A roof could be built over the Melbourne Cricket Ground "to weatherproof Australia’s greatest stadium" in one of the biggest stadium redevelopments "ever attempted in world sport," according Peter Rolfe of the HERALD SUN.
Melbourne Cricket Council boss Stephen Gough "has proposed installing a lightweight retractable roof over the MCG and believes the technology required to complete the major project was ready to roll." He said, "I think technology is on our side here and the engineers are working on all sorts of solutions about that. And that would be something the MCC would have to look at. Do we want a covered roof and should it be retractable because we go back to those great sunny days for a big open air stadium?" Such a plan "is likely to divide sports fans" who believe the stadium's open structure is "sacrosanct and others who see it as an obvious advantage." La Liga side Real Madrid has approved a €400M ($444.6M) retractable roof for the Santiago Bernabéu, with construction to commence next year.
Gough said that the MCG needed "to keep pace not only as a leading stadium in terms of capacity, events, environmental impact and turf quality but as 'the benchmark' globally." He said, "You could have a lightweight, retractable roof if it was felt that was what we wanted to have. I think the opportunities are quite enormous” (HERALD SUN, 11/6).
