Guys, guys.....hold on a moment.
Has anyone been able to confirm that the Mariners have taken over the stadium management yet?
In the press releases and articles today, the emphasis has been on the establishment of The Mariners Trust, the involvement of McCabe and the building of the Tuggerah Complex. There's been a mention of taking on the stadium management, but that was offered as something into the future.
Also, with people like Turnbull and McCabe involved, the taking on of stadium management might prove too much of an expenditure and little profit.
Maybe the better option would be to have an investment in the stadium management company - even if it's only a sizeable minimal stake. Just enough to get the Mariners matches a priority when events are being planned.
Talk of spending money on seats that are still working perfectly well, talk of the Mariners somehow owning the stadium when it may be a black hole of expenditure,talk of our man McCabe just throwing money around, are just fanciful ideas.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. All this money that McCabe wants to invest will see some return, plus interest, to him. I doubt he is a philanthropist with a sudden interest in throwing a shitload of money at some small Australian football club just so the folks here will think he's a nice guy.
The Mariners Trust is a good idea, so long as the parameters of how the Trust operates are clearly spelt out, which I am sure they have been. It also only has a majority share in the club, allowing others to still have some input into the club, and a spot on the board. So opposing views can be tabled, but obviously the majority shareholders will have the final say.
I applaud the Mariners for taking this more global view of how a club should operate, and I suspect there will be some teeth gnashing in other clubs and even in other codes, should all go ahead well.
It would have been so easy for the Mariners to continue trying to rake in the sponsors, think of only winning the next comp. and then "oh who do we get for the ACL?" sort of local thinking, but behind the scenes, the club has taken a very forward thinking step and realised that should the A-League continue being a success, that the hallmarks of success will require this level of infrastructure.
And by adopting the same outlook, I can see how easy it would be for the Trust to look at Bluetongue, see what it can offer for now, realise that a newer (not necessarily much bigger) stadium may be needed down the track and to save their pennies for then.
