What a waste of ratepayers money squandering 1/2 million on a broke dying AFL club
How about they foster local footy?
$500,000 deal could send AFL matches to Ballarat
Glenn McFarlane | September 03, 2009 12:00am
+-NORTH Melbourne will sign a lucrative 3-year deal with Ballarat that may take low-drawing AFL matches to Victoria's third-biggest city. The agreement with Ballarat, believed to be worth more than $500,000 to the club, to be signed today, will enable the Kangaroos cement its commitment to the region.
The short-term objectives include a community relationship between the club and the famous city, a regional challenge game and potentially an NAB Cup match.
But it is believed the success of the partnership could pave the way for the long-term opportunity of playing three or four home-and-away games in Ballarat, if funding for a new stadium can be found.
Those games would potentially be against non-Victorian clubs such as Port Adelaide and Fremantle.
The parties are believed to be considering approaching state and federal governments to fund a boutique stadium, of which the Kangaroos could become a shareholder.
"You never say never," Arocca said of Ballarat possibly hosting its first AFL match.
"If we got a strong supporter base there over the next two to five years, we could be arguing for something like that."
Ballarat chief executive Anthony Schinck was buoyant about the deal.
"We would love to see an AFL game played here in Ballarat," Schinck said.
"We are really positioning Ballarat as the capital regional city for western Victoria. Part of that positioning is to create an aspiration about what we can provide for people living in regional Victoria. This three-year agreement sets out the beginning of that relationship."
Arocca was reluctant to go into detail about lobbying governments for future funding. But he did say: "If there is a wider benefit to the community, it is not impossible to imagine that you could get a federal or state government behind an AFL club that shows a strong commitment to a regional area."
Arocca said the club saw enormous potential in its arrangement with Ballarat.
"We see our relationship with Ballarat as an outstanding community development, and it underpins that North Melbourne has made a really strong commitment to a regional area of Victoria," he said.
Other key areas to be confirmed today include:
THE push for new sponsors and more members from the region;
THE City of Ballarat to sponsor the Eureka game between North and Richmond;
AN annual AFL community camp in Ballarat;
PLAYERS such as Ballarat's Drew Petrie, the club's vice-captain, to be ambassadors and regular visitors to the city;
HOSTING visits of Ballarat schoolchildren to Arden St's soon-to-be-finishing Learning and Life Centre.
Eureka Stadium in Ballarat, which plays host to the Kangaroos' VFL affiliate North Ballarat, can host little more than 5000 people.
Arocca said if a stadium was to receive funding, and potentially AFL matches, it would need to take that figure to somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000.
