The far Southern State of Tasmania has put in a very serious bid to join the AFL. The game has been played regularly in Tassie since the 1870`s and is now producing quality players again for the AFL National Draft after a few years of being in the wilderness so as to speak. Also a Tasmanian Statewide League re-commences in 2009 after a lapse of several years due to football politics between the various local leagues in the North and South of the island. Will the AFL go for Tassie in lieu of West Sydney which is Rugby League and Soccer football heartland. The Commission is expected we think to give the final ok for the Gold Coast Football Club in South East Queensland to enter the AFL in 2011 at its Monday meeting, and become the 17th AFL team. Link-- http://news.realfooty.com.au/sport/tassie-present-firstclass-bid-to-afl-20081212-6x5r.html Late news--- The AFL has said no to Tasmania - For Now We think the 10 clubs in Melbourne have been very unofficially been put on notice behind the scenes - Read the AFL`s bosses comments very carefully. Link http://afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=70807
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Your comments are a popular sentiment in the AFL world. As everybody knows the AFL is now saying that the West Sydney Club formation will be difficult and will probably be different to the Gold Coast Club model, and will play several matches in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory in its regular season. This makes sense due to latent AFL support there, and the Chief Administrator of the ACT wanted to sponsor the W.S. team prior to the ACT elections just held. Those elections may have altered that intent,because it was a hung result. There is a precedent for this - The Tasmanian Govt sponsors AFL Hawthorn Hawks for 3 million dollars a year - The Hawks then play 6 matches a season down there as their part of the deal, which runs to we think to 2010. We think if before 2011 a Melbourne club does not fold and West Sydney looks too hard Tasmania may come into the picture for 2012. The AFL is COMMITTED to the TV networks to provide at least 16 teams each week from 2007 to 2011. Gold Coast will make 17 teams from the 2011 season. Anything can happen now through to 2012 with the Financial tightening hanging over every sporting club in Australia. The AFL Sydney Swans financial 2008 losses in the article below may affect the West Sydney formation by the AFL Link-- http://www.canberratimes.com.au/new...t/club-gamble-costs-swans-dearly/1385523.aspx
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The AFL Commission in the article below has again delayed the final ok for the Gold Coast Club. They have decided to consider it again at their next meeting in February. Everything is in place we think except the Stadium upgrade (A$200 million) which is maybe holding up the final decision. Then again some of the AFL honchos were not around when Australia had its last serious economic downturn in 1990/1991 which is now 18 years ago and are getting nervous. Discussion about the West Sydney franchise was not on the agenda it seems. Link http://afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=70849 The Gold Coast news in this older article is more positive- It talks about the potential youngsters/rookies in the new team on the training track and their match program for 2009. The big question is - Would the AFL pull the pin next Feb on the project and disband what is already in place. link http://www.afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=70782
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Interesting stuff happening footy wise on the Gold Coast. It looks like the AFL is pushing and spending hard in that area. The door has been opened for our game in this elite private school albeit at the junior level. The Master of the Junior School seems enthusiastic about A/R. I will keep repeating this point forever- Some of the kids at this school will love the freedom of the NO OFFSIDE in our sport and all of the running in the modern Aussie Rules game. They will switchover. The Aussie Rules Goal Posts going up is very symbolic in a lot of ways. Link-- http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/12/19/32995_gold-coast-sport.html
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Have put this article here because it discusses AFL expansion, The rise of Soccer Football and also a bit off topic-- The struggles of Basketball in Australia to remain relevant - Despite womens basketball at the Olympics being very successful - The men are now slipping in Olympic rankings unfortunately. Link-- http://www.sportbusiness.com/print-edition/australia-tale-five-cities-and-six-sports
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The AFL will be watching with interest the outcome of this match in the west of Sydney. They have made it an all ticket affair to test the sports fans reaction in that area. Link-- http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25104043-23211,00.html Another article about this groundbreaking match in North West Sydney. There is also a mention of the opening of the new ground at Blacktown Olympic Park in the middle of the year. AFL NSW have scheduled Under Age games for the West Sydney Pioneers to open the facility- They are a junior squad only and not the AFL team. The report also says the National U16 Championships will be held this year at the Blacktown facility. International Aussie Rules fans will be interested to learn that it is a possibility that a U16 team representing AFL Oceania will compete as well from this year on. This side will have players mainly from PNG, NZ,Samoa, Tonga etc. Another big breakthrough for our game in Oceania- Its all about offering structerd pathways for the kids to get into the AFL if they are good enough. Link— http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/test-for-west-sydney-push/2009/02/24/1235237650953.html This is a write-up by AFL NSW on the Bruce Purser Reserve. They have posted some optimistic player participation numbers at the ground by 2010. Link— http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_...task=DETAIL&articleID=7961005§ionID=53282
