- Dec 30, 2003
- 2,097
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- Bulldogs / Willy / Palace
Great move by the dogs.
I now need to vomit.
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Great move by the dogs.
I now need to vomit.
Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
Where are people going to park? Or will parking fines pay for the rebuild?
Zero chance of this coming to fruition.
They've floated it with a much cheaper plan in mind so they can sell that to the government as a huge saving.
Why? Didnt they just develop Mars Stadium not more than 2 years ago?
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The Bulldogs are already locked into another commitment in Ballarat and have so far had $22 million spent building Mars Stadium with another immediate $6 million about to be spent fixing issues with that first stage. The Bulldogs and the Ballarat Council are pushing for additional funding for a second stage that would boost capacity and facilities in this Victorian venue where as other AFL clubs are getting nowhere near that level of funding other than Geelong.
Why do you say zero chance? Andrews state govt spending 230mill upgrading Kardinia Park. Partly due to election pork barreling, but also so the stadium could host other sports, facilities, services a region, etc.
Whitten Oval plan similar
And $0 into Adelade Oval, Kardinia Park, Mars Stadium, York Park, and the SCG. The AFL really will only fund things which promote their agenda and not a particular club's. Consider that North Melbourne had to recently fund the installation of lights and the construction of new AFLW nd VFL faciities at Arden Street entirely through members donating $10.5 million.See this from this comprehensive post 2 or 3 above:
Note that the AFL put $0.00 into the new stadium in WA, cant remember the stated reason exactly.
The board of the North Melbourne football club hasn't got the brains to think of something like that.If this happens the Kangaroos should get on board as well and play a few home games there.
This will happen when the Bulldogs find the money themselves, which will be never.
Funding VU Whitten Oval re-development. We need to consider that to date some $5 million has already been spent upgrading VU WO ground already with new AFLW facilities and a new scoreboard completed. The funding for upgraded lighting was committed in the last State Budget and is yet to be effected. The government also released crown land to the Bulldogs to allow for expansion of facilities.This will happen when the Bulldogs find the money themselves, which will be never.
I think that you have validated the other guy's point. The MCG and Docklands are train accessible and PT friendly which is key to their appeal and success when compared with other big stadiums in Australia. Consider that one has to really go out of their way to access most of the big stadiums in Sydney, where-as in Melbourne, you can hop on a train anywhere from the Eastern or Northern suburbs and you are passsing through either Jolimont or Richmond, or hop on a train anywhere across Melbourne and stay on it long enough and you'll eventually pass through Spencer Street next to the Docklands.Easy access to the 'G? I have given up driving to the 'G from the West, it's a nightmare. I now go by train (when trains stop at Richmond) and I will if and when footy returns to WO - same convenience with a station next door. Gotta ditch the car.
I suspect that many look back fondly on the old home grounds through rose coloured glasses. For the main part, they were aweful. Not enough toilets, you often stood shoulder to shoulder with people and had to have sharp elbows to get anywhere (to go to the toilet or to get food). Imagine that arrangement now with smokers being forced to leave the ground every time that they wanted to burst into flames? I remember the old grounds (with exception of Princess Park and Victoria Park) being characterised by only a couple of thousand seats at best, cold outer terraces, not enough toilets and being aweful for young kids to get a decent vantage point.I wish we still had a few suburban Melbourne AFL grounds. Going to VFL games and soaking in the atmosphere is the absolute best.
In an ideal world, we would have 2-3 boutique 15-18,000 seat stadiums shared amongst the Melbourne based clubs. It's a pity a lot of clubs, including mine, redeveloped their grounds as training facilities and bulldozed all that history.
Can you imagine the lynching squads of members locked out of grounds because there is only a capacity for 18,000 in Melbourne? To build a Mars Stadium type ground in Melbourne with a capacity of around 18-20,000 would still cost upward of $100 million as opposed to around $45 million in Ballarat in consideration of higher wages of building workers and labour in Melbourne. That said, the cost would likely not be a determining factor because what's $50 million either way to the AFL? I suspect that it would be the limitations of the size of a boutique ground forcing the locking out of members who aren't prepared to pay a premium for the Boutique Ground experience. There are already a lot of grumbles among Melbourne based Bulldogs members about Mars Stadium for exactly that reason. Imagine doing that in Melbourne to clubs like Saint Kilda which has a bigger membership?Maybe back in the 70's the old suburban grounds were like that, but the stadiums being constructed now are done so to meet the demands of the modern discerning fan who expects to be treated to more modern conveniences than the supporter of the past.
In addition, we have come a long way design wise since the days of one brick grand stand and concrete outer and a ground with no drainage or floodlights.
I'm certain nostalgia has made people remember the grounds of the past as a far better experience that they actually were, but that is no reason to dismiss redeveloping those grounds now to a modern standard and bringing back a small slice of that experience.
Can you imagine the lynching squads of members locked out of grounds because there is only a capacity for 18,000 in Melbourne? To build a Mars Stadium type ground in Melbourne with a capacity of around 18-20,000 would still cost upward of $100 million as opposed to around $45 million in Ballarat in consideration of higher wages of building workers and labour in Melbourne. That said, the cost would likely not be a determining factor because what's $50 million either way to the AFL? I suspect that it would be the limitations of the size of a boutique ground forcing the locking out of members who aren't prepared to pay a premium for the Boutique Ground experience. There are already a lot of grumbles among Melbourne based Bulldogs members about Mars Stadium for exactly that reason. Imagine doing that in Melbourne to clubs like Saint Kilda which has a bigger membership?
It perhaps wouldn't impact North Melbourne as they barely get two men and a dog to their games. I did argue all the long that The Bulldogs should have left North Melbourne alone in Ballarat. They had a happy arrangement with the now defunct North Ballarat Roosters, the Roos wanted to play AFL in Ballarat and their members (Two men and a dog) were totally supportive of the idea of playing three H&A games per season in the RAT. Ballarat lost its VFL team because as the truth has played out, a non-AFL supported/aligned team is not inkeeping with Channel 7's broadcasting plan. Every attempt by North Ballarat FC to meet the VFLs terms for re-entry have been roadblocked and stymied.
You obviously aren't aware that the Western Bulldogs do indeed add a Ballarat Premium to their memberships for Melbourne based members who wish to attend Ballarat games. Ballarat resident members don't pay that premium.I highly doubt the AFL would ever charge $50 to go to a smaller stadium just because it's smaller.
It sounds like you don't want it to happen because the Bulldogs will then pull out of playing games in Ballarat, which comes off as a bit selfish.