It has "already been dubbed the 'Rich List' takeover" of Australian Football League side Brisbane Lions, but the new board "needs money from the federal government, not their own wallets, to get the green light on a move to Springfield," according to Phil Lutton of the BRISBANE TIMES.
One of the final acts for departed Chair Angus Johnson before the boardroom coup "was to unveil the move to Springfield, west of Brisbane, where the club plans to build a state-of-the-art training and administration base to open in 2016."
The former Labor federal government had promised to kick in A$15M ($14.3M) in funds, while Ipswich City Council "was offering the land in the heart of Springfield at a peppercorn rate."
The council has not "changed its position, but the government has, with the new Coalition government promising to review all the spending promises of its predecessor." Lions Chair Bob Sharpless said, "I don't have any doubt (it will go ahead). We've gone through a change of government, so it would be naive to think the new government would just rubber-stamp a project that had been approved by the previous government" (BRISBANE TIMES, 10/25).
