At what theoretical point would a club be cut from the AFL?

[nineteen eighty]

Name em!

I can see clubs being forced to either merge/re-locate to remain viable....The obvious destinations being Hobart & Darwin, with Auckland & Wellington long-term possibilities....GWS will likely end up in Canberra anyway.

There are 4 clubs who continually struggle to attract sufficiently viable memberships each & every year in order to remain financially independent, & we all know who they are.

Other clubs should not have to pay for these clubs continued existence in the League....These clubs are in competition with each other & such a notion/rule contradicts the very nature of a healthy & viable competition....End the handouts rort!

Stop with this rubbish and please understand what each club contributes to the bottom line of the AFL. Revenue is all ties to the broadcast rights. Every club in the competition (including GWS and the Suns) more than cover what the AFL then re-distributes back to them.

Pull those "struggling" clubs from the comp and let's see what happens to the broadcast rights.

 

[nineteen eighty]

GWS exists because the AFL wanted it to. There was no demand for an AFL club in Western Sydney, it's simply a marketing exercise into rugby league heartland. They'll throw money and resources at it until it is 'successful'. It's the very definition of a pet project.

The club was introduced to drive up broadcast rights. The mechanics on how it does that have been covered numerous times elsewhere. Call it a pet project if you like but there was a specific purpose behind their creation.

 

[telsor]

Again out of context, such nonsense, or is English your 3rd language?

'Next you will be claiming Melbourne & Sydney markets for AFL footy are the same' was what I posted.

How is 'Next you will be claiming' not putting words in my mouth?

Certainly you've be squealing like a little girl if that was done to you.

 

[telsor]

Pls, even you can do better than that, fair dinkum believable, a new low.

Oh the 4 times, the Demons suggestion:
Each club would visit WA, SA, NSW & QLD once each season

And where was this said, or are you once again putting words in other peoples mouths?

 

[pazza]

Should a club's membership fall below 20000

 

[Dirty Bird]

I suspect Gil being a fan of St Kilda offers them some protection.

He's a Crows fans.....
The interview in question was

'which is your favourite team?'
'I grew up a Sturt fan'
'what about Victorian team?'
'At uni my best friend was a Saints fan so I've got a soft spot for them'

But there is also a photo floating around the interwebs of him sporting a Crows scarf at one of the grand finals in 97/98 (2-3 years before he joined the AFL)

 

[Ando727]

Wtf is a yankofile?

American version of a Francophobe ... not big on US commentary.

Phile=like, phobe=hate.

Yankophile=likes America
Yankophobe=hates America.

 

[Chris who]

What tier were west coast last night?

Losing to a poverty-stricken bulldogs must hurt

This is the main point in the argument. WCE have millions upon millions of dollars we cant spend on paying footballers. The WCE side that ran out last night was paid within 7.5% of the Dogs side.

Drop the salary cap and watch 6 clubs dominate for eternity. The rest of the clubs will scrimp and save to stay in the league, hiring b graders.

 

[Ando727]

Drop the salary cap and watch 6 clubs dominate for eternity.

Is that really what you'd like to see? You know, you do get entertainment out of regular victories over weaker clubs. It's easy to forget that. I don't think supporters of strong clubs really want to face the reality of a league where there are no easy games and getting beaten a lot more often. And how boring would 6 clubs be anyway? (NBL is cactus for the same reason) Low numbers of clubs mean eventual death of the league. Not diverse enough to sustain interest, always playing the same opposition. Boring. There's a reason there are still 18 teams in the AFL and not 6 - and it's not tradition driving it. It's a necessary part of the product to have teams on different tiers.

 

[Kwality]

Phile=like, phobe=hate.

Yankophile=likes America
Yankophobe=hates America.

phile is not the American way, hence file.

 

[Kwality]

Is that really what you'd like to see? You know, you do get entertainment out of regular victories over weaker clubs. It's easy to forget that. I don't think supporters of strong clubs really want to face the reality of a league where there are no easy games and getting beaten a lot more often. And how boring would 6 clubs be anyway? (NBL is cactus for the same reason) Low numbers of clubs mean eventual death of the league. Not diverse enough to sustain interest, always playing the same opposition. Boring. There's a reason there are still 18 teams in the AFL and not 6 - and it's not tradition driving it. It's a necessary part of the product to have teams on different tiers.

State of Origin footy grew out a need for an elite level of competition & thats what the national comp was meant to be, but its not, the game does not have the depth in playing strength.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Pls, even you can do better than that, fair dinkum believable, a new low.

Oh the 4 times, the Demons suggestion:
Each club would visit WA, SA, NSW & QLD once each season

Well if you want a fair fixture where home and away rotates each season then yes it is the only logical conclusion. Unless you want them to travel 8 times one year and none the next?

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Stop with this rubbish and please understand what each club contributes to the bottom line of the AFL. Revenue is all ties to the broadcast rights. Every club in the competition (including GWS and the Suns) more than cover what the AFL then re-distributes back to them.

Pull those "struggling" clubs from the comp and let's see what happens to the broadcast rights.

Exactly - say you remove Melbourne, North, Bulldogs and Saints. That's two less games a week. This reduces the revenue gained by the broadcast rights.

