MCG-FIFA World Cup Bid 2018/2022

[gyfox]

Agree with this - Sydney/Brisbane people acting a bit high and mighty because they have rectangular stadiums - but that's nothing to do with them liking football more, only rugby. Just lucky for them that Rugby happens to be played on a similar sized pitch to football.

Actually NSW, Qld and the ACT have significantly higher rates of registered footballers than the "AFL states" so it seems more people do like football there. The rate of registered players is highest in the ACT but NSW has 4 times the rate that Victoria has and Qld has about 3 times the rate in Victoria. The rate of registered players in Victoria is half of what it is in SA and WA but the latter are still a fair way behind NSW, Qld and the ACT.

[Dan]

The Victorian government proposed to hold the WC of 2002 way back in 1995!.Jeff Kennett lost the plot and assumed that Victoria could hold the WC by itself with the MCG holding 120,000 people.
Im dissapointed with the Victorian government.They have been strangly silent throughout this whole ALF debarcle.In a way,I was hoping they were working behind closed doors on something special,but alas....we get absolutley SweetFA.ALF have been holding the FFA to ransom and dictating ,something like $500 million in compo?..Thats f***ing ridiculous and it wouldnt surprise me if we do get it,FIFA will dump the MCG(Remember we only really need 8 venues to work a WC) and we will see a massive backflip from this gutless government and to save the embarrasment to the world,they will probably cave in and spend $200mill or so upgrading Swan st,so at least Melbourne have a venue.Its certainly cheaper than paying $500mill to ALF.

[gyfox]

The Victorian government proposed to hold the WC of 2002 way back in 1995!.Jeff Kennett lost the plot and assumed that Victoria could hold the WC by itself with the MCG holding 120,000 people.
Im dissapointed with the Victorian government.They have been strangly silent throughout this whole ALF debarcle.In a way,I was hoping they were working behind closed doors on something special,but alas....we get absolutley SweetFA.ALF have been holding the FFA to ransom and dictating ,something like $500 million in compo?..Thats f***ing ridiculous and it wouldnt surprise me if we do get it,FIFA will dump the MCG(Remember we only really need 8 venues to work a WC) and we will see a massive backflip from this gutless government and to save the embarrasment to the world,they will probably cave in and spend $200mill or so upgrading Swan st,so at least Melbourne have a venue.Its certainly cheaper than paying $500mill to ALF.

Do you know if it is possible to upgrade Etihad to the 60,000 saleable seats and while doing it change the retractable seating to pivoting technology? The problem with this might be that the MCG surface couldn't handle all the extra traffic from being the only Melbourne AFL venue.

[beastjim]

Nice work Matt, would be interested to know how plausible it would be to install something like that, especially into the Northern Stand (like what Gyfox is talking about).

[deejaybee]

1. You have lost me deejaybee... are you saying Victoria put forward 5 viable WC venues? I can only see the two that got in the bid. Etihad would have been great but it was not Victoria's property to put into the bid and the owners decided against it.

Originally they put forward Docklands and the MCG (which is basically by default), CEO of Melbourne Stadiums Ltd (Etihad Stadium) Ian Collins was certainly open to the WC (and why wouldn't he?) but then the AFL cocked on to it and flexed their arms. No doubt their grievances could have been solved, but probably after the mother of all hissy fits.

Next they proposed the MRS, apparently upgraded to 50,000. It can be done, but would cost a ridiculous amount, would be a different design and doesn't fit in with the area.

Then Spring Street and the AFL came to a compromise by proposing a 45,000 seat stadium on the E-Gate railyard site off Footscray road. This was rejected because it basically was a 30K stadium for the AFL's 'low-drawing' matches (that means probably North Melbourne's home ground/Fremantle & Port's Vic home) and upgraded temporarily.
The last rumour I've heard was that the E-Gate site (which quietly is big enough a 70,000 Emirates-style stadium plus a few 20-storey apartment blocks on it or a desperately-needed park precinct) has been sold to a developer for 20 of those horrible apartment blocks that litter the Docklands/Southbank area to be built.

Once that was exhausted, they then came up with upgrading Kardinia Park by modifying Geelong Football Club's master plan for the stadium. All parties were more or less satisfied (watch the space for any future A-League licences, I'd like to see the losing consortium of the 2nd Melbourne HAL team team up with the GFC to establish a team) so it went ahead.

So now we have the MCG and Kardinia.

Do you know if it is possible to upgrade Etihad to the 60,000 saleable seats and while doing it change the retractable seating to pivoting technology?

I wouldn't say so, any development would probably mean demo'ing the stadium. A key thing to take into consideration is that the AFL are getting the keys to the stadium in 15-20 years.
The original plans were supposed to have an extra tier on it, I think bringing capacity to 70K?

[gyfox]

Originally the FFA expected the MCG and the MRS. The Victorian Government advised that the MRS could not be upgraded (much to Grocon's protestations) so the FFA then looked at Etihad. The AFL said they had water tight contracts for the venue so that meant it wasn't available. During the arguments back and forward about Etihad there was some mention about E-Gate as a venue for the AFL while the World Cup utilised other venues and the Victorian Government indicated it wasn't interested in funding the idea. Finally the Victorian Government put forward Kardinia Park.