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Here is another view from a well known Shyte stirring website on the proposed AFL expansion. One point in the article I will discuss - The smallish crowd (For an AFL match mind you) at the recent Brisbane v St Kilda match at the Carrara ground on the Gold Coast. That night there had been steady monsoon type rainfall in the area - ALL of the car parks at the ground and surrounding areas were CLOSED. A lot of fans from Brisbane could not get to the facility. The does not have a lot of under cover seating thus the anticipated upgrade which WILL happen eventually. The game itself was played in the rain which did not matter. The author just read the crowd figure and assumed it was good weather. Link-- http://www.crikey.com.au/Business/20090227-The-AFLs-expansion-nightmare.html
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities I suppose the question is what sort of crowd numbers are realistic on the Gold Coast, assuming the place had a redeveloped stadium and its own team? What sort of crowd numbers would a team need to have to be viable?
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Well the AFL now uses the Geelong Cats home ground as the ideal model for a boutique stadium for an AFL club. The Cats facility holds about 25,000??? mostly seated now and usually gets sold out. It appears that the Club picks up about 500,000 dollars after expenses at each home game - Bearing in mind that all of its major sponsors are advertising to an national audience on TV. Annualised for 11 home games equals 5.5 million ground income. Currently the Carrara ground on the Gold Coast is a mess - needs new stands etc. It holds about 10,000 - However if a small expansion (80 million) did occur lifting capacity to 15,000 with more seating that would cater for the support at the moment. That is the opinion of several Gold Coast footy supporters on Bigfooty who live there and are involved with development. The AFL is very unlucky with its timing - The financial crisis could not have come at a worst time. Lets see if they hold their nerve.
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Geelong averaged just over 23,000 in a stadium that apparently holds 22000 now due to redevelopment, which when finished will take it to 30000. The key point, I suppose, is that they got the crowds. The figures don't suggest that fans on the Gold Coast will turn out in anywhere near those numbers. Of the four "exhibition" stadiums around Australia that the AFL uses, Carrara has the lowest crowds. Even TIO in Darwin gets slightly more, although they do only get one chance a year. Of the four, Tasmania looks easily the most deserving. They seem to get around 17,500 typically, so you would expect them to get Geelong style crowds with their own club. I guess the appeal of the Gold Coast isn't just about fan numbers though, but more tactical in the chance to give Rugby League a bit of a kicking and muscle in on its territory. The risk is that if the crowds don't come then not only will the AFL have a loss-making club on its hands, if it folds it'd be seen as the NRL giving the AFL a kicking instead.
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The Geelong figures you quoted (22,000 av = 500,000 annual net ground pound profit) make it even more attractive when they go to 30,000 capacity. However they may have to stay in the top eight each year. I think Tasmania will be mainly a fall back club if the one of the other two do not make it. If both do not get started Tas is a monty. The AFL is very nervous about the Gold Coast stadium upgrade. It was released today that the AFL, QLD Govt and the Federal Govt are in more negotiations and have agreed to maintain remain silent until a positive or negative decision is made. The Gold Coast is a growth area and the AFL has to be there and has pockets of Aussie Rules support. The Gold Coast Club crowd figures estimated to be 8 - 10,000 per game initially I believe. The backbone of every club is its paid up membership and GC17 has just started signing fully paid up members. They say they have 40,000 fans ready to join - We will see what happens in tighter financial times. It Costs about 30 million a year in 2009 to run a AFL club and the shortfall will be covered by the governing body in the long term it has been quoted. So it will be a loss making club from the word go. How much is not known of course. However the other AFL clubs are now getting nervous nellies as well. I do not really care about the other codes at this time- They are in excellent established market positions with a near new stadium at their disposal in the area. Everything is going for them. If our game increases its foothold more power to it. Cannot quote sources because the article Journo didnt but the AFLQ has launched several new junior clubs in SE Qld.
