Eddie's Plan to Redevelop the G

[Demonland 73,209]

This year's Super Bowl has inspired McGuire with a major plan to redevelop the MCG.

? | Eddie McGuire reveals radical grand plan to upgrade MCG

First of all; It's not your ground.

I like his plan to join the MCG precinct with Richmond station so you don't block off Brunton Avenue.

I'm not a fan of putting a roof over the ground when the Southern Stand is inevitably redeveloped.

[daisycutter 29,756]

jaisus.....if it's not sheedy it's mcguire......wtf runs the afl?.......bugger off 

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,910]

To be fair, I think what he's suggesting here makes sense, particularly the connectivity to Richmond Station, but only if it's economically viable. He's also not the only person making these suggestions.

But just because it's Eddie making the comments, many will have a knee-jerk critical reaction. If I were of that mind, I would respond by saying the other idea we should take from the Superbowl is to have all our umpires wearing black and white striped shirts. It's not actually necessary, but as it would mean Collingwood would have to change their gear, Eddie would go apoplectic which would make it worth having the inevitably pointless discussion.  

[Demonland 73,209]

They need to fix the bottleneck into Richmond station after games that have more than 25 or 30 thousand people there. Forget it when there's 50 + and if there's 80 you may as well camp out at the G for the night. 

[binman 43,907]

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

They need to fix the bottleneck into Richmond station after games that have more than 25 or 30 thousand people there. Forget it when there's 50 + and if there's 80 you may as well camp out at the G for the night. 

Luxury, sheer luxury.

Try getting in a tram down near the tennis center back into into town!

Or walking back to the botantical gardens side of the river now that the flipping foot bridge is closed (until 2023 or some such)!

[Demonland 73,209]

23 minutes ago, binman said:

Luxury, sheer luxury.

Try getting in a tram down near the tennis center back into into town!

Or walking back to the botantical gardens side of the river now that the flipping foot bridge is closed (until 2023 or some such)!

Luxury??? By train. I have to take a train and travel with Collingwood and Richmond dole bludgers because my driver can't get anywhere near the G.

[old dee 23,879]

35 minutes ago, binman said:

Luxury, sheer luxury.

Try getting in a tram down near the tennis center back into into town!

Or walking back to the botantical gardens side of the river now that the flipping foot bridge is closed (until 2023 or some such)!

Is Morrell bridge closed?

[Vagg 2,439]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Luxury??? By train. I have to take a train and travel with Collingwood and Richmond dole bludgers because my driver can't get anywhere near the G.

You have a driver, Andy??  I AM impressed!

(Maybe he needs to get his pilot's licence, so he can just drop the chopper down to the centre square of the hallowed turf to collect Your Highness after the game..!  LOL)

Edited February 4, 2020 by Vagg

[chookrat 4,268]

53 minutes ago, Demonland said:

They need to fix the bottleneck into Richmond station after games that have more than 25 or 30 thousand people there. Forget it when there's 50 + and if there's 80 you may as well camp out at the G for the night. 

I find the delays due to closing Brunton Avenue for pedestrians to be most inconvenient. My driver, Alfred, now parks at the Pullman and I have a couple of Sherry's in the club lounge before the trip home.

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

But just because it's Eddie making the comments, many will have a knee-jerk critical reaction. 

It just that Eddie's purely altruistic suggestions, by some incredible twist of fate, have a way of advantaging the Collingwood football club.

Like when he was a board member of Athletics Australia and recommended that AA move from Olympic Park to MSAC in Sth Melbourne. Of course that left Olympic Park vacant, but fortunately Eddie knew a bloke who was president of an inner city football club who was able to help with that.

[george_on_the_outer 7,728]

“Imagine getting off at Richmond Station, not having to go up and down escalators or anything.

Escalators at Richmond station???...shows how often Eddie uses the facility

[jnrmac 20,189]

Isn't it great that in a society increasingly full of whingers - with no solutions for anything just complaints -  that we have someone who is contributing with positive ideas?

[Demonstone 22,966]

1 hour ago, daisycutter said:

wtf runs the afl?.

I don't think this has anything to do with the AFL,  they don't run the MCG nor the Richmond Station precinct.

Further to jnrmac's comment,  if you separate the idea from the person proposing it, I think it has merit.

[daisycutter 29,756]

11 minutes ago, demonstone said:

I don't think this has anything to do with the AFL,  they don't run the MCG nor the Richmond Station precinct.

Further to jnrmac's comment,  if you separate the idea from the person proposing it, I think it has merit.

i think it has a lot to do with the afl. it is all about afl games and their requirements. the afl generate the most money for those providing the facilities affected. i'm suspicious of what's in it. for eddie/filth

[Hot as Hell 466]

I note that the Chinese were able to build major field hospital facilities from scratch to deal with their current very unfortunate crisis in just 10 days.

A simple, traffic efficient and obstruction free pathway from a train station to our nation's premier sporting facility seems to have been too hard for all relevant administrators to execute for the last 50 years. 

It is a reflection of self interest and a genuine lack of vision that the ground is as poorly serviced as it is to open the door for Eddie to spout his egocentric views.

As for the MCG parking fiasco, that takes bureaucracy to a new level of incompetence.

jnrmac, this is not a whinge, but rather an observation of the cost of the lack of co-operative vision between successive MCC Trustees and governments.