The summary then is that the Victorian Government put 2 venues forward, the MCG and Kardinia, and they did not support 2 venues, the MRS and E-Gate, and kept out of the argument about Etihad. Victorians put forward 2 viable venues and both are in the bid book.

[kal El]

Stupid question here as I couldn't be stuffed reading the state Vs state in this thread but is any money worth while talking about going to be spent on th MCG?

Can someone tell me why AAMI Park isn't in it does it not meet standards?

[jowel]

Melbourne needs a rectangular stadium large enough to host international football matches before it can possibly call itself the "sporting capital".

Frankly, the only people chest-beating about Melbourne being the sporting capital are Victorians and no-one else. It seems to me that this whole self proclaimed BS is based on a love of AFL, and everything else comes 2nd. They are massively insecure if told they have a rival too (i.e. Sydney).

[gyfox]

Stupid question here as I couldn't be stuffed reading the state Vs state in this thread but is any money worth while talking about going to be spent on th MCG?

Can someone tell me why AAMI Park isn't in it does it not meet standards?

Like most of the other venues there will be some money spent bringing the back of house stuff up to FIFA's strict requirements. How much that will cost at the MCG has not been made public. There will also be work no doubt on TV Camera positions etc within the stadium. Can't say that I have looked at the requirements recently but I recall an inordinate number of camera locations... 24?

AAMI cannot be made to the capacity required without demolishing the roof and then making what have been described as unsightly additions to increase the seating by 15,000. The Victorian Government indicated a long time ago now that they were not going to fund this as a project. There was talk that the work to expand the venue would have to then be demolished and the old roof put back on again. In excess of 3 years was mentioned as the time the stadium would be out of action to do all this.

[nobleoz]

The reason Melbourne can boast to be our sporting capital is because they get the best crowds in any sport. Sydney is always way below - there were even more people at NRL in Brisbane than in Sydney on Fri night (they said 38,000 was a record crowd!). I like both cities - but the sporting culture in Melb is like nothing anywhere else & that atmosphere is electric at the 'G. Maybe it's because of the popularity of AFL - but it's all part of the culture. Having lived there once, I found it hard to return to little ol' Adelaide!

[Dan]

The reason Melbourne can boast to be our sporting capital is because they get the best crowds in any sport. Sydney is always way below - there were even more people at NRL in Brisbane than in Sydney on Fri night (they said 38,000 was a record crowd!). I like both cities - but the sporting culture in Melb is like nothing anywhere else & that atmosphere is electric at the 'G. Maybe it's because of the popularity of AFL - but it's all part of the culture. Having lived there once, I found it hard to return to little ol' Adelaide!

"We are the sporting capital" unfortunatley doesnt excuse the disgraceful performance from ALF and the Victorian Government in this bid process.
How would the world look at Melbourne when FIFA tell ALF to go jump with their compo claim and cut the MCG from their final list of venues?Capacity of the MCG means sh*t when they(FFA,FIFA) have to pay multi millions to use it.

[gyfox]

I am looking for the Victorian Government to get a dose of reality and propose a modernisation that addresses the major problem with the MCG which is viewing distances. Anything that doesn't address this issue is a waste of money as far as football and the World Cup is concerned. Better to be lesser capacity and address this issue than make it bigger without addressing it in my view.

[deejaybee]

Melbourne needs a rectangular stadium large enough to host international football matches before it can possibly call itself the "sporting capital".

Frankly, the only people chest-beating about Melbourne being the sporting capital are Victorians and no-one else. It seems to me that this whole self proclaimed BS is based on a love of AFL, and everything else comes 2nd. They are massively insecure if told they have a rival too (i.e. Sydney).

1. Where is the evidence of any of this?

2. If you were attacking Melbourne's capacity to host FIFA internationals, you should probably be aware that there is nothing about having a 70,000 seat rectangular stadium in it. The city has 2 stadiums that fully comply with FIFA internationals, even though the MCG isn't fully compliant.

Melbourne has been marketed as the 'sporting capital' because it can cater for sporting events of any size better than anywhere else in Australia, and all within a walk from the CBD.
It is foolish to highlight the one capacity where it falls short in (a high-capacity rectangular arena) when it has just built a state-of-the-art rectangular arena that meets needs.


Oh and for the record I play for La Trobe University Soccer Club, and am a member of the Melbourne (Demons) Football Club and will soon be a season ticket holder for Melbourne Heart FC. I like many other people hate the AFL administration.

[weatherhead]

Sorry if this is getting offtopic - but this whole Victorian Sporting Capital of Australia argument that gets rehashed anytime there is any time of national/international sport discussion (world cup, cricket wc, australian open, hosting of international rugby, league, soccer games) is just silly. Mostly it is peddled a by Victorian media who (and perhaps rightly so) play up the interstate rivalry at any opportunity as this probably sells papers/ads. Attendance is only one part of the sporting culture pie - from my perspective being born and raised in Melbourne and living in Sydney is that Melbourne has ripping facilities, but really honestly supports the one code on the range of levels grades that it is played - whereas Sydney supports three.

My feeling is that it is a bit of a embarrassment to see the non rectangle grounds used for soccer. I see that there are a few in action for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa with an athletics track and this disappoints me. The MCG is the best ground in Australia - probably the best round/oval stadium in the world - but isn't a terrific soccer venue.

[timmers]

Gee this will be good viewing