Ballarat City Council has refused to release a dollar figure on what it paid for the Eureka Stadium Sports Club, after it compulsory acquired the facility late last week.
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When asked by The Courier about costs incurred as a result of the takeover, the council’s director of infrastructure and environment Terry Demeo said it was the organisation’s protocol not to publicly disclose commercial dealings.
However, Mr Demeo revealed the council spent months in the lead up to the decision last Friday, attempting to reach a resolution with the North Ballarat Football Club to no avail.
“Many options were explored with the board but they (the board) were completely uncooperative and seemed to have no interest in resolving the matter,” he said.
Mr Demeo quashed any speculation former North Ballarat Football Club chief executive Mark Patterson was involved in the decision. Mr Patterson was recently appointed as the council’s director of sport and recreation.
“Mark had no real involvement in the matter,” he said. “His insight was deliberately left out of the proceedings.”
In the wake of the announcement, the city’s mayor Samantha McIntosh left the door open for another organisation to take control of the facility and field a team in the VFL if the North Ballarat board looked to exit the state competition. While the ground and parts of the underground change rooms were previously on crown land, the remainder of the precinct including the gaming and dining rooms and the car park were on the freehold title held by the club.
When asked by The Courier about requirements the council would put in to allow North Ballarat Football Club to continue to use the facility, Mr Demeo said discussions would commence with the club once the acquisition process was finalised.
Mr Demeo said if the council was unable to govern the entire centre, and gain access to the facilities, more than $30 million of public money invested in the Eureka Stadium and Ballarat Major Events Precinct was in jeopardy. Without the council taking action, it risked losing AFL matches at the stadium, he said.
Cr McIntosh said it was also the council’s responsibility to ensure the wider community had access to the facility and young players were given entry into the city’s football circuit. Victorian Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford said the state government supported the council’s decision.
“(Speaking) both as a government (minister) and a Ballarat resident, it’s been a really bad thing to see one bad headline after another detailing a degree of dysfunction in the board,” she said. “And also, quite a degree of dysfunction with sponsors removing themselves from association with the club after very, very long periods of association in some cases.”
She said the facility, which the government injected more than $30 million into, was too important to get dragged into a “turf war.”
“Our interest is in making sure we have am absolutely terrific AFL experience here in Ballarat with the premiership team the Western Bulldogs playing a game in August,” she said.