The Australian Football League has been "urged to consider ripping the roof off Etihad Stadium and building a fourth tier to expand the venue's capacity to 75,000," according to Peter Rolfe of the HERALD SUN. Industry experts "have suggested lifting the lid on the Docklands venue and replacing it with a higher structure to accommodate more spectators and allow much needed amenity upgrades." Infrastructure leaders see three options: raise the roof, "scrap it and start again" or revamp ground level. Stadium "gurus" said that the rebuild needs to go further than the A$300M ($239.6M) blueprint the AFL proposed and "bulldozing the venue should be considered." PricewaterhouseCoopers infrastructure and urban renewal partner John Marinopoulos said that "major changes to the AFL-owned venue were a hot topic among industry insiders." Marinopoulos: "We've heard a number of different things about Etihad Stadium including they could chop off the top deck at level three and go up another level to get it up to 75,000." AFL spokesperson Patrick Keane said that redevelopment discussions with the government including open-air bars, restaurants, parks and a running track were "ongoing." PwC partner Nadia van Domm said that taking the roof off would be "disruptive" and estimated it would cost more than A$100M ($79.9M) to "add the worst seats in the house" (HERALD SUN, 7/29).
