World Footy News

While footy lovers across the US drooled at the new stadium being built in Florida primarily for cricket but also with Aussie Rules in mind, the cost of playing there did not come to mind. When it was mooted earlier in the year that the Faststream Spring Invitational Tournament would be played at the Lauderhill stadium there were plenty of clubs put their hands up in anticipation of going down to Florida to play at this great new facility. There was much talk in US footy circles about Nationals being a certainty to be played there in coming years as well. The reality is a little different to the dream. Broward County, who fronted the vast amounts of money to build that stadium, want to see a decent return on their investment with hefty user pays fees. This prevented the tournament earlier in the year using the stadium (also due to late withdrawal of teams needed to pay the ground costs), continues to prevent the local teams playing or training here and could deter the USAFL from playing the Nationals here in future as well. As the article in the New Times today reports it is not just footy the has been left on the outer. The article largely focuses on cricket but Ft Lauderdale Fighting Squids president Cameron Pinnock is quoted "It just sits there, empty, teasing everyone…it's definitely something we couldn't afford as an amateur team... My theory is that it's better to have the fields used at a discount rate than empty. There are 3,500 to 4,000 Australians in the tricounty area — we could get a match going every month. I'm sure the Denver team would come."

It is believed that USFooty, the local club, and the local government are in closed discussions about getting footy played in the stadium at a more reasonable price, but no breakthrough on the matter has yet been reported. Unless the county changes its stance it is likely that the only possibilities for footy being played there are the potential World Club Challenge (which would probably need funding to use the facility from the AFL) and the possibility of a NAB cup game being played there in early 2009 if Australian business and state funding are behind the match.