Geelong to advance stadium upgrade

Geelong Football Club is set to commence demolition works on the Doug Wade Stand at its Simonds Stadium following the Club having secured funding to build its planned new $49 million stand.

Facing being forced to postpone or even abandon the upgrade after discovering a shortfall in the tender process in November, the Victorian Government granted the Cats additional $1.5 million to pave the way for the construction of the new stand.

However, the Club has been forced to scale back plans for stage three of the redevelopment cutting capacity by 1,000 seats, removing a supporters' lounge and downgrading from concrete to steel to press ahead.

The additional Victorian Government funding takes the State's total contribution to project to $26.5 million.

Additional funding also came from the AFL which is contributing a further $250,000 on top of $3 million already committed, while the Federal Government tipped in $10 million and the City of Greater Geelong $3 million, with the Cats' total contribution coming to $4.2 million.

7th December 2011 - CATS UNVEIL ELITE TRAINING VENUE