The AFL today welcomed the announcement that the Federal Government would provide funding of $36 million to the Gold Coast City Council to re-develop Gold Coast Stadium at Carrara. The funding for the project comes on top of the $60m amount announced by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and the $20m contributed by the Gold Coast City Council. The AFL will also contribute $10 million to the project.

The Chief Executive Officer of the AFL, Mr Andrew Demetriou, said it was an exciting day for the Gold Coast community and local AFL fans and thanked the Federal Government for their support of the Gold Coast City Council’s redevelopment application. Mr Demetriou was at today’s announcement at Carrara and praised the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese as well as Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and GCCC Mayor Ron Clarke for their support.

Mr Demetriou said the funding announcement was a further indication of the importance of local sporting infrastructure in building jobs, tourism and economic development. The stadium re-development was listed by the Gold Coast City Council as a project for funding from the Federal Government’s Infrastructure fund because of the potential to create both immediate local construction and long-term jobs. “This announcement is about jobs and the ability of stadiums and national sporting teams to generate jobs,” Mr Demetriou said.

A Queensland study on the impact of a Gold Coast-based AFL side found that when the club was up and running at full capacity the club would generate more than 440 local jobs and economic activity of $34 million a year – 92 per cent of which will flow to non-AFL businesses.

“I want to congratulate the Gold Coast Community and John Witheriff and his board for the way they have built local support and demonstrated the local benefits to the Gold Coast community of having a stadium and an AFL team that can bring jobs, tourist dollars and economic activity to the region,” 

“GC17 demonstrated they had the public, corporate and community support to run a club but it also needed a viable stadium that could generate a solid and sustainable revenue base while providing a quality venue for supporters. “This is the last piece in the stadium funding jigsaw for the Gold Coast team and now the focus is on getting the construction under way and the jobs flowing.”