TonyK
CibbuanoDemons looking at boutique stadium
May 24th 2008 00:18
MELBOURNE will play matches at two home grounds, the MCG and a boutique stadium if a radical proposal that will feature in a blueprint for the club's long-term future gets approval later this year.
Melbourne president Paul Gardner's ultimate goal would be for the Demons to have two home grounds, its traditional one, the MCG, which would host games drawing large crowds, and a second option — more like Geelong's Skilled Stadium — that would hold about 30,000 people.
It would enable Melbourne to make money, rather than lose it, as it does when it plays before small crowds at the MCG.
Gardner said stadium inequality was an issue that needed to be adressed by the AFL if all 10 Melbourne-based clubs are going to survive and propser.
"If Geelong gets 25,000 people to Skilled Stadium, they make between five to six hundred grand. We get 25,000 people on Sunday to the Hawthorn game, we ain't gonna make anywhere near that … You struggle to get 20,000 to Freo games and you get sick of writing out cheques," he said.
"I think they (the AFL) have to find a system that says, 'If 25,000 fans in one ground equals X dollars in income, then 25,000 fans at every ground should equal X dollars in income' … that's the key to the future."
Gardner believed that boutique stadiums were the way forward for Melbourne-based clubs that wanted to remain at their traditional base.
"Why wouldn't Melbourne Cricket Club have a boutique stadium? They could do that. When we're looking at areas like rebuilding southern stands, why wouldn't you say, 'What we're going to do is have a second stadium' and have a mini MCG? The whole competition can turn on its head, so do I see a future for Victorian clubs? Absolutely. I see an expanded future. I can see a day when clubs may well have two grounds."
Melbourne president Paul Gardner's ultimate goal would be for the Demons to have two home grounds, its traditional one, the MCG, which would host games drawing large crowds, and a second option — more like Geelong's Skilled Stadium — that would hold about 30,000 people.
It would enable Melbourne to make money, rather than lose it, as it does when it plays before small crowds at the MCG.
Gardner said stadium inequality was an issue that needed to be adressed by the AFL if all 10 Melbourne-based clubs are going to survive and propser.
"If Geelong gets 25,000 people to Skilled Stadium, they make between five to six hundred grand. We get 25,000 people on Sunday to the Hawthorn game, we ain't gonna make anywhere near that … You struggle to get 20,000 to Freo games and you get sick of writing out cheques," he said.
"I think they (the AFL) have to find a system that says, 'If 25,000 fans in one ground equals X dollars in income, then 25,000 fans at every ground should equal X dollars in income' … that's the key to the future."
Gardner believed that boutique stadiums were the way forward for Melbourne-based clubs that wanted to remain at their traditional base.
"Why wouldn't Melbourne Cricket Club have a boutique stadium? They could do that. When we're looking at areas like rebuilding southern stands, why wouldn't you say, 'What we're going to do is have a second stadium' and have a mini MCG? The whole competition can turn on its head, so do I see a future for Victorian clubs? Absolutely. I see an expanded future. I can see a day when clubs may well have two grounds."
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