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities This is the article about the parking mess up for the recent St Kilda v Brisbane game at Carrara where it rained heavily on the day. Note it says “Thousands turned away”. If everybody had turned up the crowd probably about 8,000 or so http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/02/16/49505_gold-coast-top-story.html This is the background to the upcoming March 21 Queensland State Election and how it relates to the ten Gold Coast seats up for grabs and the AFL Stadium upgrade. A wall of silence has fallen over all of the parties involved in the decision to include the upgrade in the Capital Works as promoted by K.Rudd. This article written by a QLD journalist with no ties to the AFL as far as we know. Link http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/02/24/52585_gold-coast-queensland-state-election.html
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities So how much of that 30 million is covered by membership (we have no equivalent in this country)? AFL clubs averaged just under 36000 members each last season, from Brisbane with 22,737 up to (surprisingly in my opinion) Adelaide with 48,720. Strange, but I got the impression when I was checking things out when I was over there a couple of years ago at other codes weren't doing so well. It seemed an apparent attempt by the NRL to replicate what the AFL has achieved in Melbourne by moving all games to the Dome and the MCG, hasn't worked by trying to host as many games in the Olympic stadium and the stadium next to the SCG. But I'm hardly close to it, so it's hard to tell.
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities I will clarify my comments about the situation on the Gold Coast. The NRL Titans are owned/run by Michael Searle and the new Gold Coast United Soccer football A League Club is owned by Clive Palmer who is a billionaire mining magnate. Both of these guys are wealthy backers of the two respective clubs and should survive any financial dramas. As I noted they are in the box seat currently to get the crowds and district support. Link to Searle http://www.companydirectors.com.au/About/Speakers/S/Michael+Searle.htm It is going to be tough going for our new AFL club up there for a while- But go ahead it must. The AFL is pouring in 50 million total development money into QLD from 2007 to 2011.(10 million a year)
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Richard L, West Coast Eagles memberships and the Adelaide Crows high membership The following quote on the Eagles membership fee was obtained out of a local paper recently. Quote------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “In 2009 at the AFL West Coast Eagles, a standard adult membership has risen $19 to $320 and a premium gold membership is up $42 to $551 for 11 home games. About 2.5 per cent of the club’s 2008 members have failed to renew their memberships for the coming season after a horror 2008 campaign. But it still has thousands of people on its membership waiting list after reaching Subiaco Oval’s 42,000-seat capacity several years ago.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using the Standard fee and multiplying by roughly 42000 that equals roughly 13,400,000 dollars. Take into account the premium membership numbers for which the info is confidential the final membership revenue figure would be variable. The club is trying to get the capacity of the ground up to 50,000 in a minor upgrade to cater for its waiting list. Adelaide is a two club AFL city. The Crows were formed first and garnered the majority of the footy public as its fans and have also won 2 premierships therefore its high membership. The second club Port Power formed much later Has struggled to gain traction due to footy politics in the local State League club it originated from despite also winning a premiership in 2004. It was rumoured today that they may be moved to Tasmania but this has been quickly denied by all of the parties involved.
