Etihad Stadium

[skippy]

From the Age

Boutique stadium in wings

The AFL is examining plans to upgrade either Punt Road Oval or Princes Park as a boutique 25,000-seat stadium to help ease the financial burden on Victorian clubs hobbled by onerous Etihad Stadium deals.
The league has had preliminary plans drawn up as part of a feasibility study into both the Richmond and Carlton precincts.
In the Punt Road Oval plans, a footbridge would be built from Richmond train station over Brunton Avenue and Punt Road to the stadium. The attraction of the ground is its proximity to public transport and ease of parking at the MCG - where the AFL would not schedule clashing fixtures.
The Princes Park option would be less expensive because there is already capacity for 15,000 at the ground. It suffers, though, from lack of public transport access, apart from tram routes, and easy parking.
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North Melbourne's Arden Street ground has also been floated as an option but is even more remote, in terms of public transport and other infrastructure.
Either way, the AFL sees the third-ground option as a panacea for many of its problems and is pushing hard to get a deal done.
Having been frustrated in its attempts to buy back Etihad Stadium from its owners, and continually
held back by the financial problems of Victorian clubs such as the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne, the league has taken the dramatic step of exploring this proposal to help redistribute some of its gate-taking revenue.
Tenant clubs at Etihad Stadium - including St Kilda, the Bulldogs and North - need to draw crowds upwards of 20,000 to avoid having to write the stadium owners a cheque, and upwards of 30,000 to achieve meaningful revenue.
An AFL-owned third stadium would end that kind of inequity.
Redevelopment of Punt Road or Princes Park would cost between $100 million and $150 million, and would be an all-seater stadium.
The proposal was brought up at a meeting of club chiefs in January and is sure to get another airing on Wednesday when the clubs meet with league executives, at which the contentious subject of equalisation funding will be addressed.
One senior Richmond official said: ''This idea of a boutique stadium will become a hot topic this year, a big-ticket item for the AFL. It will help solve many of the issues facing the competition.''
The one drawback to the Punt Road plan is the recent construction of the ME Bank Centre - home of Richmond's training and administration offices, as well as an Indigenous Youth Education Centre - and how that would fit into any redevelopment.

[gyfox]

From the Age

Boutique stadium in wings

The AFL is examining plans to upgrade either Punt Road Oval or Princes Park as a boutique 25,000-seat stadium to help ease the financial burden on Victorian clubs hobbled by onerous Etihad Stadium deals.
The league has had preliminary plans drawn up as part of a feasibility study into both the Richmond and Carlton precincts.
In the Punt Road Oval plans, a footbridge would be built from Richmond train station over Brunton Avenue and Punt Road to the stadium. The attraction of the ground is its proximity to public transport and ease of parking at the MCG - where the AFL would not schedule clashing fixtures.
The Princes Park option would be less expensive because there is already capacity for 15,000 at the ground. It suffers, though, from lack of public transport access, apart from tram routes, and easy parking.
Advertisement
North Melbourne's Arden Street ground has also been floated as an option but is even more remote, in terms of public transport and other infrastructure.
Either way, the AFL sees the third-ground option as a panacea for many of its problems and is pushing hard to get a deal done.
Having been frustrated in its attempts to buy back Etihad Stadium from its owners, and continually
held back by the financial problems of Victorian clubs such as the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne, the league has taken the dramatic step of exploring this proposal to help redistribute some of its gate-taking revenue.
Tenant clubs at Etihad Stadium - including St Kilda, the Bulldogs and North - need to draw crowds upwards of 20,000 to avoid having to write the stadium owners a cheque, and upwards of 30,000 to achieve meaningful revenue.
An AFL-owned third stadium would end that kind of inequity.
Redevelopment of Punt Road or Princes Park would cost between $100 million and $150 million, and would be an all-seater stadium.
The proposal was brought up at a meeting of club chiefs in January and is sure to get another airing on Wednesday when the clubs meet with league executives, at which the contentious subject of equalisation funding will be addressed.
One senior Richmond official said: ''This idea of a boutique stadium will become a hot topic this year, a big-ticket item for the AFL. It will help solve many of the issues facing the competition.''
The one drawback to the Punt Road plan is the recent construction of the ME Bank Centre - home of Richmond's training and administration offices, as well as an Indigenous Youth Education Centre - and how that would fit into any redevelopment.

