Whats the minimum a ground has to hold? 40k???
And they wanna use DFS??
I'm all for that if it means our Western Stand has to get demolished and a new one gets built (ala Newys' Ecstasy Stand)
What does that stand hold, 12k?
:crazy: The minimum publicly available tickets is 40000, but FIFA require 4000 for themselves + corporates. So the smallest you can build is really 45k.
To hold a semi final it has to be bigger than 60k, and a final venue has to be bigger than 80k, and you can't use the same venue 2 weeks in a row. That means, for example, MCG and upgraded Suncorp (to 62k) for semi final, ANZ for final. ANZ or MCG will host the final.
:crazy: Great news for Cowboys, Knights and Raiders. Each club will have their stadium massively upgraded to about 33k (or more) permanent seats and an aditional 12k temporary seats (either a third tier above the permanent seats, or a second temporary tier behind the goals).
With the Knights, they aren't sure if they should make it permanent 45k stadium. EA Stadium would end up looking a bit like suncorp if they make it 45k, or like Mbombela Stadium below. Knights will end up with probably the best NRL ground afterwards.
Cowboys are looking at either a massive redevelopment of Dairy Farmers or a brand new Stadium, depending on which is cheapest, but concidering DF is all hills, temporary stands not covered and a horrible main grandstand, my money would be on a brand new ground.
Raiders will either get a massively redeveloped Canberra Stadium, or a brand new one built next to it, and CS will be convereted back to an oval. The ACT want a 33k ground permanently so they can attract big events like Socceroo, Wallabies games.
This is a pic of Mbombela Stadium for an example of what they are doing at South Africa which is probably similar to what the Knights and Raiders will get.
Expect to see a major redevelopment of the SFS, ANZ and Suncorp Stadiums too.
:crazy: The thing that sh!ts me is Carara on the Gold Coast... FIFA have a very strict rules on stadiums, sight lines, playing surface area etcetera, and no AFL ground actually meets the requirements.
You can use 1 ground for cultural/historic reasons and in our bid thats the MCG. This spells trouble when they want Carara on the Gold Coast, Adelaide Oval, and who knows what in Perth.
That and there is a stadium rule saying only 1 city can have 2 stadiums and thats it. But in our bid we will have MCG and Etihad in Melbourne and also SFS, ANZ and one more in Sydney.
Perth and Adelaide have been the biggest problem from the start.
Perth were going to build a 65k version of Etihad stadium and host a semi, but the new liberal government scrapped it as soon as they got in. They tried to push upgrading the AFL ground but FFA and the Fed gov kept saying no, not good enough, so noone is really sure whats going to happen there. Regardless, Perth will get upgrades to ME Stadium to about 28k.
Adelaide is a sh!t fight, becuase the AFL, Cricket, Soccer and Government are all screaming at each other and couldn't agree on the colour red, so it looks like Adelaide Oval.
:crazy: My final point, with world cups, FIFA require 32 training grounds/base camps for teams, and about 8 venues other than the ones used in the Cup for pre cup friendlies.
This means places like Jubilee Oval, WIN Stadium, Campbeltown Stadium, Belmore Oval, Penrith, Skilled Park will probably host a team and get massive upgrades as well! Dogs may be able to relocate training and admin back to Belmore; Gosford, Parra, Penrith, Jubilee and WIN may get more upgrades et cetera.
So long as we get some sort of compensation for giving up the middle of the year to them, this will be fantastic for the NRL.
Biggest stumbling blocks are Perth, and the Federal government expects the states to cover the cost.
