Etihad Stadium better than MCG: Ian Collins

Ten years after the birth of the once-maligned Etihad Stadium, Ian Collins has declared it a better place to watch footy than the MCG.

The veteran stadium boss boldly said the 156-year-old cricket ground did not compete when it came to atmosphere.

Collins went further, declaring the 54,000-capacity dome among the world's best stages for sport.

"Once you start building stadiums bigger, you take people away from the action," Collins said. "The beauty of here is that you've got the roof and the intimacy and with that comes the creation of atmosphere.

"There's a fallacy out there that you build venues to their maximum for one game a year.

"The MCG is there to cater for big events -- but you go around the world and most stadiums are built between 50 and 65 thousand.

"Unless you get 60 or 70 thousand at the MCG, I think the atmosphere is pretty ordinary."

In an interview to mark the stadium's anniversary, CEO Collins said:

PLANS for a third Melbourne footy stadium were a waste of taxpayers' money.

ETIHAD'S long-running cold war with the AFL was over.

DOCKLANDS would never agree to shift blockbuster AFL matches like last year's Geelong-St Kilda epic to the cross-town rival MCG.

STAGING international and Big Bash Twenty20 cricket games was high on his agenda.

Collins, 67, quit as AFL operations manager to take on the Docklands job on April Fool's Day 2000.

Under the terms of the Docklands construction contract, the AFL will take full ownership of the stadium in 2025.

"It's a nice little asset to get  lock, stock and barrel, the land and the building," Collins said.

Last year, Etihad ran a record 83 on-field events and is bracing for the stampede of more than 180,000 rock fans for this weekend's three sell-out AC/DC concerts.

A consortium of investors led by property giant Mirvac purchased the then-Telstra Dome for $330 million from Channel Seven in 2006.

Collins scoffed at the Brumby Government's proposal for a new 40,000-seat stadium on disused railway land near Etihad, known as "E-Gate".

"We've gone mad on building stadia have we? This stadium when it was built was supposed to cover rectangular sport and cricket and football," Collins said.

"This was built, we've built another one (the new bubble stadium on Swan St) and now they're talking about building another one. I think it's a waste of taxpayers' money  an absolute waste."

Collins said the venues's biggest legacy was the emergence of a thriving new suburb in the once-derelict Docklands precinct.

"It was funny. Waverley was much maligned but when it came time to get rid of it, it became the favourite son," Collins said.

"But the location was always a problem because it wasn't serviced properly. Here you can't get a better position, anywhere in the world. It's right in the CBD and just 100m walk from the city's biggest train station.

"The stadium being built here has probably created a magnificent waterfront. The stadium created Docklands."

Collins, who played 161 games for the Blues and once controversially served as club president at the same time he was running the 54-000-seat Docklands venue, admitted he still had a soft spot for the club he helped take to the 1968 premiership.

"It's hard to get the Blue out of the blood - but I'm not involved any more," he said.