Outgoing MCC president Steven Smith has announced that the Southern Stand could undergo major redevelopments over the next decade.
Smith said the famous Victorian arena should stay up to date with other sporting precincts around the world by continually evolving.
โIn the last four years, the extension of the AFL agreement that means the Grand Final is now guaranteed for 40 years at the MCG,โ Smith told SEN Breakfast.
โWhat that means in 10 years when the Southern Stand is 35 years old, and itโs about the time you start thinking what you do with grand stands, weโve got enough guaranteed content to borrow the billion dollars that we need to rebuild it.
โTo connect it to Richmond Station, to connect it to AAMI Park and the tennis centre and itโll retain being one of the greatest sporting grounds in the world, but also it would be one of the best sporting precincts in the world.
โ35 years, it flies past, new stadiums coming through like Perth, Adelaideโs re-done, around the world itโs changing all the time so youโve got to keep modernising.โ
The renovations would reportedly expand the stadium's attendance capacity by around five per cent.
โWe might be able to get an extra 5,000 possibly, depends on how high you go,โ he said.
โItโs also very narrow the Southern Stand, it needs to be extended out across Brunton Avenue, itโll sort of provide better facilities over there. There arenโt the restaurants and bars for the public weโd like to have.โ
The outgoing president added itโs very unlikely the MCG will ever a have roof, in a similar vein to Marvel Stadium.
โNot at this point, itโs just not possible from an engineering point of view,โ he said.
โI think the beauty about it would be trying to provide more coverage for spectators so they donโt get rained on.โ
Former Bombers great Tim Watson said the Grand Final may get temporarily moved to accommodate for the MCG's redevelopments.
โBack in 1992 the Grand Final was transferred to Waverley, if the Southern Stand was to come down,โ Watson said.
โI think it will (go outside of Melbourne). It could go to Sydney, theyโre redeveloping up there, it could go to WA, Adelaide possible. The capacity is a bit down there.โ
