Melbourne has paused its plans to establish a new home at Caulfield Racecourse after negotiations with the Victorian Government and Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust stalled over additional approval processes and unresolved issues.
The Demons have been seeking a more permanent home after splitting their time between Gosch's Paddock and Casey Fields, with the men's and women's programs not always under the same roof.
As a result, Melbourne will begin looking at alternative sites for its new home.
President Steven Smith sent the following message to members:
"As you're aware, over the past few years we have been working towards securing a home base within the Caulfield Racecourse precinct.
"During this time, we have been working in good faith with all key stakeholders involved in the Caulfield project with the aim of creating a homebase that would deliver significant community benefit, along with the world-class facilities this club deserves.
"In 2024, we successfully completed a feasibility study which identified significant community and sporting benefits and found there was strong support and interest from local sports bodies, schools, clubs and associations to utilise and share facilities within the infield of the racecourse.
"At the request of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust (the Trust), we narrowed our focus on a site within the reserve that suited the Trust and club's requirements. In August 2025, we entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Trust for the Neerim Stables site. The MOU required the parties to negotiate, with the intent to enter into a binding Agreement to Lease (Agreement) which would provide the club a 12-month option period in which to procure necessary planning approvals and secure funding to deliver our future home.
"Throughout this time, and despite the many challenges and stakeholders involved, it has always been clear that, should we be able to deliver this project, it would unlock significant benefits for our club and the community.
"In recent months, the Government's Project Steering Committee approved a business case for the project and Agreement progressed to near final form with the support of the Trust, who is the landlord of the site.
"Yesterday, the Minister for Environment wrote to us noting the merit in our TAF proposal and outlining a final stage of Government which requested the club make a submission that demonstrates the public interest in progressing the project. This is a process we are confident to participate in given the successful community engagement we have undertaken to date.
"However, the introduction of this additional process, in combination with several other unresolved factors, means that we are unwilling to enter into the Agreement at this time.
"Given this, we have made the decision to pause discussions relating to Caulfield and re-engage with Government following the election.
"We are grateful to both the Trust and the Government for their efforts in advancing the project to this point, particularly throughout an incredibly busy period.
"While the Board and I recognised there was always a possibility that we would not reach an Agreement, we owed it to our club, players, staff and members to push as hard as we possibly could to secure a deal within the Caulfield Racecourse precinct that we felt confident would deliver us a home.
"Caulfield has undeniably been our main focus but we have, in parallel, identified a number of potential alternate sites for our future TAF. We will now look to accelerate other prospective options alongside Caulfield to ensure we can secure a solution that will meet the needs of our AFL and AFLW programs and bring the club together in an elite facility as soon as possible.
"Lastly, I would like to make it clear that we would have preferred to provide more regular status updates over the course of the Caulfield project, however, we were subject to strict confidentiality obligations that prevented us from doing so without compromising our ability to progress."