You also have up to 44 fewer home games a year in Victoria, so the AFL will have problems meeting their contractual obligations with the stadiums.

Then you have the issue of fewer Vic teams for the other Vic clubs to host - the remaining clubs will then have more home games against non-Vic clubs which will have a massive effect on their crowds, particularly when playing GC, GWS, Freo and Port. This will lead to a downturn in attendances and revenue from those games.

There are a number of flow on effects that will negatively impact the competition. The benefits of keeping them around simply outweigh the costs of killing them.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Is that really what you'd like to see? You know, you do get entertainment out of regular victories over weaker clubs. It's easy to forget that. I don't think supporters of strong clubs really want to face the reality of a league where there are no easy games and getting beaten a lot more often. And how boring would 6 clubs be anyway? (NBL is cactus for the same reason) Low numbers of clubs mean eventual death of the league. Not diverse enough to sustain interest, always playing the same opposition. Boring. There's a reason there are still 18 teams in the AFL and not 6 - and it's not tradition driving it. It's a necessary part of the product to have teams on different tiers.

The Yanks get this and if there's one thing they know, it's sport. Even private owners of teams acknowledge it is in their best interests to ensure their rivals remain competitive.

 

[Ando727]

phile is not the American way, hence file.

You still stuffed it up. You said Yankofile where you meant Yankophobe.

 

[Ando727]

The Yanks get this and if there's one thing they know, it's sport. Even private owners of teams acknowledge it is in their best interests to ensure their rivals remain competitive.

Yes, but club success is cyclical. You can't know when a team is about to make an upward surge - so I think any administration needs to be very cautious about cutting clubs loose. There's no doubt that competitiveness is on the AFL's agenda - hence the draft system, and talking about a football department spending cap. But you will never have 18 teams in any league being on a similar level at the same time.

 

[Kwality]

You still stuffed it up. You said Yankofile where you meant Yankophobe.

Fine.

 

[Kwality]

Well if you want a fair fixture where home and away rotates each season then yes it is the only logical conclusion. Unless you want them to travel 8 times one year and none the next?

Nope, just pointing out you have a particular view of fair FIXturing, clearly not equal.

 

[Ando727]

State of Origin footy grew out a need for an elite level of competition & thats what the national comp was meant to be, but its not, the game does not have the depth in playing strength.

Wouldn't having half the number of teams also expose that lack of depth though? I mean, the game would shrink in business terms - a lot fewer games, a lot less revenue, less exposure. That would probably lead to less participation in the long run. Just culling teams itself is a statement of limited talent-pool. But that doesn't actually fix it, does it?

The way I see it, there are different tiers of teams, and within those tiers there are still competitive and enjoyable games - a lot of people still turn up for these games that have traditional rivalries or similar levels. I enjoyed watching my Dees beat GC on the weekend. Was it a great display of footy prowess? No, but it was a lot more interesting to me than any other game on the weekend. If my team left, that would be the end of my interest in the AFL. And probably for my kids, too.

Soccer is poised for the AFL to falter. Having the AFL shrink in size, alienate a lot of fans, all in an attempt to be more elite would be exactly the type of opportunity they are waiting for.

 

[Kwality]

Dont disagree with your sentiment Ando, losing your club will lose fans in the short term absolutely but so does lack of success (is Carlton the best example of this currently).
You might give the game away but the game is bigger than one club, ask the millions of WA & SA fans who lost the teams they had followed every bit as passionately as you. The vast majority came back to the game.

Soccer is on the rise with the A-league & if it can get FTA coverage it will get a boost regardless of what all other codes do. The greatest challenge to our game IMHO is from within, with some believing (indeed practicing) money grows on trees.

 

[chiwigi]

Stop with this rubbish and please understand what each club contributes to the bottom line of the AFL. Revenue is all ties to the broadcast rights. Every club in the competition (including GWS and the Suns) more than cover what the AFL then re-distributes back to them.

Pull those "struggling" clubs from the comp and let's see what happens to the broadcast rights.

It's baffling how people don't understand this simple concept. They are usually the same people who talk about getting all clubs above the average.

You also CANNOT HAVE TOP CLUBS WITHOUT BOTTOM CLUBS!

 

[madmug]

Stop with this rubbish and please understand what each club contributes to the bottom line of the AFL. Revenue is all ties to the broadcast rights. Every club in the competition (including GWS and the Suns) more than cover what the AFL then re-distributes back to them.

Pull those "struggling" clubs from the comp and let's see what happens to the broadcast rights.

Ok, maybe you could please explain what, IYO, would happen if a Victorian club was cut from the AFL & replaced by a new club interstate? How do you think that would affect the broadcast rights?

Also IYO, What would be the effect if that same Victorian club was relocated?

 

[clogged]

phile is not the American way, hence file.

Nonsense.

 

[Kwality]

Nonsense.

Get a grip clog, it went through the keeper ...

 

[clogged]

Ok, maybe you could please explain what, IYO, would happen if a Victorian club was cut from the AFL & replaced by a new club interstate? How do you think that would affect the broadcast rights?

Also IYO, What would be the effect if that same Victorian club was relocated?

Where would you send this club?