It is quite interesting to see this in the light of the NSW Stadia Strategy that is a development on Melbourne's model allowing for the greater decentralisation of Sydney. The NSW strategy as I read it seeks to push all clubs into one size fits all stadiums without allowance for the different drawing abilities of each club. While this proposal adds a boutique stadium to supposedly reduce costs for the lower drawing clubs it will also provide a far superior atmosphere for games which is a vital part of game day experience. The NSW strategy seems to ignore this completely and makes no allowance for the fact that poor atmosphere as a result of playing in too large a venue actually drives fans away from the game.

On the matter of owning their own stadium being cheaper for the clubs I hope the AFL does their sums thoroughly.

[yob]

Punt Rd would be a hoot. It only has 3 pockets due to road widening.

Princes Park is the logical choice. However this would require the AFL turn 180 degrees after demonising the ground in to retirement. They're vain enought to throw an extra hundred million at a greenfield just to save face.

[kilonewton]

Boutique stadium in wings
(snip)
The Princes Park option would be less expensive because there is already capacity for 15,000 at the ground. It suffers, though, from lack of public transport access, apart from tram routes, and easy parking.

North Melbourne's Arden Street ground has also been floated as an option but is even more remote, in terms of public transport and other infrastructure.

Bollocks.
Princes Park to Royal Park station is 1km. Arden St to Macaulay, 650m. Both have tram routes closer than that.
The closest point of the MCG to the Richmond match day entrance is 400m. Hardly feckin' remote!
For comparison, from personal experience: Wembley Stadium to Wembley Park, 600m; Allianz Arena to Frottmaning, 1km; Stade de France to Saint Denis-Ponte de Paris, 700m; Twickenham Stadium to Twickenham, 900m; Murrayfield to Haymarket, 1.5km.

OK, I get that most people would then have to change trains, making it a slightly longer journey, but Melburnians have an unhealthy obsession with direct journeys. And we're talking about games that don't draw large crowds, so the need to surge trains/trams is less.

[skippy]

On the matter of owning their own stadium being cheaper for the clubs I hope the AFL does their sums thoroughly.[/quote]

The AFL have no plans of building another stadium in Melbourne. The recent trend is less games being played in Melbourne, with clubs playing home games in Launceston, Cairns, Brisbane, Canberra, NT and now Hobart.

This media leak is similar to the E-Gate proposal slipped to the media a few years ago during the last round of negotiations with Etihad.

It would take a couple of years to plan, secure finance, design and obtain statuatory approvals for another stadium, and another couple of years construction. If they really pushed it the new stadium could be ready by 2017. The AFL get Etihad Stadium for $1 in 2025.

[Timbo]

Will it be lit?

[nobleoz]

Many footy fans would love to attend a smaller ground that feels like "the good old days". Apart from being Carlton's ground, Princes Park is perfect. It still has good facilities with seating for 15,000. And there's that beautiful 100 year old stand. The Heatley Stand is now gone - replaced by the new Blues training/admin complex. But the top of the Hawthorn Stand could be continued around on top of all that, I reckon.
As for getting there.....the trams are Melbourne's gr8 advantage. When I lived in Fitzroy it used to be easy to park your car in nearby streets & the park still has the entrance gates for match-day parking.

[cam]

This from today's Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/b ... 2glfe.html

Blues keen on a Princes Park revival

[the crow]

Princes park would be a good choice.

[yob]

It would. Consider it 1/4 complete already.

[Egan]

Whats the prospect of Bulldogs playing more games at Kardinia Park? There is a battle for young kids to play the code in that zone and Melbourne is gradually moving westwards.

35,000 seat venue, 40-45 mins from the Western Burbs, could easily be an alternative, especially if Geelong offer dirt cheap rent to a few of the Melbourne clubs. Isn't Ballarat also being redeveloped to host a few games?

[nobleoz]

Demetriou quoted on ABC radio tonight & in The Age, as saying that AFL has already done a feasibility study of Princes Park.
No-one has mentioned this yet - but Princes Park could be developed both for AFL & the proposed cricket facilities that would allow VCA to play Sheffield Shield there instead of MCG.

[Rob]

I've got more chance if AFL games being held in my backyard than a 3rd stadium in Melbourne ever eventuating.

[nobleoz]

Latest from Demetriou today

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-pl ... 6605841727

[skippy]

According to the Herald Sun, Etihad will use the install retractable seating after Sundays AFL fixture in time for the Socceroos vs. Jordan on Tuesday night. The seating will be restored in time for AFL matches Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Can not see why Etihad can't use the retractable seats in October / November for all four Melbourne Victory fixtures.