Home Ground Advantage will continue for Eagles, Dockers
Wednesday 06 June 2012
WA's AFL teams have welcomed key design principles they say will ensure Perth Stadium continues the 'home ground' advantage.
The West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers are pleased that Perth will continue to have one of the longest grounds in Australia and an east:west orientation, the same as Patersons Stadium and the MCG.
The clubs are also excited at the decision to adopt ‘colosseum style’ seating that brings fans closer to the action and the premium hospitality opportunities being investigated at field level.
West Coast Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett said designing the initial seating bowl for a 60,000 capacity, with potential to later expand, was the right decision for Perth’s football market.
“We also believe the 165 metre length of the new playing field is the optimum to ensure we maintain the home ground advantage while making sure our own players can perform at their best,” Mr Nisbett said.
Steve Rosich from the Fremantle Football Club agreed that having the playing field 10 metres shorter and eight metres wider than Paterson’s Stadium was a good outcome.
“The biggest home ground advantage for our teams continues to be the fact that eastern States players have to travel four hours to get here and they aren’t used to the routine.”
Both clubs said they appreciated the level of consultation afforded to them during the planning process to date and looked forward to continuing to provide strong input to the Stadium Project Team.
