THE SYDNEY Swans are keen to bring finals football back to the SCG after drawing a bumper crowd for last Saturday's blockbuster against Port Adelaide.
The Swans last played a final at the SCG in 2005 when they beat Geelong by three points in a thrilling semi-final before progressing to win the premiership.
The club is contracted to play home finals at ANZ Stadium as well as three home-and-away games, but that deal expires at the end of the 2016 season, with negotiations on a new deal to commence in the coming months.
Chief executive Andrew Ireland said the new stadium deal would be significant for the Swans, who drew a crowd of 41,317 for their clash against the Power in round 13.
"We would like to see some of those big games come back to the SCG and I think it's fair to say we'd like to see finals played at the SCG as well," Ireland told radio station 3AW on Tuesday night.
"But we do need to sit down and work through it with both stadiums.
"ANZ Stadium have got plans to put a roof on the stadium … they're looking to spend about $300 million on improving the stadium, so there's some big decisions.
"We expect that it will be a long-term lease, so whatever we do will pretty much commit the club into the future for a long while. It's an important decision."
The Swans have drawn an average crowd of 46,933 to their seven finals at ANZ Stadium since 2003, with a peak of 71,019 for the 2003 preliminary final loss to the Brisbane Lions.
The SCG currently has a capacity of 48,000 compared to ANZ Stadium's 82,000.
"Before ANZ Stadium was built we had a terrible deal," Ireland said.
"So it's not always as straightforward as doing what you want to do or what your members want to do.
"The reality is, until the weekend ticket sales had been stronger at ANZ Stadium than they had been at the SCG.
"You've got to take into account we're playing the bigger games out at ANZ Stadium … and I've got no doubt if we played Collingwood at the SCG there'd be a huge crowd there."
Saturday's crowd against the Power was the biggest the Swans had drawn at the SCG since 1997, with Sydneysiders keen to see the third-placed Swans take on the ladder leaders.
They were also treated to a brilliant five-goal performance from Lance Franklin, who turned the match with two incredible goals in the fourth quarter from outside 50m.
Ireland said the Swans took in $200,000 more in tickets sales they had budgeted for and Franklin was proving to be a strong salesman of Australian football in New South Wales.
"We always said the Franklin deal needs to be judged over a longer period," Ireland said.
"He's certainly helping the interest in the game up here. There's no doubt the excitement makes a huge difference."
