Analysis Single Malt GC Sporting Updates (TITANS NEWZ)

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Matchu said:
It's was a ten year deal so the landscape will be very different by 2021. The population of the Gold Coast will be bigger as well as the Suns fan base.
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As will the costs of running a club. It'll just be interesting to see if the Suns are doing well financially whether the government decide that they'd like more from their tenant.
 
Hey guys, really interested in the progression of your club and some of the insights I have read on your forum. It's interesting to read about the perspectives and unique challenges faced by team in a different demographic. Can someone give me a run down about the 'places are closed by 8:30' posts and why The SEQ is best off not having night fixtures? I don't mean to be daft but i'm night overly familiar with the area and it's quirks and how they differ to other major cities...
 
TheKITC said:
Hey guys, really interested in the progression of your club and some of the insights I have read on your forum. It's interesting to read about the perspectives and unique challenges faced by team in a different demographic. Can someone give me a run down about the 'places are closed by 8:30' posts and why The SEQ is best off not having night fixtures? I don't mean to be daft but i'm night overly familiar with the area and it's quirks and how they differ to other major cities...
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G'day mate.

You'll probably get answers from others too, but I thought I'd chime in.

Firstly I'd like to mention that my girlfriend and I both work in pubs while we're at uni, and these two establishment (two separate places about 5 mins from each other) are closed on Sundays and Mondays altogether, and are open until about 8:30 or so Tuesday to Thursday, and about 9:30 on Friday and Saturday (basically when football finishes). Everyone heads to bed early up here.

Restaurants in my area (Ipswich/Western Brisbane) tend to close pretty early, and by 10pm most nights, unless you're in the clubbing/late night pubs area of Brisbane, the city is dead. Melbourne and Sydney seemingly go to sleep in the early hours of the morning, while Brisbane is like that elderly grandparent of yours that you always need to call before 7PM otherwise they'll be asleep.

For football, this means that a 7:40pm start at the Gabba will leave fans heading home at roughly 10-10:30pm, which for most is far too late. Personally, the 7:40pm start for the Saints game was too late for me (keep in mind that the Suns have supporters all throughout SEQ, with advertising campaigns targeting typical Lions areas too). While I don't live in the GC, I know from holidaying down there for 10ish weeks per year that most places (around Broadbeach) close pretty early compared with Melbourne and Sydney too.

Likewise, Brisbane and Gold Coast have a large proportion of school-age supporters, who obviously don't stay up super late. Direct crowd comparisons between GC/Bris games held during afternoon or twilight time-slots against night games are pretty shocking - simply nobody wants to go out. Having lived in London for quite a while, when I finally returned to Brisbane, I was absolutely gutted that everything closes to early. London was the first time I had truly experienced a 24/7 city, or at least a city that stayed fun well into the night. Queenslanders are more 'day people' I guess you could say. I'll let a native Gold Coaster fill you in on the rest relating to GC-specific issues.
 

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TheKITC said:
Hey guys, really interested in the progression of your club and some of the insights I have read on your forum. It's interesting to read about the perspectives and unique challenges faced by team in a different demographic. Can someone give me a run down about the 'places are closed by 8:30' posts and why The SEQ is best off not having night fixtures? I don't mean to be daft but i'm night overly familiar with the area and it's quirks and how they differ to other major cities...
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Hey mate, Suns aren't my number one team but I like to think I have a good knowledge of the club and the Gold Coast/Queensland, being a local. The city provides unique challenges that can't even be found in Brisbane (100kms away). People in south east Queensland (for the most part) don't tend to work late into the night and sometimes not at all on weekends. Of course nightclubs/bars are the exception to this rule but even they have 3am lockout laws that don't allow people to enter after 3am. 24 hour establishments are not common and (I think) the liquor laws also don't allow venues to provide alcohol at all hours of the day.

So, in that sense, it's very different to Melbourne or Sydney where it isn't hard to find a place that will cater to your needs after midnight. Just as an example, I looked on the Coles website just now and found that most Coles stores in Melbourne are open until midnight every night whereas Coles stores on the Gold Coast will close at 9pm on weeknights and 6pm on weekends. It's just a part of the culture here. So that mentality translates into football and staying up past 10pm to watch the end of a football match doesn't appeal to the masses.

However, Brisbane does have the advantage of their stadium being located in the CBD. That means you are more likely to find an establishment near the Gabba that caters for late night entertainment and makes the overall package of going to the footy more appealing to the public. Brisbane's public transport network through the CBD area is pretty good as well so it isn't hard to get to the stadium and/or home. Gold Coast doesn't have these luxuries. Metricon Stadium is in the middle of nowhere, to put it nicely. It's surrounded by grass paddocks and has one Golf club within walking distance that can cater for a small amount of fans looking to do something after a game. The transport options to the stadium are also less than desirable with the club pretty much relying on shuttle buses for every patron.

