Stuart Fox before the MCG NFL Game | MCC CEO (11.09.26)

0:00College football is back. So, Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oho, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwink up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Good things come in force. Like ukulele strings, boy band members. Oh yeah! And PayPal payin' for. No fees, no interest, no impact on your credit score. Just the flexibility to pay the way that works for you. Strum it, hum it, pay it in for. Download the PayPal app to get started. Subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com slash payin' for. Paypalling. NMLS 910457. The chief executive of the Melbourne Creek Club is Stuart Fox. We talked to Stuart on the big days for 40 and cricket.

1:02All this is something else. Stuart, great to have you on S&N for NFL. Thank you, Jared. Thanks for having me on. How you feeling? I feel nauseous, anxious. It's, yeah, I can't believe it. We do it for a living yet. You wake up this morning and I'm still nervous. It's a big show and I think I've underestimated how big it actually is. What is your sense of scope right now having lived the past few days in the town and sitting here looking at this glorious arena painted like never before? Yeah, I think it feels like the AFL Grand Final five times bigger. It's, it's the biggest thing we've ever worked on. Two years in the planning and it's, it's going to be great today. It's, it's looking a treat and just just the logistics behind it has been incredible. So it's, it's going to be a proud, proud day for all our team today. What's one of the one or two things that stick in your mind that you know, Oh, do we work hard to solve that and to see it? Look, there's a whole lot of things. It's actually really complicated to explain, but nothing is normal compared to say AFL or cricket being in the venue.

2:08So the turf overlay, the broadcast overlay, the change rooms are just totally different. The fan experience obviously stadium campuses totally different to how we consume in AFL and cricket. So everything is different and then the infrastructure that goes behind that is just phenomenal. Like, you know, for people who wouldn't know, but underneath this building, there's 350 car parks. There's, there's probably two car parks today. There's, they're now offices, their operation centres, their media overlays, medical rooms. There's toilets, showers. It's just unbelievable what's been achieved in probably seven days, two years of planning, but in the last seven days to transform the place has been incredible. What's going on outside? So I can legitimately make the case, it's bigger than anything I've seen at a Super Bowl. Some of that is the proximity of the city and the campuses you explain at the park lands, the superstars, the biggest thing I've ever seen here.

3:11In the aftermath we go, what are we learning? But what do you think of the experience today that Mel Burningen's are having, who have been coming here weekly their whole lives? Yeah, well, I think, I think the NFL have done a great job in making Melbourne theirs. And if you look at some of the pubs and restaurants all week, that build up spending credible. And then having stadium campus is pretty cool because people come in obviously through a perimeter fence and then into the park lands. Once you're in, you're actually in, but you're not in the stadium. So the crowds spread out and there's just so much activity. As you said, merchandising, there's corporate events on outside. So there's a real atmosphere. And I think that's the difference is that they put so much into the whole experience for the week. And it makes it for a pretty special event. There's a certain genius to having the gates a long way away from the doors, isn't there? The experience of getting in, there's so many people outside, it was brilliant. Yeah, and one of the philosophies of the NFL, they do not like cues.

4:15So they overdo the infrastructure to get in and set everything back. And I do feel like that creates a bit more festival atmosphere. Whereas, you know, the way we would normally do it, you enter the stadium and then you're in. And you've sort of more congested once you're in the building. So I think there's something to be learnt by opening up the parkland. It's such a such a beautiful spot. And we can we can capitalize on that for major events. The turf. Yeah, first of all, it looks sensational. I love when you go to a stadium that's going to host a Super Bowl and you get in the day before and you're able to walk around and they're great keepsakes to collect the memories to take photos. I was here yesterday and able to do that at the MCG. She's a beautiful grounded, she can surprise you. What do you think of the way that it's come up with the NFL feel on the oval? I think it's brilliant. I'm fairly biased in my view.

