SUNS FORTRESS METRICON ADDS CRICKET TO CALENDAR

Metricon to host three games as Suns’ stadium pain eases

BIG Bash cricket is headed to the Gold Coast after the Suns won threeyear hosting rights for three matches each summer.

Queensland Cricket, Cricket Australia and the Suns are expected to announce the deal this week, which would see the Brisbane Heat – featuring star batsman Chris Lynn (pictured)

– play two home games at Metricon Stadium on the new drop-in pitch for the next three years.

It is understood another interstate franchise will also play an annual home match at the venue.

The Suns’ Metricon Stadium deal with the AFL gave the club management rights and included the provisions for up to 24 events a year.

After hosting the Foo Fighters and Big Day Out concerts in the first two years, the Suns have struggled to find other major events, a failing that has contributed to annual losses exceeding $2 million.

But building the pit for a drop-in pitch before the Commonwealth Games earthworks were undertaken has set the club up to expand the stadium’s usage over summer.

The pitch is now growing in a tray within the precinct.

The Suns have already won hosting rights to an international T20 cricket match at Metricon Stadium between Australia South Africa on November 17.

The club’s strategic plan to commercialise the venue is to secure three BBL matches and one T20 International each year of the current broadcast agreement.

The long-term vision for the Suns is to secure their own franchise, which would push the major sporting events at the ground up to 20 or 21 each year.

The possibility of expanding the number of teams within five years was outlined in Cricket Australia’s five-year strategy released last year.

The Suns have a powerful ally in government in Tourism and Infrastructure Minister Kate Jones, who is also lobbying for the club to secure a BBL franchise.

The initial deal is not a great money spinner for the Suns, with the revenue from the historic first T20 International at the ground estimated to only just cover the costs of the drop-in pitch and new broadcast infrastructure.

However, it is understood the club is set to receive some respite from the exorbitant venue-hiring costs when the Governmentcommissioned Lee Report into Stadiums Queensland is tabled later this month.

The Suns chipped in about $300,000 of the $1 million spent on the drop-in pitch, practice areas and new broadcast infrastructure. and