VIC and SA gave up AAMI Park and Coopers, hence why they got the dregs of the competition games. Perth was nuked with nothing.
Thats going to be news to the operators of HBF Park who hosted 5 matches during the Cup.
All VIC had to do was hand over Marvel for 6 weeks during the AFL season and they would have at least got a semi-final and many other larger games.
Its 7 weeks. Not six. And a Bledisloe clash in their as well. And besides it seems that Football Australia just assumed things, and never made formal enquiries or requests to either the MCG, or the AFL, or the Victorian Goverment for that matter. Under the terms of the 2018 AFL-Docklands funding deal, Docklands must be made available to other sports and to events the Vic Gov classes as major for the next 30 years.
negotiations between it, the AFL – which owns Marvel Stadium – and the MCG did not proceed much beyond the polite inquiries stage."
ref:
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer...ren-t-playing-at-the-mcg-20230717-p5doxk.html
The AFL could have easily survived with the MCG and Geelong during the World Cup, and Victoria would have also reaped the benefits of a major influx of overseas tourism from the World Cup and a boost to their economy.
The average crowd at AFL matches in Melbourne this year exceeded the capacity of Geelong by some margin. Theres no way the MCC or the AFL allow their grounds to sit largely unused for 2 months in the middle of winter.
But no, the fear of the world game and rectangular sports in general showed through, to protect AFL.
The AFL doesnt really need protecting in Victoria.
Their self proclaimed "Sporting Capital of the World" is only perpetrated by them and is a fallacy. They cannot claim this when they continue to ignore the world's biggest sport like they do.
Its not the biggest sport in Victoria by any metric. Not TV, not attendance, not grassroots.
I mean they also claim it based on its hosting the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open, the Australian Grand Prix, Bledisloe and Origin attendances, the Boxing Day test, and the 3rd highest average attended domestic sporting competition on the planet - noting that the AFLs attendance at Docklands and the MCG alone is also higher than the entire NRL competition. {4.154m v 3.9m].
Everyone but soccer is happy enough.
What is pretty cool is that the NRL just got on with our competition (without some of our major stadiums) and worked alongside another sport and yet we continued to be successful with our own growing attendances during that time.
Which is easy to do when your competition has average crowds of less than 20,000. You can literally host matches almost anywhere. Its a little less tenable when you average 36,000.
Furthermore, Australia is hosting the Woman's FIFA Asian Cup in 2026. It will again be huge, and again the AFL states will be given the dregs.
Western Australia is literally one of three states getting matches. Victoria never even bid for matches.
www.abc.net.au
