AFL 2020: 11 reasons the Gabba is set to host historic Grand Final
West Australian premier Mark McGowan took a hard line stance during the AFL restart, saying footy would not “dictate” his decision-making. Is this one of the reasons why the league has now awarded Brisbane the Grand Final over Perth?
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The AFL Grand Final is Queensland-bound.
It is headed for the Gabba despite West Australia offering the lure of a more modern stadium, a better financial deal and potentially a full house.
So why will the AFL push for a Queensland game instead of a footy stronghold?
1. It’s not hyperbole to say Queensland saved the season.With WA and South Australia unwilling to open up AFL hubs without significant cost or caveats, Queensland basically threw open the doors. By Tuesday night there will be as many as 2000 AFL staff, players, coaches and families on the Gold Coast despite significant COVID risk.
Without those hubs the AFL’s billion dollar AFL economy would have run aground, with the $400 million TV deal dead in the water for 2020 with no product to show.
2. They have a bigger growth market than WA.Just as the AFL ignored Tasmania’s request for an AFL team to push expansion markets, every decision they have made is about growth. How much can they make from markets not already tapped out by footy loyalists? Ex-Brisbane star Chris Scott says this could be a defining legacy of the Grand Final in Queensland. How does playing the Grand Final in Perth grow that market one iota?
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3. The Queensland Government has promised a series of legacy projects which the AFL would have been challenged to acquire if not for the Grand Final.
They include better ground access for the AFL, infrastructure for women’s changerooms for an AFLW product that is going gangbusters, and more junior competitions. What is the point in taking a slightly better financial offer from WA if they just have to use the money buying what Queensland has promised.
4. The WA Government has consistently mocked the AFL and made every decision a challenge. The AFL doesn’t forget those things, and the relationship wasn’t that good anyway after sparring about Optus Stadium funding. Sydney player Elijah Taylor’s COVID infraction was dumb and naive but Premier Mark McGowan scolded the league and Sydney like he was the principal and they were a naughty schoolboy.
5. At the start of 2008 then AFL-chairman Mike Fitzpatrick announced in a shock interview the league would push ahead with expansion markets and two new teams. Every single decision the league has made since then has been about expansion, first in delivering those new teams and then shoring up their position.
Imagine what not awarding the only Grand Final likely to be held away from the MCG until 2060 would do to walk back that decision. It makes sense at Commission level.
6. The bloke who helped make the recommendation to the AFL Commission used to be the Gold Coast Suns chief executive. Travis Auld is smart enough to know if the WA proposal was superior but he also knows intimately the challenges of playing in Queensland and the benefits of a Grand Final in this state.
7. It makes financial sense. The AFL shells out more than $20 million a season on Brisbane and Gold Coast. Anything it can do to lessen the reliance on AFL House with its annual distributions by turbocharging the game in that state through increased popularity is a loss leader that will be paid back long term.
8. The money isn’t vastly different on the various bids. Despite speculation about WA offering a $36 million price for the Grand Final, that is vastly inflated. It’s more like what the AFL could recoup from a base payment plus selling every available seat and corporate box. So, if the Queensland bid doesn’t promise as much cash upfront, they aren’t tens of millions behind by any stretch.
9. The massive incentive to play at Optus Stadium is a 60,000-strong crowd. But unless the AFL has received private assurances we don’t know about, right now there is no certainty the crowd limits would be released on October 24.
Everyone knows a 60,000-strong crowd at Optus Stadium would trump 30,000 at the Gabba the Queensland Government says will be possible by October 24. But that promise is not actually on the table – publicly, at least. The next step from the current 30,000 crowd at Optus Stadium would be to boost the crowd to 36,000 under the two-square-metre rule used for other venues across West Australia.
10. In its heart of hearts the AFL knows Brisbane winning a premiership would help the AFL competition more than West Coast, which has won a flag as recently as 2018. As much as this is a decision about money, a Gabba Grand Final would give home ground advantage to the Lions. Which would have massive flow-on effects for the state.
11. And lastly, how can Gillon McLachlan land in Queensland on Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning, announce in the Gold Coast hub he is taking the Grand Final to Perth? Annastacia Palaszczuk would be within her rights to tell him to get on the next plane home to Melbourne.
AFL SET TO ANNOUNCE GABBA GRAND FINAL
— Jon Ralph and Lauren Wood
The AFL Commission is expected to reward Queensland’s $200 million role in saving the season and its promised legacy of ongoing football investment when it decides the Grand Final venue on Tuesday.
The league is strongly favouring an October 24 Grand Final at the Gabba with a start time around 7pm Victorian time, with the Commission to review a recommendation handed down by its AFL executive.
