A-League side Adelaide United Chair Greg Griffin said that South Australia’s premier football club "cannot grow without a new city stadium situated nearby Adelaide Oval," according to Luke Griffiths of THE ADVERTISER. Griffin said, "Would we like to recruit a marquee player? Yes, of course. But we can't get a return on investment because we're going to sell out our stadium anyway ... we need a bigger stadium that needs to be filled and that's what marquee players do -- they put bums on seats." Drawing comparisons with the now-abandoned Football Park, Griffin said United’s existing facility at Hindmarsh "lacks the required public transport connections." He said, "The problem with the location of Hindmarsh is that there's nothing else there, it's just not the right location to grow the game." The club currently uses the Adelaide Oval for a "small number of key matches" but Griffin said that Australian Football League and cricket have a "stranglehold" over access. Griffin: "It's almost wild luck (when United can use the facility)." He estimated the cost of a new stadium to be A$200M ($147M), "funded via a private-public partnership." He added, "I know it’s a lot of money ... every new stadium in the world gets a contribution from government, simply because of the benefits it brings to the city." Opposition spokesperson for Recreation & Sport Tim Whetstone said that "he looked forward to a public conversation" around a city football stadium, which he said "would be great for Adelaide’s sporting reputation" (THE ADVERTISER, 11/20).
