No more MCG for the MFC?

[Sir Why You Little 34,701]

The Melbourne FootBall Club Play Home games at The M.C.G-They better ever not Move or i will get Mighty Mad

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

What impressed you?

The set-up. The amount of space, there are three ovals I think. There is hardly a lot of seating, but apparently the Casey council are willing to build to give it a 20,000 seating capacity.

What is there is modern and in very good condition. There was easy access to and from the area and plenty of parking.

[casey scorp 2]

..... apparently the Casey council are willing to build give it a 20,000 seating capacity.

That would cost $50 million according to the local paper - I don't think the Council would have that sort of money to spend on a football facility. The likeliehood is that State Government or AFL funding would be needed to cover a fair bit of the cost I would say.

[45HG 1,539]

My mate reckoned he spent about 40 minutes in traffic trying to get to the ground when he was on the main road, so i dunno what the go with that was, but that doesn't sound great. Getting through the crowd from the entrance was also pretty hard, with only one gate at either side of the main stand.

But i liked it in general

[rpfc 27,591]

The set-up. The amount of space, there are three ovals I think. There is hardly a lot of seating, but apparently the Casey council are willing to build give it a 20,000 seating capacity. But what is there is modern and in very good condition. There was easy access to and from the area and plenty of parking.

I have to question you on the claim that the Casey council is willing to build stadia, I haven't heard anything about that. 20000 is a lot of seats and it'll cost a lot of money.

[casey scorp 2]

My mate reckoned he spent about 40 minutes in traffic trying to get to the ground when he was on the main road, so i dunno what the go with that was, but that doesn't sound great. Getting through the crowd from the entrance was also pretty hard, with only one gate at either side of the main stand.

But i liked it in general

There are doubtless some current shortcomings with Casey Fields for large crowds (ie the 6,000 for Melb v North or the 10,000 for Essendon v Hawthorn last year).

However, don't forget it is a recreation facility being built before its time (as far as facilities in new suburbs go). Cranbourne east has a current population of 6,000 people - in 10 to 15 years it will have 35,000 people. The main road out the front will be 4 lanes, and there will be a new road running down the side through what is farmland at the moment. This will provide extra road entry points.

The area will just explode as population and infrastructure is poured in. Unless you are familiar with growth areas developing (ie you come from innner and middle suburbs) you will struggle to understand how quickly this growth actually occurs.

I thought there were other gates open than just the two immediately either side of the grandstand, but maybe not. there certainly were other gates open last year when Hawthorn played Essendon.

[45HG 1,539]

Don't get me wrong, i completely understand the reasons behind it, just thought i'd have my part in what i feel would need to be (and doubtless would be) improved.

[Real Demon 232]

A stadium at Casey is a pipe dream.........it aint gonna happen.........see Waverley Park, Princes Park etc etc as completely suitable grounds that are no longer used due to the AFL's ground rationalisation.

Casey Fields is inferior as a location to both those venues.........even if the City of Casey threw a truckload of money at it, it wouldn't fly as a venture without the AFL's support, and there's no way they would even look at it.

As a summer training base, and an area to promote the club at a grassroots level, that's a great idea........but playing for premiership points out there.......come on!

[45HG 1,539]

With the growth in the area, and its apparent propensity to help the Melbourne Football Club (a desire of the AFL), it might not be so unrealistic to see us playing games against interstate teams there in the future. I think it's too far out now to speculate, but i wouldn't rule it out as an option

[casey scorp 2]

A stadium at Casey is a pipe dream.........it aint gonna happen.........see Waverley Park, Princes Park etc etc as completely suitable grounds that are no longer used due to the AFL's ground rationalisation.

And which stadium will host North Melbourne v Western Sydney, with a crowd of less than 10,000?

I suppose they could use Kardinia Park.

[Real Demon 232]

And which stadium will host North Melbourne v Western Sydney, with a crowd of less than 10,000?

I suppose they could use Kardinia Park.

Don't worry about how many people will turn up to a North game.........we can't get supporters to Telstra Dome.......bang in the middle of the city with public transport access etc.....how many supporters do you expect to turn up at Casey Fields........a 40 km expedition into the far outer eastern suburbs???????????

