The partnership, which effectively replaces the long running one with North Melbourne, has benefits for both parties. 

The former Footscray, in its effort to spread its fan base wider, now hopes to canvas football fans from across western Victoria and Ballarat is the base to do it from. 

For Ballarat, the partnership backed by the AFL and the state government is a definitive step to getting elite level football into Ballarat. The quest to have home and away games in Ballarat has been a long and ardent one by many parts of the community and one that The Courier has supported.

In one view, this will mean several big football games per year, plus the joy they bring to local fans and the lucrative influx of visitors from Melbourne and elsewhere. 

But in another regard this represents much more; a coming of age for football in Ballarat where it can host the sport at the highest level. 

The national exposure is one thing, but the reputational boost is a less tangible and even more resonating benefit. 

Success breeds success and the capacity to successfully host major events plays a major part in securing more.  

An even greater flow on effect is the interest and support it generates at policy and investment level into the facilities that can have lasting benefits for a wider community. 

The development of Eureka Stadium was always about so much more than AFL games, and equally had to be about more than just football. 

To really make it a “sporting precinct” the inclusion of community or grassroots based sports facilities, including the huge participatory sports of basketball and netball, were vital 

The Courier applauded the fact that this community benefit was backed by both sides of politics and the city should imminently see the first round of funding to make this staged precinct possible. 

While the arguments for a more central sporting hub with superior transport connections do make sense, they have a fundamental shortfall in the space available. 

It is Eureka area’s strength that it has the room to make a multi-sport precinct possible with minimum displacement and maximum inclusion.

But the Committee for Ballarat is right in arguing that the disparate players in the community must work out a common and realistic voice over the development and its long-term vision. 

That will yield the best results for Ballarat. Many will not barrack for the Bulldogs but all should make them welcome to the city for what this step represents.