View Full Version : QLD 2nd Team???
Do you think with the Lions so successful at the moment, it would be a good idea to get a 2nd Team into Queensland?
IF so where would it be,
I was thinking Gold Coast, but would they be ready for an AFL club.
I read that the Southport Sharks from the AFLQ have been lobbying for an AFL club. The only problem is that the AFL state that they would have to play at the Gabba, How stupid is that! Who is going to pay to watch the Gold COast play in Brisbane.
They would need to redevelop Carrara (blow it up and start again) or another Oval in Gold Coast close to main centre. Lots of money in the GC, and isnt there like 500K people around the GC area?
Do you think the people of the Gold Coast would really support a team?
What do you reckon???
Adrian Shelton
4 Mar 2003, 18:59
Southport are loaded aren't they? Heres how to show them how to run an AFL club
1. Get a big pile of there money from the bank
2 Light a fire
3 Throw handfuls of money on the fire
thats how you run an AFL club!
Seriously though getting used to AFL-type overheads would be an obstacle for anyone, it's ok to have wheelbarrows full of money but you have to know how to keep filling them when they empty. The Coast may have not been ready for the Bears back then( running a team with the equivilent of monopoly money didn't help either) but things might be a bit better now.
How much does it cost to run a club per year?
As members and supporters can we get access to that information, to see how our club is going?
The clubs runs at over a million dollar profit anyway, it is totally sufficient and is still a footy club but has secured a greater section of the market, the sharks would want to develop a boutique ground that would sit 12 to 15 thousand fans, i believe this is a viable option.
mud n blood
4 Mar 2003, 20:44
You're joking, right ? :p
We don't need a second AFL team, nor could we sustain one.
The coast experiment has been done to death, and failed dismally every time - just like every other national sporting team based there ..... AFL, 3 x Rugby League, Baseball, Basketball etc. The Gold Coast simply cannot and will not sustain any national sporting team.
And don't yarp on about "but the Gold Coast has a million people". Yes we know - but the majority of them consist of Jap tourists, retirees, surfers and a whole swag of other ferals .... none of which are obviously interested in shelling out bucks to watch sport.
Cairns - well, perhaps. But I don't like the chance of the AFL (read: VFL) agreeing to playing games up there with the local weather conditions. "Too hot" and will cause player safety concerns, or some other such crap.
Don't mean to rain on the party .......
this is not an option now, but five years into the future i do beleive it could be a possiblity. What you have failed to recognise is the magnitude of social membership and profit that is made by the Southport Sharks, the fact that it is already a successful business would give it more opportunity to succeed. As for getting crowds, well i think as i said before they would be looking for 10 to 12 thousand people, using sponsorship as their major money maker. Of course this is all pie in the sky stuff, but stranger things have happened.
Adrian Shelton
4 Mar 2003, 21:14
I think Gold Coast want back in the NBL, if that doesn't fly more footy might be no go.
dreamkillers
4 Mar 2003, 21:19
Originally posted by gocats
How much does it cost to run a club per year?
As members and supporters can we get access to that information, to see how our club is going?
Most clubs turnover more than $15 million per year with the more profitable ones up to $25 million per year.........
Richoagain
4 Mar 2003, 21:44
There probably isn't room economically at the moment (though I'm saying this from afar).
A Melbourne club might merge with the Sharkers - and play out of the Gabba as the South Queensland insert name heres (hey - the title did wonders for the crushers!)
In Kevin Sheedy's last book he mentions that the AFL would consider a second Qld club (based around the Southport sports club) when the Lions were 'self sufficient' - possibly in around 5 years' time.
If this is correct, and remember it's Australia's fastest growing area (or one of) maybe by 2010 there'll be room for another club.
Richoagain
4 Mar 2003, 21:50
People will tell me it's unviable (but hey)
...but I still think Tassie is the best bet for further expansion. Break even on grounds down there would be cheaper than in Melbourne - so average crowds of 15,000 should probably pay a dividend - plus it's a traditional aussie rules state and there's a ready market for people who want to watch footy.
People will also say it's like stealing a dead man's wallet (and I can see where you're coming from) but I reckon that it'd do local footy a world of good - give extra exposure, play SFL or NTFL matches as warm ups depending on whether you're playing in Launceston or Hobart.
Set up a club where basically the Tassie first play in the AFL - they have the VFL Tassie Devils as their reserves/feeder and rebuild the Tassie Mariners as a Tas footy academy TAC cup side with the resources of an AFL club at their disposal.
And yeah, the Basketball club failed and no other sport has tried - but c'mon, basketball clubs are doing pretty poorly on paper all over Oz, it isn't like Tassie was an exception. The Tassie cricket side do quite well for themselves too.
Sorry bout the long post!
Originally posted by mud n blood
You're joking, right ? :p
We don't need a second AFL team, nor could we sustain one.
The coast experiment has been done to death, and failed dismally every time - just like every other national sporting team based there ..... AFL, 3 x Rugby League, Baseball, Basketball etc. The Gold Coast simply cannot and will not sustain any national sporting team.
Have they ever had a decent team? The Bears were a joke, I can't remember any Rugby team from the Gold Coast ever doing anything, their basketball team was hopeless. The only sporting success they had was (from memory, and this is going back) the Daikyo Dolphins winning a couple of baseball titles, and really, who ever gave a f*ck about baseball.
Seriously, how do you think a competitive and successful Gold Coast AFL team would do? Obviously what's needed is someone to bankroll them in the first few years when the going might not be good, and Southport appear to have the resources to do that.
From what i've heard it's one of those places that has sizable followings for both Australian Football and Rugby League, and it would be a shame if the AFL following ever died off like it seems to have done in Canberra.
I was going to say a North QLD team would be good for a true Northern Derby, but AFL Cairns probably wouldn't be able to support one.
They have the ground, but AFL class players would probably not be enticed enough to go to the tropics.
mud n blood
5 Mar 2003, 09:30
I agree Richo. Tassie should be the next team. We are still a rugby league state up here, Tassie is a rules state.
i would doubt that tasmania would be able to get enough sponsorship to sustain a team. atleast a team in canberra or the gold coast would be able to grow even if they don't start off so strong.
who knows, the way other "national" leagues are going, there could be a team in auckland someday.
Richoagain
7 Mar 2003, 10:08
Like I've said on other threads three or four times - the Auckland AFL's bigger than the Melbourne rugby league and the Storm are surviving (on News Ltd's behalf, but either way they're surviving)!
So Auckland one day.... Let's see in 2010.
Back to Tassie, the simple fact that there was a club would generate a boost to the economy in itself. And hey, there's nearly half a million people down there, that's a market worth pursuing.
my mistake. i didn't realise there were so many people in tasmania. to be honest i'd love to see teams in all those places including auckland.
as for a second team in queensland i don't think the lions are doing well enough to be competeing with another brisbane team. Gold coast is a growing market and the southport sharks sound like they are pretty strong (and keen). how many of there members are actually interested in the football team and how many just play the pokies though?
Richoagain
7 Mar 2003, 11:05
I'm pretty sure there's 400,000 down there, but I could be wrong.
....Here we go, population 472,000 according to the Tasmanian goverment website.
And 6,000 more women than men!
Richoagain
7 Mar 2003, 11:06
As far as how many Sharks members are interested in footy and how many play the pokies....
Well that is how rugby league clubs stay afloat. If it weren't for pokies professional rugby league would be a very different game.