ANZ Stadium "may not have hosted" its last Australian Football League game, with the league "in talks with venue officials about staging a potential all-Sydney final there next month," according to Andrew Wu of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The ground is reportedly "also in the frame" to host a Greater Western Sydney "home" final should the Giants face a "big Victorian club." The AFL is "keeping all options open with its Sydney finals venues," including the possibility of forking out A$500,000 ($395,800) to have ANZ Stadium ready "in the event of another Swans-Giants September derby." It would be a "massive outlay for a game that may not happen," but one the AFL is prepared to make if it avoids "having to turn away up to 40,000 fans" in a "foreign" market. The AFL is facing "huge costs to reconfigure the rectangular shaped ANZ Stadium," which has not hosted an AFL match since last year's finals series. There would "need to be a large area of new grass laid on both wings," which is currently being covered by seating, at "considerable cost" (SMH, 8/16).
