AAMI Stadium problems shift into the city The legendary Adelaide Oval scoreboard. Picture: Jo-anna Robinson. BEFORE the critics of the Adelaide Oval redevelopment take up their soap boxes again, let's consider the realities. ADELAIDE may not host a Test match next year, The Advertiser reported on Friday. SACA president Ian McLachlan warned of this in Renmark two years ago when he was on the rolling tour of SACA members across SA. McLachlan was blasted as a scaremongerer by the leaders of the no-development campaign. Now he has been proven to be correct in his view that if the Oval's capacity and stadium return were not lifted, Cricket Australia would fob off Adelaide Oval for bigger cheques at the Gabba and perhaps Hobart. This is harder to do now that the new Adelaide Oval will rank as the third best Australian venue for Cricket Australia's accountants. McLachlan is owed apologies - and thanks for modernising the Oval. FOOTBALL is at war at the Oval, Sunday Mail reports. This was inevitable. As grand as the Adelaide Oval design is, the business model for football - the one created by football, not the SACA - is terrible. It has moved the AAMI Stadium problem to a new address in the city. And now there are two layers on bureaucracy on top of the two AFL clubs putting on the show at Adelaide Oval - the Stadium Management Authority and the SANFL. At AAMI, it was just the SANFL taking the first cut and holding on to the catering and carpark revenue. Adelaide Oval is to generate more money for football than AAMI Stadium by having a better, central location and modern facilities. But neither the Crows or the Power is to have a "clean" stadium - that is, a venue where they pay rent and keep all the money they generate from the gates, the catering, the car parks and the advertising options. If this was the case, Adelaide and Port Adelaide would be among the AFL's wealthiest football clubs. The Oval model gives the SANFL a slice - between $9 million and $13 million. The SMA is to get its cut too - $9 million rather than the originally projected $2 million, as The Advertiser reported in March. The Crows and Power will get to keep at best 70 per cent of their money. A "clean" stadium also has another advantage. Adelaide would have all 50,000 tickets - and could sell them as the market dictates, particularly in the corporate sector. The same applies for Port Adelaide but this is a harder sell for the smaller Power. The Oval model has the SANFL and the two clubs all in the market with different packages, different prices and different sale pitches. No wonder fans are confused. Bringing football back to the city, particularly to a modern stadium surrounded by great pre- and post-game options, always made Adelaide Oval a great option for football. But bringing the AAMI Stadium business model with it was not a great move. No wonder the AFL clubs want a voice on the SMA board.