The state budget announcement of $50.3m for the site includes re-locating the Victorian Institute of Sport and Athletics Australia.

South Melbourne president Leo Athanasakis welcomed the commitment from the Brumby government.

"The announcement will help us secure our future as not only Melbourne's premier community based football club but will also allow us to become an even more integral part of our local community," he said.

“By building a new state of the art pitch in a revamped stadium, plus new all-weather and turf pitches in the park we will not only secure our senior team, but we will build football links with our juniors and our women's team.”

This decision will allow the club to consolidate all its teams under one roof.

State Labor Member for Albert Park, Martin Foley welcomed today’s budget announcement by saying: "This is great news for the Lakeside Oval, great news for athletics in Victoria, great news for the South Melbourne
Football Club.”

The VPL club recently stated that they plan to put together a bid for the A-League in three years’ time.