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities AFL boss reassures the Gold Coast bidding team - Sort of. It is interesting to note the speculation about the AFL attempts to raise funds for the full upgrade. They may go for a minor upgrade instead. The next AFL Commission meeting is set down for March 16 as per the normal schedule. The QLD election is being held on March 21. Could the QLD Govt make a surprise committment - The betting is no. Link-- http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/03/04/55511_gold-coast-sport.html West Sydney Expansion----- The AFL match on Saturday night at Rouse Hill at the new ground (Bruce Purser Reserve) in the North West of Sydney has been sold out on a pre sold ticket affair. Expecting a crowd of about 3,000 of which a lot of Swans supporters will make the trip. Link-- http://afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=72837
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The NRL Gold Coast Titans boss Mr Searle is obviously not smiling so much now- They have 7500 season ticket holders in a new stadium that holds about 25,000. However I will not gloat because all sports in Australia are facing a crunch in 2009/2010. We know the NRL clubs are looking at the AFL Club membership model very closely now. Link to Mr Searles comments-- http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/03/05/55891_gold-coast-sport.html
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities This is a follow up article on the sell out for tonights AFL pre season match in Nor West Sydney. Remember we are talking about Rugby heartland here. Checkout the words on the young girls tee-shirt in the family photo. Obviously having a crack at her brothers- Great stuff. This family group is the typical demographic the AFL is aiming at everywhere. Link http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_...task=DETAIL&articleID=8450996§ionID=56131
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities Very interesting announcement from the Queensland State Premier yesterday. It appears that in conjunction with an Gold Coast Commonwealth Game bid the QLD Govt will tip in 60 million towards a 25,000 seat stadium on the present Carrara site. Of course it means that Aussie Rules football will benefit from this move. There is a shortfall that the AFL will have to find to go ahead with the redevelopment- Will the AFL stump up the money – Of course they will. We were a bit surprised with this announcement however let us be a bit cynical for a moment. The Liberal Party has taken the lead in some polls in the upcoming election and there are crucial seats in the area that the Labor Party led by Premier Anna Bligh has to win to retain office. Link-- http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/03/09/56921_gold-coast-sport.html The AFL pre-season game played on Saturday night in Norwest Sydney was a successful PR exercise for our game in that area. It has been reported that hundreds of local kids turned up for the match. Some will stick some will not however it is a long term process winning hearts and minds. The current development campaign in NSW started in 2007 and will run to 2011 which will cost the AFL 50 million in total. Link— http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=72993 Here is another article on the West Sydney push and more info on the AFL strategy. Fans will note the constant playing down of a footy war happening by the AFL officials. The winners of course are the kids who get more sports facilities in their local area. Link-- http://www.canberratimes.com.au/new...to-win-west-on-track/1453673.aspx?storypage=0
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The AFL as a football league competing in the most competitive football code enviroment in the world is doing ok. Very interesting participation figures apparently for NSW and QLD. There are three more seasons to go with the big bucks to be spent up there. Here are some census stats from the 2009 AFL season guide just published. QLD IN 2000 Had only 30,120 PARTICIPANTS - 2008 Had 97,917 - Increase 225% NSW IN 2000 Had only 38,947 " 2008 Had 113,346 Increase 194% There has been a lot of hard work to achieve those figures which included breaking down the Northern States stereotyping of the foreign southern game. Some of those attitudes even appear on this US based forum. The AFL aimed for 700,000 total nationally by 2011- will be over that even with an expected slowdown. The 2008 figure is in the article below (693,025) However 20009 and 2010 will be a challenge to maintain it because secondary/smaller sponsors are drying up fast, and some parents/fans are or will be losing their jobs around the country and other factors due to the Global Financial Crisis. Link-- http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/73093/default.aspx
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The AFL West Sydney Expansion club continues to edge closer with the formation of a West Sydney Advisory board in June this year. It is claimed in this article that there has been no lack of interest from other parties including those from other football codes- Interesting if it could be confirmed. We will have to wait and see in June. http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=73356 This Saturdays Queensland State Election will decide the fate of the Gold Coast Expansion Club – If Labor win it’s a goer otherwise probably not.
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities The 2009 AFL season was officially opened today in Melbourne by Andrew Demitriou the Chief of the AFL Executive. He gave a long speech about the opportunities that existed for our game to give back to the community it derives its support from. One point he made was that the AFL has missed Expansion possibilities before and sat on its hands. "Never again" was his comment and made it very clear that the two expansion teams will go ahead in the years indicated. (They obviously feel they can horse trade with Cyberborg (Liberal Party leader) if he wins the QLD election) The League also launched its new major TV ad for the season which will screen in all States of Australia. Link-- http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=73442
Re: AFL Expansion now has three possibilities I wish they'd ask Setanta to run the ad in the UK. The sport doesn't even appear to exist on their website, and it looks like they may have cut back to two games a week from 4 or 5. Setanta 2 now runs lucrative infomercials from shopping channels during what were previously live AFL slots, and barely gives the sport a mention compared to NRL, which is on Setanta 1. Is there any kind of deadline for when expansion slots must be finalised?