I understand Newcastle not wanting to travel to Sydney, for the Grand Final, but is their home ground what we want to be showing in the showcase finale of the 3rd season of the A-League? I don't think so. If they are worried about Sydney making it and getting more support than them, then hold it in the SFS, where they are guaranteed a certain number of seats for their fans. Personally i'd like to see it in the ANZ Stadium (ex-Telstra stadium) esp. if Sydney can make it, as we can try to get the biggest crowd in A-League history. What do other's think?
Well Sydney makes the most fiscal sense. It would certainly be different, unique, I guess if we did, buck the trend (AFL etc..) of enforcing Grand Finals to be staged at often a neutral venue in the biggest market (Melbourne, MCG, for AFL. I'm not sure about other sports). Having the GF hosted in Newcastle would be a great gesture and the fans would surely pack the place out in no time. But, it fiscally and also for wider media marketing reasons, would not be a very good move. Not only do Stadium Australia/ANZ Stadium and SFS have MUCH larger capacities, 80k and 40k or so respectively, but being in Sydney, it may draw alot more 'surrounding' attention. TV, Radio interviews, Newspaper build up etc... I know it exacerbates centralism, Sydney/Melbourne-centricism, that the rest of Australia can get quite annoyed at (See Perth and Adelaide, with AFL), but the facts are, it's better for the game, in most ways, not all, but most ways, for the time being, that in such circumstances, the GF be held in the one of larger venues in the state, in a location which may draw alot more Local, Regional and National attention. But say a decade down the track, when we seriously bid for a World Cup, and growing markets like Newcastle have expanded their stadium capacities to 40,000 to entice World Cup Host City eligibility, then things may change (The NRL's Newcastle Knights' crowds may also grow by then, adding pressure to expand). I know the Wider Sydney pop = 5M to Newcastle/Hunter Region 650k still will exist, but the FFA can't really argue, if Newcastle have a 'large enough' stadium (40k I would perceive large enough, unless the A-League crowds average lifted to over 30k, including Newcastle's ). BTW With AFL, similar arguments can exist, as Subiaco Oval = only around 40k and Adelaide's Football Park no more than 45-50k. These capacities are paltry compared to MCG's 100k which more than doubles that, so brings in more neutral attendees.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league...stantine/2007/12/03/1196530576882.html?page=2 BTW above article is interesting and is quite relevent to this issue. Con Constantine pushes for a better lease deal on the stadium, for his club. And also for the stadium to be expanded to 45,000. The state government made a promise of $30M stadium expansion, but it's dependent upon the Federal Govt. matching it.
I'd be happy for Newcastle to hold it in the future, but I think that every Grand Final must be in a ground of at least 40-45,000. If they can expand their stadium, then good luck to them. I hope it happens.
Hosting it in Sydney is fine if it's going to be two NSW teams, or one of the teams is SFC. I think you would struggle to fill the stadium if you had one non-NSW team and no SFC in the final however. My hope is that Newcastle wins the right to host the final and has it (rightly) blocked, because that will hopefully highlight the woeful inadequacy of HISC as a stadium. The Western grandstand desperately needs replacing, and conversion to an all-seater venue is well overdue. Something really needs to be done, unfortunately I don't see it occuring unless Australia wins a WC or another RWC bid.
Caesar, and others, if Newcastle make it to the GF, how many Newcastle fans will travel to Sydney? A few thousand? More? To be honest, Newcastle is still an underachiever. Especially when you compare to the ever improving Central Coast. The wider Newcastle/Hunter Valley region, despite Central Coast expanding it's based to Northern Sydney, is still larger than CC's. You have a 650k+ market to draw from, including a large participation rate in the local soccer leagues apparently? Infact in Northern NSW it's so large that the Gold Coast Galaxy will look to move into your territory, as far south as Coff's Harbour. Being 'apparently' a traditional soccer region (Even though Rugby still reigns ofc), I'd presume you guys could draw crowds more around 12-14k per game, with crowds of 20k for the blockbusters, like against Sydney and CC. I guess you guys are getting there, but like my team I guess, your crowd turn outs are not consistently what you would like. BTW Does the quality of the stadium affect the turnout. I mean quality of the seating/specatator areas, facilities etc... ? Anyway, if you guys have the numbers, then surely a very large travelling contingent can make their way down to Sydney, plus thousands more Sydneysiders favourable to Newcastle, or not. Then if say at worst case, Sydney does NOT make it, but QLD does, then QLD would be able to draw down a few thousand aswell, surely? I just think of the AFL and the travelling support the Eagles, Crows etc get for these big games. I know this ISNT the AFL and far from it, yet, but I'm sure similar rallying of the troops can occur for a Grand Final. A first time GF for QLD for instance, the last GF being 1997 in NSL, I think. Farina was coach then too. I can just imagine legions of QLDer's, in the thousands, flying down to Sydney for the match. I have no reason to doubt that atleast 30,000 people will turn up. Even if the final is a worst case crowd scenario of Newcastle v QLD. There would be a few more neutral A-League followers turning up too. This IS meant to be the A-League's showcase, the pinnacle of the competition.
I reckon we could get ten thousand there. We used to suck at travelling, but this year we've had great turnouts at the away derbies at CCM.
Hmm the FFA recently suggested, to back up it's Sydney decision mind you, that Newcastle could bring/draw as many as 20,000 supporters (I'm not soo sure about that, but who knows?). Central Coast the same (I believe that, though their largest crowd was only 20,000). But I guess I could cast my doubts aside to some degree, given our culture of holding 'event's' like Grand Finals in such high prestige, in this country. Alot of fans, seem to turn up especially for such 'events.' It would not surprise me, if even relatively far Newcastle made it to the 'big event' that that 'band wagon' may be one 'big train,' so the travelling support could be as much as their bigger crowds this season, atleast.
Looks like the Grand Final will be held at ANZ Stadium (the Olympic Stadium) regardless of who is in it because of a cricket game at the SCG.