Cricket’s Big Bash League scuppers hopes of December AFL finals at Marvel Stadium
The AFL might own Marvel Stadium, but it won’t be able to use the ground to host potential finals footy if the season is forced into December by the coronavirus stoppage. Here’s why.
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Plans for the AFL-owned Marvel Stadium to host footy finals in late December have been hit for six, with Melbourne Renegades locking in the venue for Big Bash League games.
Cricket Victoria will take control of the MCG, Marvel Stadium and Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium for its BBL franchises, Melbourne Stars and Renegades, in another curveball for the AFL.
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“We have exclusive use of Marvel Stadium from the RMIT graduation (December 16) onwards,” Cricket Victoria’s BBL boss Nick Cummins told the Herald Sun.
“From Big Bash season Marvel Stadium, the MCG and GMHBA Stadium are all booked, and before that the cricket World Cup (has control).
“That doesn’t apply for Marvel specifically, but for the other venues it certainly does.”
The Renegades have multiple seasons left on their watertight five-year contract with Marvel Stadium. The venue also grows a different type of grass in summer.
Asked on Tuesday about the Herald Sun’s report revealing the Renegades’ booking, McLachlan said he hoped sports could collaborate.
“I hope that in the end this is bigger than all of that (existing stadium contracts)... we’ll work together, there are enough venues and enough goodwill that all the problems will.. be able to be worked through,” McLachlan said.
He ruled out playing football on Boxing Day.
The ICC Twenty20 World Cup runs from October 18 (qualifying) to November 15, with the MCG, Adelaide Oval and SCG all due to host finals.
The MCG will be unavailable for football from October 10. On Saturday AFL boss Gillon McLachlan was asked whether Marvel Stadium could host a Grand Final close to Christmas.
He said: “We will do whatever we need to do … to get a season away”.
Cummins said an AFL Grand Final at Marvel Stadium in late December wasn’t an option.
“For all intents and purposes we hope to be playing at that time of year,” he said.
“I guess they (AFL) could talk to us about delaying when the first Marvel Stadium game is, but we haven’t had those conversations.
“We would be considerate, but we have to think about what’s best for cricket first.
“These are unusual times … but we’ll always do what’s best for cricket.”
The AFL is open to staging the Grand Final as late as December 31 after players made themselves available.
But cricket sources said the AFL – bowled over by the game’s biggest financial crisis in history – would have to “write a very big cheque” to kick the Renegades out of Marvel.
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They also suggested that the AFL would struggle unwinding any of the sport’s stadium deals.
Cummins said the AFL and BBL seasons clashing would be problematic.
“Not just for the fan, as they’d be confronted with choice – those that enjoy their footy and their Big Bash,” Cummins said.
“But also for Channel 7 and Fox to have their premium content in the AFL and cricket running concurrently. It’s challenging.”
Perth Stadium said it would host a rescheduled Grand Final at its 60,000-seat ground – but only if it fitted around the cricket calendar.
The venue will host its last T20 World Cup game on October 30 and has no concerts in the diary.
“(We have) commitments to hosting T20 Cricket World Cup games in October, as well as any other international and domestic cricket matches,” Perth Stadium venue chief executive Mike McKenna said.
“But (we are) more than capable of hosting an AFL Grand Final and we would be willing to do so if it fell into a time frame that worked for everyone.”
