’t matter that they were on opposite sides of the political aisle, Jeff sought Gillard out because he thought she was the best person to take the reins.

Not disputing Princess Park has other uses - but it’s still Carlton’s training and administrative base so any upgrades there will inevitably benefit Carlton.

Dingley is going to be called the Kennedy Community Centre - I think we have every intention for at least some of it to be publicly used albeit with some areas for HFC use only. I go to the airport a fair bit, and always drive past that shithole of a * facility and I’ve never seen much in the way of it being used by the locals (because there aren’t many in that area) - but the Druggers still got multiple levels of government to chip in. St Kilda’s move back to Moorabbin also had funding from the state government.

I honestly don’t think there are rabbits to be pulled out of hats and I honestly don’t think that if we applied we’d get rejected because people in the current regime don’t like Jeff. There are multiple examples of other facilities getting the tick so if we applied I can’t see us being turned down.

All that said I’d bloody love it if we were able to fund it entirely ourselves - but if the government want to ensure we don’t have to take on as much debt or can spend additional capital elsewhere - well hooray for us.

 

[flinchfree]

Some interesting responses.
Potting me for posting this too early, potting me for a whinge.
OK.

I don't fully remember, but didn't Jeff in his most recent message suggest the club is looking to cap the land by the end of the year and begin building shortly after? That's what, 7 1/2 months away? Light years seemingly....
And in an earlier letter to members about the facility, wasn't it suggested we were looking to be finished with the first stage and able to use it by 2020? Maybe I'm mis-remembering, perhaps it was 2022...happy for anyone to supply correct info.

Either way, I wouldn't suggest either date was ages away as the building process itself will surely take at least 18 months to 2 years to complete.

Sorry for the Jeff ites if it seemed a whinge, I honestly thought with the naming of various other AFL entities receiving funding for their facilities it wasn't out of order to wonder where we stood in that lane.

Forgives me all for my intemperance.

 

[Luv_our_club]

Some interesting responses.
Potting me for posting this too early, potting me for a whinge.
OK.

I don't fully remember, but didn't Jeff in his most recent message suggest the club is looking to cap the land by the end of the year and begin building shortly after? That's what, 7 1/2 months away? Light years seemingly....
And in an earlier letter to members about the facility, wasn't it suggested we were looking to be finished with the first stage and able to use it by 2020? Maybe I'm mis-remembering, perhaps it was 2022...happy for anyone to supply correct info.

Either way, I wouldn't suggest either date was ages away as the building process itself will surely take at least 18 months to 2 years to complete.

Sorry for the Jeff ites if it seemed a whinge, I honestly thought with the naming of various other AFL entities receiving funding for their facilities it wasn't out of order to wonder where we stood in that lane.

Forgives me all for my intemperance.

I thought exactly the same as you when i heard. And even thought of raising the issues here.

But now i think the money will come.

I don't think Jeff is the man to get it, however.

 

[Pessimistic]

My take is the club not lobbying effectively enough for a slice of the pie is the reason we turned over the board and brought jeff back.

It seems that didn’t do the trick either. Smashing gillon Collingwood and the govt publicly didn’t work. Shocked to be sitting here

Good news is better stadium deals for all vic clubs meaning a probable move away from pokies. Ironically the hawks won’t be able to afford to do that because we need to fund Dingley on our own

 

[Ned Ryerson]

My take is the club not lobbying effectively enough for a slice of the pie is the reason we turned over the board and brought jeff back.

It seems that didn’t do the trick either. Smashing gillon Collingwood and the govt publicly didn’t work. Shocked to be sitting here

Do you have proof that we have applied for and were denied funding? You’re oddly definitive about all this.

 

[Pessimistic]

Also in my deep memory I remember Hawthorn once looking at Casey fields? Can’t remember the details

Looks like Casey is on the money

Good luck waiting for a liberal govt by the way. Pathetic

 

[Pessimistic]

Do you have proof that we have applied for and were denied funding? You’re oddly definitive about all this.

If the article is true, we didn’t even request any ‘too busy focussing on dingley’ do you need a link?

To clarify further ‘my take’ indicates that it is my opinion or guesswork

I acknowledge anything in print could be as fantasy based as anything in bigfooty

 

[Ned Ryerson]

If the article is true, we didn’t even request any ‘too busy focussing on dingley’ do you need a link?

To clarify further ‘my take’ indicates that it is my opinion or guesswork

I acknowledge anything in print could be as fantasy based as anything in bigfooty

I realise you said it was your take but then painted a pretty clear picture in that last paragraph that Kennett had supposedly cost us funding because of his soapbox antics.

 

[Pessimistic]

The OP is a legitimate question, and timeframes suggest our clubs inaction predates jeff returning, so you jeff lovers can unscramble your panties now

As always, I’m very happy to be proven wrong

 

[Pessimistic]

I realise you said it was your take but then painted a pretty clear picture in that last paragraph that Kennett had supposedly cost us funding because of his soapbox antics.

Do you reckon his approach has the best chance of success?

 

[Ned Ryerson]

I’ll say it again that I’m not a Jeff lover - but you can clearly see the posters who will attack him on sight for reasons that have zero to do with football. It’s a fine discussion to have. It’s just weird that people automatically leap to ‘X regime won’t give us money’ or ‘Jeff has cost us funding’ when none of us here have the slightest clue about what the funding plan is.

To be honest Jeff isn’t the one I’m excited about having when it comes to this - I’m far more excited to have Reeves (with recent experience with the Geelong stadium expansion) as CEO.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Do you reckon his approach has the best chance of success?

I genuinely don’t think it matters. If funding is applied for then it will be judged on its merits and benefits for the community - not if Jeff said something mean.

 

[Pessimistic]

I genuinely don’t think it matters. If funding is applied for then it will be judged on its merits and benefits for the community - not if Jeff said something mean.

The report says we didn’t even apply? Again you are focussing on the jeff thing

 

[Pessimistic]

I’ll say it again that I’m not a Jeff lover - but you can clearly see the posters who will attack him on sight for reasons that have zero to do with football. It’s a fine discussion to have. It’s just weird that people automatically leap to ‘X regime won’t give us money’ or ‘Jeff has cost us funding’ when none of us here have the slightest clue about what the funding plan is.

To be honest Jeff isn’t the one I’m excited about having when it comes to this - I’m far more excited to have Reeves (with recent experience with the Geelong stadium expansion) as CEO.

Do not make this about jeff. As I said the apparent inaction implied in the article predates jeff.

I’m merely wondering if this was the board failure which prompted us to get jeff back. I still think there must be something drastic for such a drastic change at the club, and nothing revealed thus far is that drastic in my opinion

As an aside, having Newbold on the AFL board doesn’t appear to have advantaged us either