[casey scorp 2]

That's the point. Only small numbers will go to some games, and you'd be better having them in a boutique stadium at Casey Fields instead of an expensive to open TD.

And as far as 40km trip goes, all of the people in Casey who travel to Melbourne for the footy don't seem to worry about the trip.

[45HG 1,539]

I'd say our core supporter group of around 16 thousand that i'd wage go to pretty much every game would make the trip to Cranbourne, let alone any new supporters we get.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I have to question you on the claim that the Casey council is willing to build stadia, I haven't heard anything about that. 20000 is a lot of seats and it'll cost a lot of money.

I'm just going off this article.

Hence my use of the word "apparently".

Casey in bid for AFL glory

[casey scorp 2]

The article says:

"Casey officials have approached the AFL about developing Casey Fields in Cranbourne East into a boutique AFL venue."

I don't think this says that the Council will actually fund it - I saw it at the time and read it as:

"Casey officials have approached the AFL about (the AFL) developing Casey Fields in Cranbourne East into a boutique AFL venue."

[Real Demon 232]

The article says:

"Casey officials have approached the AFL about developing Casey Fields in Cranbourne East into a boutique AFL venue."

I don't think this says that the Council will actually fund it - I saw it at the time and read it as:

"Casey officials have approached the AFL about (the AFL) developing Casey Fields in Cranbourne East into a boutique AFL venue."

Okay.......maybe it's not a pipe dream.....but I personally can't see it happening.

I don't mind if it does, as it would only be a 25 min drive for me to get there, but it wouldn't make sense for the AFL to do this after walking away from other grounds.

Your softening my stance on this Casey Scorp.......I can see benefits in it.........a York Park style ground in the growth corridor of Melbourne to play interstate teams, and the club cleans up on gate receipts........sounds positive.......sure as hell beats selling home games to Brisbane / Canberra!

[casey scorp 2]

I'm softening my stance on this.......I can see benefits in it.........a York Park style ground in the growth corridor of Melbourne to play interstate teams, and the club cleans up on gate receipts........sounds positive.......sure as hell beats selling home games to Brisbane / Canberra!

That's the way! You'll be an advocate before you know it.

[Real Demon 232]

Hey Casey Scorp.........this is growing legs:

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/dees...1183110808.html

[casey scorp 2]

Hey Casey Scorp.........this is growing legs:

Aaaah....the power of a positive suggestion.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/dees...1183110808.html

They must have been reading this thread I started...

Visionary, I am.

[Neita3000 37]

They must have been reading this thread I started...

Visionary, I am.

If this was to come about it would be great for the club. The fact of the matter is that whilst there are 15,000 really passionate mfc supporters the rest are pretty indifferent to the club. Lets get a stadium like this and be more realisitc.

[Rogue 585]

And as far as 40km trip goes, all of the people in Casey who travel to Melbourne for the footy don't seem to worry about the trip.

Indeed.

However, the public transport options to Casey Fields need to be improved if they're to buld a stadium. It's no point having another Waverley - I believe you need the train going to the ground to make this successful.

[Pates 9,537]

However, the public transport options to Casey Fields need to be improved if they're to buld a stadium. It's no point having another Waverley - I believe you need the train going to the ground to make this successful.

That would be extremely costly, would it not? I know there is a train in the vicinity, but how can we upgrade the transport system to be able to get the fans from there to the ground? Bus? Tram? Perhaps they could create a shuttle bus system for game days.

I agree though, one of the big failings for Waverly Park was the fact that there was no way of getting up there without driving. To be successful at Casey we'd need a way for fans from everywhere to get there.

[45HG 1,539]

The train being extended would probably be too hard. Maybe a shuttle bus system on game days? Arriving a couple of minutes before a train arrives for instance

[casey scorp 2]

Two points:

There is alraedy a bus which meets every train which arrives at the Cranbourne Station and travels to within a kilometre of the ground. This bus route will extend as development occurs in the immediate vicinity of Casey Fields and will no doubt ultimately enter the Casey Fields complex itself and drop people off at the ground (there are bus bays already built, and just waiting).

Separately, there is supposed to be an extension of the train service to a new station at Cranbourne East which will be about the same distance away (ie 1 kilometre), and probably a bus connecting from that station to the ground as well. That is long term, but then again, probably so is the boutique stadium (ie maybe around 10 years away).