I guess that events like these are the only benefit to being the only proper oval stadium in the country.
Examples?... The Gabba? The SCG? The Olympic Stadium?... oh - Perth?
Maybe Wellington could sell them the RoF and use the cash to build a new stadium ...
Btw not trying to sound anti AFL. Just they do have a lot of money and influence to throw around.
Carrara Stadium has been there for years, was a bluddy brilliant upgrade though... Qld Govt did the exact same thing at Robina for the Titans/NRL. That's their policy I think rather than AFL - though Carrara is the Suns based and not much else, there's no first class cricket on the Goldie, the play at the Gabba and use AB Field where Qld Cricket is based for other stuff.
No idea what they've done in other state's though... and what we can learn in NZ just quietly.
But the problem is that the state gov. charges like wounded bulls for Robina and that is one of the reasons the Gold Coast went down and also the Titans are not getting the crowds.
The AFL spent the best part of the 90's and 00's buying up all the real estate that the clubs own to help the clubs clear their debts. This has resulted in the AFL holding all the power in the fact that the clubs rely on the AFL to provide the balance of money that they need to run their club after club memberships have been sold and sponsorship obtained. It also means that the AFL has lots of extremely valuable land assets which they can use to their benefit. Thirdly it makes it much easier to sell the game to potential sponsors as the all the clubs play at either the MCG or Docklands at least 12 times a year for Interstate clubs and Geelong and up to 18 matches for the Melbourne teams.
This gives them the clout to as repective governments to bend over and take one for the local team!