Stadium election issue: $100m footy deal falls over

EXCLUSIVE, Mark Duffield, Chief Football Writer
Wednesday, February 08, 2017 1:00AM



The West Australian Football Commission rejected a compensation package worth more than $100 million over 10 years to surrender its lease on Subiaco Oval in last-ditch talks with the State Government last week.

The talks aimed to resolve the stadium issue before next month’s State election to clear the way for West Coast and Fremantle to play at the ground next year but have left the stadium as a potential election issue.

WAFC chairman Murray McHenry confirmed three major points of difference had led to government officials walking out of the talks.

The Government had offered slightly more than $10 million a year. The WAFC wanted closer to $11 million.

The Government would guarantee the compensation for 10 years before reviewing it and the WAFC wanted longer.

The parties disagreed on where the WAFC would be housed if it surrendered its lease on Subiaco Oval and whether the Government would fund relocation. The WAFC wants to move to the WACA Ground as a co-tenant with cricket.

The impasse means West Coast and Fremantle can not commit to playing AFL at the Burswood stadium next year, even though Mr McHenry confirmed both clubs were very close to acceptable terms for user agreements with the operator Venues Live.

“They (user agreements) are pretty much right. But they can’t sign without the commission’s consent,” he said. “The commission deal is part of the football deal.”

Mr McHenry said the WAFC had produced two sets of figures that assessed the annual worth of Subiaco Oval to the WAFC. The first prepared by former chief executive Gary Walton put the annual value of the ground at just over $10 million. The second set put the value closer to $11 million.

“We had to prove what our stadium income was,” Mr McHenry said. “That figure is $11 million. The Government has used $10 million because they used the wrong figure. We are $1million short.”

Mr McHenry said a move to the WACA Ground was “subject to the spend at the WACA by government”.

“Football has got no money,” he said. “We are not an organisation that has $50 million on the balance sheet to go and spend at the WACA. The ceding of the lease of Subiaco Oval goes hand in hand with a new home.”

Premier Colin Barnett said he remained committed to ensuring football was no worse off because of a shift to the new stadium.

Shadow treasurer Ben Wyatt said the issue had dragged on too long.

“WA Labor will move immediately to resolve this so football can begin the proper preparation to move to the new stadium,” he said.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/100m-...-ng-b88378740z

Opposition Leader Mark McGowan will ask AFL for Perth Stadium contribution should he become premier

Daniel Emerson
PerthNow


OPPOSITION Leader Mark McGowan has flagged asking the AFL for a contribution to Perth Stadium should he become premier and inherit the stalled deal between the WA Football Commission and the Barnett Government.

Asked how he would resolve the standoff, Mr McGowan said it was difficult to say before the election because Labor was not privy to all the facts of the negotiation so far, but emphasised his priorities would be protecting grassroots football and approaching the AFL.

“We will throw open all the books to make sure everybody knows the cost of the stadium up front and then we will sit down with the clubs to negotiate a deal but I think what we need here is a circuit breaker, the Government’s failed,” he said.

“(I’m) more than happy to ask the AFL to commit some support to the stadium, I mean, that should have been up front. We said right from the beginning we should have got a deal like other states did in which the AFL contributed. I’m not too proud to ask the AFL for a contribution.”

Labor frontbencher Rita Saffioti said she recalled the Eagles and Dockers endorsing the re-election of the Barnett Government on the eve of the 2013 election and it was hard to believe a deal had not been reached.

“The Government has been promoting, as we know, the stadium fairly significantly – how many lights it has, how many toilets it has – a lot of concepts but they actually haven’t signed the users,” she said.

“I remember clearly before the 2013 election date the two football clubs standing next to Colin Barnett. I thought the deal had been done. Obviously not. Now another four years later we are still waiting.”

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/west...935915b843d937