AFL

AFL want lights at Skilled Stadium

Austadiums • Thursday 15th July 2010
Skilled Stadium

The AFL is encouraging Geelong to install floodlights at Skilled Stadium to give the club and the league more scope to have games played in prime evening timeslots.

The AFL's chief operating officer, Gillon McLachlan, confirmed last night the AFL wanted Geelong - which has grand plans for the redevelopment of the ground - to include floodlights in its plans to ensure greater flexibility in scheduling games.

McLachlan has held discussions with Geelong chief executive Brian Cook.

The Cats, as the best-performed team of the past three seasons, hold major appeal for television audiences but games at their home ground can only be played in the afternoons, which attract fewer viewers.

The push for the Cats to have lights at Skilled Stadium also fits with the league's ''emerging preference'' for Saturday twilight games to fill the extra timeslot in an expanded 18-team competition.

McLachlan said he had told the Cats that ''ultimately, they need to be thinking about lights because, one, flexibility of fixturing, two, to get themselves into other slots.

''If we had a twilight fixture, or even just in terms of getting into different positions, I think you need to have lights.''

Geelong is the only significant AFL venue, besides Canberra's Manuka Oval, that does not have the capacity to host night football.

''They're going through another phase of redevelopment,'' McLachlan said of Geelong. ''I've discussed with Brian that they should be, [that] we'd like if they [were] considering lights in that design.''

McLachlan agreed that Geelong was a popular team to watch, but the lack of lights at its ground was an issue. ''It restricts when they can play, which is not necessarily perfect for them and it means there's ... not a lot of flexibility.''

McLachlan, who handles broadcasting and fixturing arrangements for the AFL, said the Cats had secured $25 million in state government funding for phase three of their ground redevelopment. ''I've certainly raised, from our perspective, it made sense if they include lights in [their plans].

Geelong is seeking significant federal government funding ($36 million) for the proposed $75 million redevelopment of the ground, which would boost capacity to more than 35,000.

The club would be in line to receive 10s of millions more of federal funds if Australia was successful in winning the bid for soccer's 2022 World Cup, with Skilled Stadium proposed as a 44,000-capacity venue.

McLachlan said the Saturday twilight slot was viewed as ''an emerging preference'' to pick up the extra games created by the 17th and 18th clubs. ''The decision's not made, but it's an emerging preference,'' he said. ''But we have yet to have detailed discussions with any of the broadcasters.''

Geelong has seven of its home games at Skilled Stadium this season, with four of those scheduled in the 1.10pm timeslot.

More News

The AFL is encouraging Geelong to install floodlights at Skilled Stadium to give the club and the league more scope to have games played in prime evening timeslots.
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