Caroline Wilson, the SANFL and Adelaide Oval.

I did not hear her on the radio but my mail is that "Caro" had a few things to say to the SANFL on 5AA this last week. Largely around the funding deal re Adelaide Oval and the AFC and PAFC.

Here is a snippet from her article,

"While Port Adelaide has invested heavily in its football department over the past three years, the club remains in the bottom third of the competition in terms of football spending. "I'm not sure where else we can look if we can't profit after this year," Thomas said.

With the review into the Adelaide Oval's match-day returns dragging into its sixth month, league chief Gillon McLachlan is understood to have spent long hours on a weekly basis trying to broker an agreement between Port, the Adelaide Crows and the state football body which has been reluctant to share extra profits from the rebuilt stadium.

Essentially, a revenue distribution issue between the two Adelaide AFL clubs and the SANFL, the key sticking points include the SANFL's lucrative food and beverage agreement and the issue of profit distribution when the club's over-perform on their budgeted crowds".

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/port-adelaide-faces-2-million-loss-20141112-11lc5m.html

As I understand it, the deal was that the SANFL own Adelaide Oval in full for the Seven months of the year that Footy is played there and that the original deal was negotiated at length and agreed to by all parties. I am also aware that the PAFC  have been the recipient of generous funding to keep the club afloat which I suspect may be required to be repaid via this arrangement, although I could well be wrong there.

Thoughts?

I suspect this is a topic that will go on for quite a long time, so perhaps we might start with a few basic facts.

Who owns Adelaide Oval?
Adelaide Oval is owned by the State Government and leased to the Adelaide Oval SMA Ltd for a period of 80 years.  The Adelaide Oval SMA Ltd is responsible for the management of Adelaide Oval

Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority
The Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority (AOSMA), a joint venture of SACA and the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), was registered as a company on 23 December 2009 following the re-announcement of the plan.[32] The AOSMA has eight directors, four associated with SACA (Ian McLachlan-Chair, John Harnden, Creagh O’Connor & John Bannon) and four with SANFL (Leigh Whicker-CEO, Rod Payze, Philip Gallagher & Jamie Coppins).

The arrangement between the SANFL and the SACA regarding access to the oval is set out in the Adelaide Oval Redevelopment and Management Act 2011 as follows.
(a) in relation to SACA—a period commencing on 8 October in each year and
expiring on 14 March in the next year (both dates inclusive);
(b) in relation to the SANFL—a period commencing on 15 March in each year
and expiring on 7 October in the same year (both dates inclusive),
or such other periods as may be agreed between SACA and the SANFL.

That should get us started, but we must consider also the backroom wheeling and dealing between the power brokers behind the AO Redevelopment. Particularly the AFL who own the Crows and Power licenses.
I won't take up any more space other than to suggest looking at the following link to an article published earlier in the year by the AFL. Particularly the last section.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-03-27/enemies-under-the-same-roof