Governments are desperate to fund elite sport - and it's leaving the grassroots to wither

Quite simply, there are only few examples of the prosperous sporting leagues paying a considerable proportion of stadium upgrades, as was the case when private sector paid $857 million (2023 dollars) to build Docklands and contributed $565 million towards the total $688 million cost of the MCG's new northern stand.

In the case of Victoria, the desire to please elite sport means less resources for grassroots sport. For example, while the 2019-20 Victorian Budget provided $21.6 million to upgrade community soccer facilities across Victoria, the Victorian government in May 2021 also provided $101 million to La Trobe University's Sports Park (Bundoora) to include a world-class training base for Football Australia for its national women's squads (opened 3 July 2023), as well as the State Rugby Centre of Excellence to help elite rugby union teams and players.

And while the federal government provided an important $200 million to women's sport to provide better sporting facilities following the 2023 World Cup, they have also provided $126 million (2023 dollars) to help build the North Queensland stadium and $240 million for the planned Hobart stadium, to ease the burden on the Tasmanian government who committed $375 million, as the AFL demanded a new stadium to enable a 19th AFL team.

But while the Australian Olympic Committee chair Matt Carroll argued in 2023 that Australian sport faced a $2 billion shortfall over the next decade, and the major sporting leagues and events continue to call for assistance from state governments who compete with each other for major events, it remains to be seen whether the federal and state governments prove capable of doing much more to help grassroots sport.