pjennings
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Central Coast Mariners launch bid to become first A-League club to own their own stadium at Gosford
Tom Smithies, The Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
THE Central Coast Mariners have launched a bold bid to become the only club in the A-League to own their own stadium.
Three years after taking control of the club, owner Mike Charlesworth has approached the newly formed Central Coast Council about buying the Mariners’ home ground, Central Coast Stadium in Gosford, or at the very least taking control of its management on a long-term deal.
Just days before the start of the new season, Charlesworth has pledged to invest in rebranding the stadium, putting a roof over its uncovered end and ultimately staging more events at the stadium, if negotiations can be concluded. The club also wants to exploit its position at Brisbane Water with the creation of a retail precinct.
Central Coast Mariners owner Mike Charlesworth at the club’s grand final parade in 2013.
The Mariners pay a fee to be effectively the stadium’s only tenant, but have no access to the match-day revenues from food and drink outlets. Though the club finished bottom of the league last season, it already owns its own training facilities at the centre of excellence in Tuggerah.
Charlesworth said he had yet to receive a detailed response from the council, which is being run by an administrator since the forced amalgamation of Gosford and Wyong Councils until elections are held in September next year.
The Mariners fear a decision will be put off until an elected council is formed, but Charlesworth - who has built and let a range of office and leisure space at the club’s centre of excellence - said a deal could generate a “snowball” of economic benefits for the city.
“One of the biggest problems in Australian sport is that clubs don’t typically own stadiums, the councils do,” Charlesworth said. “That means you can’t invest in what is someone else’s product, and you can’t drive the revenues that such investment would subsequently reap.
New Mariners coach Paul Okon at Central Coast Stadium.
“We’re the only tenant at Central Coast Stadium, and they put on about 10-12 events a year there - it’s nowhere near enough to justify its existence apart from for us. So we just made the natural move, and said either give us the management rights, so we can drive new content and make the stadium our own - paint it yellow for example - or let us acquire the whole stadium.
“The council to my knowledge are working out what they want to do, while it’s an interim administration, but we don’t want to hang around.
“I don’t know whether they’d want to keep the asset, or whether the local community has a strong feeling about it being in private or public hands. But we’d put the money in to change the seats to the right colour, we’d look at putting a roof on the end where our home fans sit. We can’t even change the colour of the stadium as things stand.”
The ownership of boutique stadiums was seen as central to the growing financial strength of the MLS in America, and Charlesworth said the Mariners would have more incentive to increase the use of Central Coast Stadium as its owner.
“The council don’t have the resources to do much with the stadium,” he said. “They’ve been running it for 20 years and haven’t attracted other content. What they’re trying to do is trying to rebuild Gosford centre, with plans for a lot of new infrastructure and trying to revitalise it. What better way than to have as many events as possible, sporting or otherwise?”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...d/news-story/62512c4340a413342dd4d8f36606dd4a
Tom Smithies, The Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
THE Central Coast Mariners have launched a bold bid to become the only club in the A-League to own their own stadium.
Three years after taking control of the club, owner Mike Charlesworth has approached the newly formed Central Coast Council about buying the Mariners’ home ground, Central Coast Stadium in Gosford, or at the very least taking control of its management on a long-term deal.
Just days before the start of the new season, Charlesworth has pledged to invest in rebranding the stadium, putting a roof over its uncovered end and ultimately staging more events at the stadium, if negotiations can be concluded. The club also wants to exploit its position at Brisbane Water with the creation of a retail precinct.
Central Coast Mariners owner Mike Charlesworth at the club’s grand final parade in 2013.
The Mariners pay a fee to be effectively the stadium’s only tenant, but have no access to the match-day revenues from food and drink outlets. Though the club finished bottom of the league last season, it already owns its own training facilities at the centre of excellence in Tuggerah.
Charlesworth said he had yet to receive a detailed response from the council, which is being run by an administrator since the forced amalgamation of Gosford and Wyong Councils until elections are held in September next year.
The Mariners fear a decision will be put off until an elected council is formed, but Charlesworth - who has built and let a range of office and leisure space at the club’s centre of excellence - said a deal could generate a “snowball” of economic benefits for the city.
“One of the biggest problems in Australian sport is that clubs don’t typically own stadiums, the councils do,” Charlesworth said. “That means you can’t invest in what is someone else’s product, and you can’t drive the revenues that such investment would subsequently reap.
New Mariners coach Paul Okon at Central Coast Stadium.
“We’re the only tenant at Central Coast Stadium, and they put on about 10-12 events a year there - it’s nowhere near enough to justify its existence apart from for us. So we just made the natural move, and said either give us the management rights, so we can drive new content and make the stadium our own - paint it yellow for example - or let us acquire the whole stadium.
“The council to my knowledge are working out what they want to do, while it’s an interim administration, but we don’t want to hang around.
“I don’t know whether they’d want to keep the asset, or whether the local community has a strong feeling about it being in private or public hands. But we’d put the money in to change the seats to the right colour, we’d look at putting a roof on the end where our home fans sit. We can’t even change the colour of the stadium as things stand.”
The ownership of boutique stadiums was seen as central to the growing financial strength of the MLS in America, and Charlesworth said the Mariners would have more incentive to increase the use of Central Coast Stadium as its owner.
“The council don’t have the resources to do much with the stadium,” he said. “They’ve been running it for 20 years and haven’t attracted other content. What they’re trying to do is trying to rebuild Gosford centre, with plans for a lot of new infrastructure and trying to revitalise it. What better way than to have as many events as possible, sporting or otherwise?”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...d/news-story/62512c4340a413342dd4d8f36606dd4a
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) , the food & have full control over the quality and price of both.