5:16But the paint, like you have a look at how much the ground pops. We're lucky to have sunshine today. So it makes it even better. So that colour, I think really adds, you know, there's always the debate. That we're some of the seats are too far away. But I don't think anyone in this stadium is going to be complaining about that today. So yeah, look at the turf's probably my biggest stress point. Because if you get that wrong, people let you know that you've got it wrong. So the stress isn't getting the turf ready for NFL. The stress is actually turning it around for AFL. And so that's a big job tonight. Our team will start work at about five or six o'clock. And we will start removing that turf. And the reason we have to remove it is that the paint is so heavy lay it on. It just doesn't wash out too easily. You might get it out by Christmas if you keep washing it every day. So we've got a responsibility to the AFL to try and get that out. So we're actually replacing the entire NFL field over the next couple of days.

6:17There's about 8,000 square metres of turf. And that starts tonight. So our turf team will be cutting all the grit out right through the night tonight, right into tomorrow, and then we start replacing. So that feels like a massive job. How big. So you've got to probably Saturday, twilight. So you've got yourself eight days. Yeah, will it be in the manner that you would like it to be anything? Well, it's a better outcome than trying to wash out. So if we had a had a Hawthorne game here tomorrow, if they had have lost, then it would, we would have seen grid lines. We wouldn't have seen the end plates because we'd plan to take out those two touchdown zones and the NFL logo, but you'd still see the leftovers, which, you know, I think there would have been huge controversy over. And the MCC is just trying to do its job and make sure it's presentable. So we will have all the turf laid by probably Wednesday morning. So that'll give it a couple of days. We've got probably two teams that'll have a captains run here on the Friday

7:20into the game on Saturday. So I do expect it to look pretty good, but the challenge is certainly ahead of us. So can you get Grand Final Day to look the way that you want it to, do you think? I'm a bit more confident about Grand Final Day. I mean, we can see the amount of infrastructure actually on the turf. So quite stressful tonight when you're pulling up that infrastructure and having a look at what your turf looks like underneath all the traffic that's on it. There's probably 3,000 people on the ground at the moment. So the turf does take a hiding, but it's amazing what we can do in terms of the turnaround, fertilising, coring it. It'll come up pretty well, I think. With an eye toward the future, and obviously the tension piece around next year is the AFL season's one week back. So notionally, this would clash with a four game finals week. Do you have a voice at the table in that moment? We certainly do. I mean, we've got contracts in place with the AFL, and they are extremely important to us. So, you know, I'm pretty focused on this year, but we certainly do have a voice at the table.

8:25And we're trying our best. Everyone has, you know, the game's best interest at heart. So I think we'll get there with an outcome, but it's much more challenging next year, simply because the AFL are pushing the season out due to the, you know, the 150th anniversary test. So you can't really have four AFL games at risk. And there's no way you can relocate games out of the G. Contrachially, we are obligated to do that. So, you know, hopefully we can manipulate things and get a really good outcome, but there's a bit of water to pass under the pressure. I bet there is. Octova is a pretty good month for NFL. Octova is a lovely month. That's actually perfect. I have suggested Octova would be a little less stressful for everyone. What makes a great morning afternoon here today? What's in... I just think I can feel it's going to be a success, and you can feel Melbourneians and all the tourists embracing it. So I think success looks like the NFL wanting to come back and our community embracing the event.

9:30I think they're the two factors for me. The output of the games are relevant, really. But I do think it's the NFL wanting to come back to Melbourne. And I know they do. They love the stadium. And it's about us embracing it. So if you could do this year on year, you imagine how incredible it's going to be for our state. Sydney and Brisbane need not apply. We've got this help. Don't tell them not to worry about it. We have totally covered Stuart. Congratulations. Good luck for the day. We're going to have a full house for kickoff at 10.35. It always amazes me that people get here for boxing day. And it's usually sort of between 65 and 70. The absolute biggest day for the first ball. They're all going to be here. I'm amazed how... not amazed. People were here so early today. Well, there's 75,000 people in the building already. And we're still... What are we? We've got another hour before kickoff. So I think we'll be full in the next 20 minutes. Which is quite amazing. It is. It is. Stuart, congratulations. Thank you. Great to be just so far.