Recognising planning improvement possibilities available in the future, is simply an acknowledge of planning deficiencies of the past. 

Many at fault here over a long period of time. It would be wrong to excuse their past inaction, but fruitful to invite future change. I just wish the discussion was led by someone other than self serving Eddie McG. 

I have walked the Morrell St Bridge for 50 years. It is (was) the epitome of critical infrastructure neglect, held together by a series of band aid repairs using a range of different building materials along the way. Eyes are speaking here, not voices complaining.

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

Interesting... I preferred his idea for the 35,000 seat stadium but at least it gets people talking.

A 100,000 seat stadium that only reaches 90% capacity on 6-8 days a year while still keeping ticket prices reasonable in a high wage country such as Australia will always be a tall ask.

The idea of concerts at first blush sounds great but remember the artists would need to be mega and they would need similar venues in the other major cities to make it work. It would also cut in big time into how the AFL hopes to make money at Docklands not to mention the Tennis centre.They would all effectively be competing for government money.

As to fixing the train stations........ you're talking mega mega money not to mention transport disruption. Good idea though but I suspect they would just adopt a bandaid solution. Covering the railyards is like finding the northwest passage. So many plans but never commenced.

[Willmoy1947 4,152]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

They need to fix the bottleneck into Richmond station after games that have more than 25 or 30 thousand people there. Forget it when there's 50 + and if there's 80 you may as well camp out at the G for the night. 

Should be a twenty foot high wall along Punt Road, all the way down to the river from Victoria Street.........charge em to get in and charge em to get out.

[DeeSpencer 26,090]

1. Train access: Absolutely. Richmond station is a mess. Whether you add a stadium station or simply upgrade the current station depends on the economics, but no one - not even those going to the Royal - should be crossing Punt road and Pedestrians should be filtered towards different platforms. I always cross one of the bridges - love the blue rickety one - and go in via the Olympic Blvd entrance, saves so much hassle. There's a tip for demonlanders, but keep it quiet! Let the lemmings keep going in the main entrance.

2. Car/pedestrian fly overs of Punt road. Absolutely.

3. Keeping Brunton Avenue open - nope, sadly the terrorism risk is so large that unless they build the new Southern Stand with enough concrete to sustain a nuclear blast I can't see them allowing  traffic to drive under 50,000 people during game days. 

4. Roof. Hell yes! Climate change is going to make a mess of cricket in summer and also make the early and even late rounds of footy uncomfortable.

Transparent vs retractable? Why not both??? Or go transparent and leave the sides open or retractable to allow for ventilation. If done properly it will last for 50 years. 

[Fat Tony 5,290]

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

This year's Super Bowl has inspired McGuire with a major plan to redevelop the MCG.

? | Eddie McGuire reveals radical grand plan to upgrade MCG

First of all; It's not your ground.

I like his plan to join the MCG precinct with Richmond station so you don't block off Brunton Avenue.

I'm not a fan of putting a roof over the ground when the Southern Stand is inevitably redeveloped.

Isn’t the proposal for a retractable canopy? I think it would be a great idea if it stacks up economically. 

[daisycutter 29,756]

7 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

1. Train access: Absolutely. Richmond station is a mess. Whether you add a stadium station or simply upgrade the current station depends on the economics, but no one - not even those going to the Royal - should be crossing Punt road and Pedestrians should be filtered towards different platforms. I always cross one of the bridges - love the blue rickety one - and go in via the Olympic Blvd entrance, saves so much hassle. There's a tip for demonlanders, but keep it quiet! Let the lemmings keep going in the main entrance.

2. Car/pedestrian fly overs of Punt road. Absolutely.

3. Keeping Brunton Avenue open - nope, sadly the terrorism risk is so large that unless they build the new Southern Stand with enough concrete to sustain a nuclear blast I can't see them allowing  traffic to drive under 50,000 people during game days. 

4. Roof. Hell yes! Climate change is going to make a mess of cricket in summer and also make the early and even late rounds of footy uncomfortable.

Transparent vs retractable? Why not both??? Or go transparent and leave the sides open or retractable to allow for ventilation. If done properly it will last for 50 years. 

i think there was about 1 game of cricket there last year......you'd put a roof in for that?

[DeeSpencer 26,090]

1 minute ago, daisycutter said:

i think there was about 1 game of cricket there last year......you'd put a roof in for that?

80k at Boxing day, plus Big bash, plus usually some decent ODI's. Plus all going to plan they'll set the record for women's attendance in March. Crowds will improve with no rain delays, no more sitting out in 35 degree weather. The same for wet winter days.

The Vic Government and AFL lock in the Grand Final every year at the MCG for 50 years, that allows the MCG to go out and borrow money - and at a cheap rate. The Government is happy because it's tourism year round and it's a lot of well paid construction jobs when the project kicks off.

The Southern Stand was fantastic when it opened. The Northern stand has done the job nicely but it's boring and a missed opportunity. 

[old dee 23,879]

Isn't this the same plan Eddie put up a year or two ago? 

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

2 minutes ago, old dee said:

Isn't this the same plan Eddie put up a year or two ago? 

that was a plan for a boutique stadium of around 40k which imagined demolishing Docklands.

Not as silly as it sounded but the AFL and more importantly the State Government is now probably committed to Docklands.

[PaulRB 6,411]

[Coq au vin 755]

All tattooed bogans and other subhumans please go away and join Collingwood.