An announcement will be made on Wednesday.
The Gabba would host a historic night Grand Final in front of 30,000 people in a move Geelong coach Chris Scott says would be a watershed moment for football in the state.
The Herald Sun understands interstate clubs Port Adelaide and West Coast will be able to host home finals all the way through to the preliminary final if they earn that right.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan will be part of Tuesday’s Commission decision then get on a chartered flight to Queensland that afternoon for an expected official Wednesday announcement.
Geelong president and former AFL Commission member Colin Carter told the Herald Sun last night he believed Queensland deserved to host the Grand final.
Carter, who is entering the Gold Coast hub on Tuesday, wrote the 1985 report for the then-VFL advocating a national competition.
“There is no club position, but my personal opinion is I hope Queensland gets it. They deserve it,” he said.
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“It would be incredible for our code and they deserve it because they have had most of the competition camped up there this year.
“There is no reason why they shouldn’t get it.
“A bit more than half of the Australian population is north of the Murray river and the development of footy in Queensland is terrific and a story most people don’t know a lot about.
“This would kick it along another distance.”
The Victorian State Government will release its contract to play the game at the MCG but is believed to be still pushing for a two-year extension to a deal that runs to 2057.
The Andrews government would also like more pre-season games in regional Victoria, a renewed commitment to host games in Ballarat, and some AFLW games in regional Victoria.
The Queensland government has promised a series of legacy pieces for the AFL that includes funding junior AFL competitions, access to ovals and money for female facilities in future generations.
Queensland’s pitch came with its delegates aware they could not compete with the financial might of Western Australia or even a capacity that could be at 60,000 by October 24.
Senior AFL sources said last night that financial pitches from state governments, including Western Australia, had been nowhere near the $36 million reported.
Every senior football official polled by the Herald Sun on Monday suggested the league would be making a huge mistake if it did not reward Queensland for its loyalty and capacity for growth if the finals were held in that state.
Three flights will depart Melbourne on Tuesday bound for the Gold Coast, with star Cat Gary Ablett and his family and dual premiership Tiger Shane Edwards confirmed passengers.
The league will have around 2000 AFL staff, players and families and 15 AFL clubs in Queensland by Tuesday night, all of them approved by the state government despite the COVID risk.
SA premier Steven Marshall confirmed that the league had on the weekend sought more information regarding the state’s pitch for Adelaide Oval to host the Grand Final.
“They asked several questions following up from the proposal that we made last week,” Marshall said.
“We’re hopeful that we get a positive response from the AFL in coming days.”
Reports had indicated that “VIP” attendees to the match could bypass the state’s strict 14-day quarantine requirements to attend, bound to their hotel room and the ground before departing the state again.
But Marshall said the issue was still being considered by SA Health.
“I want to assure the people of South Australia though that we’re not talking about having a large number of people coming to Adelaide, being able to wander around the city or wander around the stadium,” he said.
AFL RULES ON EAGLES’ $800K HOME GAME PLAN
— Jon Ralph
The AFL has knocked back North Melbourne’s request to sell a home game to West Coast’s Optus Stadium on Monday.
The Herald Sun can confirm the league has blocked the request despite the expected $800,000 windfall for the Kangaroos.
The game will be played in Queensland, as will the Fremantle-Western Bulldogs game despite reports that game could also have been relocated to Optus Stadium.
It means West Coast will have to win their way into the top four without the assistance of a Round 18 clash.
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And they will have to remain in their Queensland hub at the Royal Pines – alongside North Melbourne – until the finals despite hoping they could have returned home in the days after Round 17.
The league is in no hurry to release its floating Round 18 fixture as it seeks to optimise the ratings of the Thursday and Friday night games.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson on Monday said it was a dilemma for the AFL given clubs like the Hawks and Roos had lost millions not playing in Tasmania.
“Oh, yeah, Jesus, it’s a difficult one. Really, really difficult one,” he said.
“It’s one that I shouldn’t really weigh into, to be fair, because it’s got nothing to do with us but it’s a real dilemma for the game.
“The game needs money and these clubs need money, including ours. There’s a lot of clubs (struggling), particularly the Melbourne-based ones …
“Some of the interstate clubs have been able to continue to have crowds and generate some level of revenue and income. They’ve been given a real leg up.
“When a North (type club) does have an opportunity to earn some money out of a game because they’ve been deprived of that through the season then who can question it?
“But for the teams that are competing with West Coast, in terms of a spot and a finals position, I think they might be a bit aggrieved.”
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Originally published as AFL 2020: 11 reasons the Gabba is set to host historic Grand Final