Eddie McGuire plan for boutique stadium next to the MCG hits grand hurdle

EDDIE McGuire's grand plan for a boutique stadium next to the MCG has hit a $100 million hurdle. Seems the AFL has plans of its own for Etihad Stadium.

EDDIE McGuire's grand plan has hit a grand hurdle.

The AFL plans to spend $100-plus million on Etihad Stadium and not knock it down.

In fact, popular opinion has it the AFL will purchase Etihad by the end of the 2017 season — eight years ahead of schedule — and that the asking price and the selling price at the moment is as little as $20m apart.

It means plenty on the back of a $2.5 billion media rights injection.

It means the AFL can get hold of Etihad, spend the required money to improve the facility with help, they hope, from the State Government and, most important of all, fix the tenancy deals of Carlton, the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, St Kilda and to a lesser extent Essendon, which signed the first and most advantageous deal.

It means that while McGuire's stadium extravaganza would be sensational for Melbourne, it would appear to be pie in the sky — at the moment.

Pie in the sky?

Eddie's stadium hinges on the sale of Etihad Stadium.

The AFL has told clubs they're not in favour of selling Etihad.

The McGuire blueprint is not entirely dead, but it would require the State Government contributing significantly to the project.

But does Dan Andrews spend $500m, for example, on a new stadium or fix up the roads, or schools, or hospitals, child care or public transport?

AFL plans to spend money on Etihad Stadium. Picture: Herald Sun

The AFL put the stadiums on the agenda at a meeting of presidents and chief executives last week and several of the top brass were bewildered by what one called the ''fixation'' from McGuire on a new stadium.

Another wondered why would you would knock down one stadium and simply build another.

The fact is it's not about which stadium, it's about which stadium will give the best deals for the clubs.

And it's about who pays for the stadium. Hello again, Mr Andrews.

Carlton, St Kilda, the Bulldogs etc would play on Mars if they could get a Geelong deal.

The Cats, when stages four and five are complete at Simonds Stadium, will make $1m-plus per game profit on the back of signage and catering and gate and whatever else makes them money because they run the stadium holus-bolus.

The Blues have to pay Etihad if they want to put a sponsor on the scoreboard.

It's a sick joke for the tenant clubs and an embarrassment for the league and whomever else allowed theses deals to be done in the first place. All the time, equalisation in the form of handouts, taxes, levies, distributions continue to muddy the AFL environment.

Eddie McGuire’s grand plan for boutique stadium hits snag. Picture: Hamish Blair

The AFL wants equalisation, yet how can it be that Carlton lost $2.7m last year, is $6m in debt, and will have to pay $350,000 to the equalisation fund this year.

The Cats lost $3.2m and will have to pay $400,000 in tax.

Equalisation is the buzz word of the past 18 months, but while Carlton, the Bulldogs, the Saints etc, have to scrounge for every dollar while playing home games at Etihad Stadium, the equalisation compass will wave out of control.

The AFL's current position also harms Richmond's hopes for a spanking new stadium at Punt Rd. It could be a goer if the AFL wanted a third ground, but the AFL can't justify a third ground.

What hopes Carlton had of reopening Princes Park will also stagger.

The Blues believe a new railway station at the hospitals on Royal Pde is in the next state budget and that could help build their case as a third venue. It probably won't.

All this talk comes at a critical juncture for the AFL and the clubs. Everyone wants a dollar, and not least the Players Association, but how bout we fix equalisation first, which means fixing stadium deals, which means Etihad Stadium is too crucial to tear down.