Land deal to draw Demons

By Glen Atwell
A $1 MILLION dollar deal, which will include giving a block of land to Melbourne Football Club (MFC), will be formalised in the coming days and put to a vote at a Casey Council meeting on 5 August.
The deal will see Melbourne relocate its football department to Casey Fields in Cranbourne until 2010, when the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium is expected to be completed. Casey executives met with representatives from the AFL, MFC and Casey Scorpions last Thursday and reached an agreement in principle. A report is due to come back to councillors on 5 August where a majority vote is likely to seal the deal between Casey and Melbourne.
The council will spend $890,000 improving facilities at Casey Fields and gift a vacant block of land up to the value of $600,000 to entice MFC to relocate its operations to Cranbourne.
The improvements include $750,000 to extend the pavilion at Casey Fields and $140,000 to seal the existing crushed rock car park at the VFL ground. MFC has committed $500,000 to help fund the project.
The land gift has been the sticking point of the deal, with MFC pressing council for a physical asset to be included in the golden handshake.
City of Casey chief executive Mike Tyler told the News that the AFL had stressed to its clubs they need to get assets onto their balance sheets. “All clubs engaged in negotiations with councils have this (obtaining a physical asset) as a high priority and the discussion between Casey and MFC is no different,” he said.
“The details of discussions between MFC and council are confidential but it is fair to say that any ultimate arrangement would be far more complex than MFC simply relocating to Casey Fields in exchange for a parcel of land.”
Councillor Kevin Bradford said he strongly opposed council spending any money on enticing MFC to Casey. “We’re going to spend almost $1 million dollars, plus gift a parcel of land, valued around $600,000, to the Melbourne Football Club. The Demons will only be based in Cranbourne until 2010, when they will then move back to their new stadium.”