- Dec 7, 2016
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In short, Peter Gordon's aspirational musing. Consider that irrespective of the development above, the AFL would never allow regular Metropolitan senior male competition games to be directed away from its 800 million investment at the Docklands. It would set a precedent for Saint Kilda to demand seasonal games played at their newly redeveloped RSEA Park, or North Melbourne arguing that Arden Street with its new developments and its centrality to the CBD and proximity to the new adjacent Arden railway station should have home games too.
The VUWO development pictured above is really about creating a second major 18 000 capacity AFLW venue to compliment the redeveloped 20,000 capacity Ikon Park. Nothing more and nothing less. Peter Gordon has simply mused that one day he'd like to see home games at VUWO.
Does anybody seriously think that the AFL would let the Genie out of the lamp by allowing its second smallest Victorian team to shift games back to its old suburban ground? At best, the WBFC might be granted a heritage game at their old home ground once a year (and that's a big perhaps).
Further, if the ground has 18,000 capacity of which 30% is reserved for opposition members and supporters (that's a condition imposed on host teams by the AFL), and in consideration that WBFC members aren't happy now being slugged an extra $43 per season to reserve attendance at Mars Stadium (which is solely imposed to limit crowd demand at a 12,000 capacity regional venue) to be guaranteed access to two Ballarat games. It begs the question: What premium would the club charge its supporters to attend any one-off games at VUWO? The WBFC couldn't accommodate all 40,000 members at an 18,000 capacity VUWO (which would have only 12,000 spaces allocated for its supporters). Any premium imposed for a VUWO game would be significantly more than $43 and wouldn't be popular at all. With 18,000 capacity, there'd be no walk-up general admission on game day. There'd be no "first come, first serve".
At least in Ballarat the club is making money out of the sponsorship from Tourism Victoria (Ballarat). They wouldn't get any government support by playing a game at VUWO.
One has to reason that the redevelopment of VUWO is all about the AFLW first and foremost. The State Government grants for the ground's upgrading and development are solely about creating an AFLW hub. The WBFC Reserves (VFL) will be its second primary user, and you would expect that the seniors will primarily use it for training and pre-seasonal games.
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