8 hours ago
Waverley Park: AFL likely to snap up historic Hawks' home
Melbourne's historic Waverley Park may not be lost to football, with the AFL firmly in the race to purchase the venue from Hawthorn.
It would be the league's second major piece of infrastructure, following their purchase of Marvel Stadium in Docklands for more than $30m in 2016.
Expressions of interest for the property closed on April 3, and a deal is expected to be finalised within a matter of days.
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Industry sources have indicated the property had attracted significant interest, but the AFL was the frontrunner.
They also confirmed the sales price would likely fall in the $10m to $20m range.
Hawthorn purchased the ground for just $1 in 2006, with the club set to cash in big-time on any sale.
Commercial real estate agency Colliers' director Ben Baines, Victorian chief executive Rob Joyes and executive Lucas Soccio, who have the listing, declined to comment.
The offering includes the Hawks' soon-to-be former training and administrative headquarters set within the within the Sir Kenneth Luke Stand, with the club set to move to a purpose-built new Dingley Village site this year.
Features of Waverley Park include a full-size MCG-specification oval on the title, a gym, 25m-long heated indoor pool, running track, medical treatment rooms and 48 basement car spaces.
But the listing does not include the famous oval that hosted more than 730 AFL and VFL games, including the 1991 AFL grand final.
While the venue once had a capacity of 72,000 people, much of the stadium has since been demolished and is now surrounded by a housing estate.
The AFL said only on Friday night that it was always looking for more facilities to accommodate the growth of the game.
'The AFL has targeted having 10 million attendees at AFL/AFLW games, events or festivals, two million AFL club members and one million participants and in order to achieve the target for participation we need two ovals a week every week for the next five years,' AFL spokesman Jay Allen said.
'We are always looking for ovals, either already in the system that we can continue to use for football, or new greenfield developments so we can continue to expand the space we need to accommodate the strong national growth in people playing our game.'
Former footballer John Rombotis debuted at Waverley Park for Fitzroy in 1995, and had one of his best games in the AFL with Port Adelaide at the ground in 1997.
Rombotis, now a real estate agent, said it was good to see the AFL taking an interest in the old ground – and noted that a purchase price under $20m would be just a fraction of what they were making at Marvel Stadium each year.
Waverley Park also hosted the 2000 VFA/VFL premiership match, the last official game played there, and a KISS concert in the 1980s.
