AFL to buy ANZ Stadium?

Sydney's The Daily Telegraph has reported that the AFL wants to buy ANZ Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park. Reported as "an audacious bid to guarantee the success of its (AFLs) aggressive push into rugby league's heartland", the newspaper went on to reveal that submitted a secret $200 million bid for the former Olympic Stadium last year.

The AFL is understood to be considering a renewed offer as part of plans to launch a western Sydney AFL franchise in 2011. However, The Daily Telegraph suggested that "if successful, the move could spell disaster for cash-strapped Sydney NRL clubs that rely on the stadium's generous $100,000-a-game guarantee to prop up their bottom lines."

The Daily Telegraph suggests that Sydney's NRL teams are currently suffering financially as a result of reduced incomes from the NSW Government's poker machine tax on their parent leagues clubs.

Five Sydney teams currently play home matches at ANZ Stadium, and the venue now hosts 38 games a season as well as State of Origin games. The Daily Telegraph suggested that should the AFL gain control of the venue, rugby league would be faced with a hostile landlord.

AFL Chief Executive, Andrew Demetriou spent half a day at Olympic Park five weeks ago. In company with AFLNSW Chief Executive Dale Holmes, he met Stadium Chief Executive Ken Edwards after taking a full tour of the 80,000-seat venue that the new western Sydney side is expected call home.

The Daily Telegraph reported on a source close to the negotiations saying the AFL wanted to replicate its strategy where it has a sizeable ownership stake in Melbourne's Telstra Dome. This stake ensures income from all events staged at Docklands goes to the code.