The AFL’s decision to purchase Docklands Stadium in 2016 might just be what gets them through this financial crisis.
They bought the then-named Etihad Stadium for roughly $200 million, despite being able to purchase it for $30 in 2025, as part of the original agreement when the stadium was built.
SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund said the AFL will use it to get a line of credit from the banks.
“The AFL has approached NAB for a loan given they could secure a line of credit against their biggest asset Marvel Stadium,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“Now, absolute worst-case scenario they can sell Marvel Stadium. They have the assets that the NRL don’t, which explains the NRL’s desperation to continue in so many ways.
“It might ultimately save the game, the purchase of that stadium.”
Gerard Whateley agreed, saying it will help the AFL massively for two reasons.
“There could never have been a better time to own (Marvel Stadium) than now and the foresight to buy it, they could have waited about a generation and bought it for $1, but they did spend the money out of the future fund,” he said.
“I imagine it is going to serve them on a number of fronts. One is against the line of credit, but two will be the staging of a season when that comes.
“It’s going to be the most important asset that the AFL has and I think we’ll look back and marvel at their management to buy it at the time that they did, without being able to forecast what would happen.”