Australian Football League side Collingwood President Eddie McGuire’s A$1B ($740M) stadium dream "is a step closer to reality" after the formation of a State Government taskforce to "decide the future of Melbourne’s sporting stadiums and precincts," according to Michael Warner of the HERALD SUN. The Cabinet committee, led by Premier Daniel Andrews, also will explore the AFL’s plans for a A$300M ($223M) revamp of Etihad Stadium. A decision "could be made before next year’s state Budget in May." McGuire: "This is far bigger than a footy ground ... it is a landmark, an events center, tied in with the future of the MCG and adding to the tennis and Olympic Park precinct." A series of proposed redevelopments of Punt Rd., Brunton Ave., Richmond Railway Station, Olympic Park and the Docklands will be evaluated. Plans to build over the railway tracks that separate the MCG from the Melbourne Park Tennis Centre will also be considered. Victorian Sports Minister John Eren said, "New development will not only keep Melbourne’s sporting and entertainment precinct the envy of the world, it’ll be billions of dollars of investment and thousands of Victorian jobs." Further work at Geelong’s ever-evolving Simonds Stadium and Eureka Stadium in Ballarat, where the Western Bulldogs will play for premiership points next season, "will also be investigated." McGuire’s vision for a new 60,000-seat stadium on the site of Hisense Arena "involves the bulldozing of Etihad Stadium" (HERALD SUN, 6/29).
MELBOURNE LANDS QUALIFIER: In Sydney, Josh Gordon reported Victoria has fended off NSW "to score the right" to host a key football game between Australia and Japan as part of the Socceroos' campaign to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Andrews and Football Federation of Australia CEO David Gallop have announced that the game will be held at Etihad Stadium on Oct. 11, "promising a sell-out crowd." Andrews: "It's the biggest part of the World Cup qualifications and it belongs to Victoria." But the contribution from Victorian taxpayers to lure the game to Melbourne "remains unclear." Andrews said that he did not want to give "sensitive commercial information to NSW Premier Mike Baird on how Melbourne managed to secure the event." Andrews: "This will be a bad day for him (Mike Baird) I'm sure. I wish him well and no doubt he'll be able to come down here, as he has done some many times, to see how it is done properly on a first class playing surface" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/29).
