AFL hints at new approach to stadium

The AFL has given another indication it is not wedded to the $235 million Subiaco Oval masterplan and will consider the merits of a new 60,000-seat stadium as the home of football in Perth.
  
Stadium task force chief  and Department of Sport and Recreation director-general Ron Alexander emerged from a meeting in Melbourne with AFL chief Andrew Demetriou and other officials yesterday confident that football would have constructive input into the critical second stage of their stadium review.
  
"They recognise that what we are trying to do is bring to WA the sort of facility they've got in Victoria," Mr Langoulant said.
  
He said an earlier tour of the redeveloped MCG and Telstra Dome had shown how superior those venues were to Perth's existing stadiums.
  
The first stage of the Langoulant task force review recommended that Mueller Park or land next to the old East Perth power station were better options for a new 60,000-seat outdoor stadium to the Subiaco Oval redevelopment masterplan promoted by the WA Football Commission. However, Mr Langoulant said the possibility of rebuilding Subiaco Oval from scratch remained a live option which the AFL seemed open to.
  
"I gather there is a warming from football either to look seriously at Subiaco Oval on a knock down and rebuild basis -- similar to what's happened at the MCG -- and I think they've got an open mind to a new stadium as long as the commercial arrangements are satisfactory and recognise the interests of football," Mr Langoulant said.
  
Mr Demetriou said it was in the best interests of football to take a cooperative and collaborative approach to the stadium review to ensure the
best outcome was achieved for the code.
  
"Whether that involves a new development or a redevelopment, as long as the clubs aren't disadvantaged, we'd certainly look at that with them," Mr Demetriou said.
  
On the critical issue of whether football was prepared to be a tenant at a stadium managed by an independent body, Mr Demetriou said: "I think it's entirely legitimate for a government that puts any taxpayers' money into any stadium to have some say in how it operates."
  
On Friday, WAFC chairman Neale Fong sent a letter to Sport and Recreation Minister John Kobelke pledging to support the task force and indicating a willingness by the WAFC to assess the merits of alternative stadium options to the $235 million Subiaco Oval masterplan.