21 September 2006

The Victory Dome

There's a nice ring to that name. Melbourne have announced plans to relocate the bulk of their remaining home games to the Telstra Dome. Pending confirmation and go ahead from the FFA, the change of venues would commence from October 1, when Victory host the crowd-pleasing Queensland Roar. Only home games against Perth and New Zealand would not be relocated and remain at the smaller, perhaps less comfortable Olympic Park stadium.

The report does not indicate whether the Dome seating will be re-shaped to a rectangle throughout the duration of the contract, but previous reports have suggested this might be possible. It seems that Telstra Dome management is bending over backwards to clinch the deal, offering Victory a minimum fee to offset stadium rental regardless of attendances. Maybe Victory fans purchase a staggering amount of concessions.

Update: the FFA has endorsed the move.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a MVFC member I'm delighted that many more supporters are coming on board, leading to this relocation. There are many good things about Estadio Colonico (Telstra Dome) for supporters, not the least being the way that sound is trapped if not magnified within it, potentially creating an intimidating atmosphere for visiting clubs.

But you can't f*****g well see the play!!

As far as i understand no change to the seating plan will occur. So I'd say MVFC has taken the easy decision of accepting use of the ground to get more ticket revenue without negotiating for changes to the seating to ensure that fans don't end up with a poorer viewing experience.

katsuben said...

It has to be among the biggest problems facing the local game: the lack of rectangular stadiums with excellent viewing angles from all sides and corners. We need to build new non-share grounds with excellent surfaces way before we contemplate such things as World Cup bids.

Anonymous said...

that's a good point, the talk of Australia stepping in to "rescue" South Africa could potentially lead to an embarrassing tournament of orderly queues, comfortable seats, and unprecendented sales of binoculars

Anonymous said...

That is why the rugby states have it on the AFL ones as it is easier to configure a rectangular rugby stadium for football than the oval one.

Melbourne may call itself the 'sporting capital' of Australia but this is only empty rethoric if it can't host a rectangular code game in a first class facility.

Hopefully work will start on the bubble stadium soon!