“We’ve seen it with the two preliminary finals, we probably could have sold it twice over.
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“When a female called Taylor Swift was here, we probably should have just shut the ’G down for the rest of the year.”
Fox said the MCC had explored whether the Shane Warne Stand should be renovated or rebuilt, but quickly came to the conclusion it was likely to be knocked down, giving it a deeper footprint similar to the other stands.
Asked about putting a roof on the MCG, he said Victoria had a stadium with a roof and that rain affected events only three to four times a year.
“We’ve got to come up with a sensible plan, because this has to be funded and delivered at some stage into the future,” he said.
“If we over-scope it, you know, a roof might cost $5 billion or $6 billion alone to retrofit.”
Other upgrades to be explored include new stadium technology and dining experiences, and making it easier for events to set up and vacate the stadium.
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Any redevelopments would be unlikely to happen until 2029, after the MCG has hosted World Cup events.
A report released by the Allan government on Wednesday found the MCG served 4 million people in 2024, bringing 620,000 interstate visitors and injecting $720 million into the economy.
“The MCG is our economy’s home-ground advantage – we want to keep it that way,” Allan said.
“We’re planning for the future so the ’G can remain the best stadium in the world.”
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