Magazine - Crows urged to reconsider Adelaide Oval Move

By Editor in A.F.L on 8th Mar 2010 6:00

Former Adelaide Football Club chairman Bill Sanders has revived debate over a football stadium, claiming a proposed AFL move to Adelaide Oval carries enormous risks for the Crows.

The South Australian Government says it will fund a $450 million redevelopment of Adelaide Oval to allow home matches there for Port Power and the Crows. The parties are currently negotiating finer details of the deal. Sanders says the Crows at least must reconsider backing any move to Adelaide Oval.

"There's gotta be a risk attached to it and ... my concerns have come from people who have made approaches on the basis of 'Why are we doing this, why are we considering it?' "I think our stadium, our city needs two stadiums, you know, all of the major cities in Australia have two stadiums. "I think our city is ready for two and I struggle to find how cricket and football can both operate out of the one venue and hence the Stadium Management Authority have got a big job on their hands to work through that one."

The Crows plan to retain their club facilities at Football Park at West Lakes, despite shifting games to the city. Mr Sanders thinks the whole issue of where to play football needs to be re-thought. "If there was going to be another venue, major sporting venue in South Australia, can we go for one that is independent from cricket and one that's going to have a roof over it, that seems to be the vogue now?"

Crows chief executive Steven Trigg says the club will only move games if it brings obvious advantages on and off the field. "I understand that a number of our members and everybody involved, including Bill, will be edgy about it, but they don't have the facts," he said. "Frankly I don't have the facts either and that's what we're working on. We're trying to get there in June and, you know, that's the time frame that we've got."

Source & More: www.abc.net.au

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