Manuka Oval will definitely host AFL matches next year, with an announcement on which ones to be made next month.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou met with ACT Sports Minister Andrew Barr and AFL NSW/ACT general manager Dale Holmes in Canberra yesterday.
The trio discussed AFL fixtures in the ACT for the next two years, plus a longer-term agreement with the proposed Western Sydney team to play matches in the capital from 2012.
The Western Bulldogs and Melbourne Demons's three-year deal to play one premiership game each in the capital expires at the end of this year.
The ACT government had looked like being out-bid by other states for premiership matches. After the precedent was set by the Tasmanian government's multi-million dollar deal with Hawthorn, other state governments upped their offers.
A number of teams, including both the Bulldogs and Melbourne, are interested in the Northern Territory government's multi-million dollar deal to play games in Darwin.
But Demetriou confirmed yesterday there would be AFL games at Manuka Oval.
''It's critical that we maintain the momentum and that we have continuity as we go into 2012,'' Demetriou said. ''I stressed that [yesterday] and certainly that's the same view of the sports minister."
More in today's Canberra Times