Having said all that, there does seem to be a white knight for the Gold Coast in regards to changing the late night mentality. Two weeks ago the newly created light rail system (trams) was opened on the Gold Coast and it's already changing things. As an example, this article details a cafe/bar in Southport that last week opened its doors on Saturdays (previously closed on Saturdays) and is planning to extend the opening hours as well as building a rooftop bar. That's how many people are using the new system and the traders along the route are benefiting hugely. So what's this got to do with the Suns? Well an extension to Metricon Stadium has been mooted as a possibility in the past and could easily making a night game more appealing to the public.

One of the biggest things holding the Gold Coast back from becoming more of a night city is the non-existence of a CBD. It's being built right now in Southport but it's going to take at least 10 years to have anything close to resembling an actual CBD. Getting around the city is now easier with the new light rail system and it's inevitable that more people will stay up later and will look for late night activities. That is where the Suns can step in and provide an option until about 10:15pm for 7:40pm games. If the light rail did extend to Metricon in the future it would allow those people to get to the nightlife areas of Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise by 10:45pm and to Southport by 11pm. The nightlife doesn't pick up until around 11pm here anyway so it would be a perfect fit in a lot of ways.

That is obviously for the over 18 population of the Gold Coast. For the under 18s/over 50s/60s you can't really do anything to make a night game more appealing. Probably one of the big reasons the club is focusing heavily on the kids right now so in ten years time we'll see people in their 20s being the main footy goers like it is in other major cities of Australia. Anyway, I hope I gave you a good insight. If you have any more questions or queries I'm more than happy to try and explain further.
 
I think tv ratings also show that the 'switch off' time for qld is an hour or so earlier than the southern, western states. People get up early, most time of the year you can head to beach, river, etc etc to do exercise, and as such, go to bed early.
I went to game sat night, by myself, my wife and two kids under 7, stayed home. So that's 1 member out of 4 that went to the game. And I couldn't find anyone willing to come to game with me, either an adult or two kids....
 
Brisbane used to get 7.10pm games but now they are out to 7.40. Just giving SEQ footy fans another reason not to go.
 
Whenever I've been to Melbourne for holidays the 7.40pm starts have been too late for even me. Guess I'm just used to the 5.40pm starts in Perth and being able to go out afterwards.
 
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-scupper-expansion-plans-20140804-100611.html

I found this article yesterday and it says people who work for the Titans are currently considering relocation. Back in 2012 the Titans weren't far off selling their team to Papua New Guinea and that idea has even more legs now. A PNG team entered the QLD state competition earlier this year and have been quite a hit. The foundations are there they just need the Titans to agree to a relocation. I give the Titans one more year at best before they relocate to PNG at the end of 2015.
 
http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au...d-from-the-board/story-fnj9yd9w-1227014167003

GOLD Coast Titans coach John Cartwright has quit his role while club co-owner Michael Searle has also resigned from the board.

Cartwright, the team’s inaugural coach, fell on his sword this morning as the Titans face missing the finals for the fourth consecutive year.

Searle, who founded the club and owns 40 per cent of the NRL franchise, has resigned from the board and his role as executive director of football.
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Cartwright and Searle's resignation means either the NRL have stepped in with an attempt to revitalize the club's image on the Gold Coast, or they're getting preparing to relocate the club.
 
GC2015 said:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...-scupper-expansion-plans-20140804-100611.html

I found this article yesterday and it says people who work for the Titans are currently considering relocation. Back in 2012 the Titans weren't far off selling their team to Papua New Guinea and that idea has even more legs now. A PNG team entered the QLD state competition earlier this year and have been quite a hit. The foundations are there they just need the Titans to agree to a relocation. I give the Titans one more year at best before they relocate to PNG at the end of 2015.
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I assume they will then be renamed the PNG Rascals :cool:
 

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Experimental said:
Cartwright and Searle's resignation means either the NRL have stepped in with an attempt to revitalize the club's image on the Gold Coast, or they're getting preparing to relocate the club.
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Could be either at this point in time. 40% ownership is seemingly up for grabs right now and I'm pretty sure one of the owners isn't based in Australia.
 
Iva Bigun said:
I give you $4 and a bubbler for the 40% stake, offer only valid till 5pm
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That's Carney-val prices!

Seriously though, it seems pretty obvious that the coach and co-owner were forced out. An 'either you resign, or we fire you' scenario.
 
Iva Bigun said:
I assume they will then be renamed the PNG Rascals :cool:
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I think we'll see the Western/Perth Reds or West Coast Pirates before PNG.

PNG is a great idea for Queensland Cup but considering there's only one team in New Zealand and none further West than Melbourne/Penrith I wouldn't give a relocated team to PNG if I were the NRL.

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Big Red Machine said:
I think we'll see the Western/Perth Reds or West Coast Pirates before PNG.

PNG is a great idea for Queensland Cup but considering there's only one team in New Zealand and none further West than Melbourne/Penrith I wouldn't give a relocated team to PNG if I were the NRL.

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Not confident an NRL team in Perth would have much support. Rugby Union and the Western Force are well supported in Perth but that's predominately due to the large number of expats from South Africa and England.
 
Just watched the press conference on Foxsports news and it sort of felt like a false flag situation. Cartwright stepped down as head coach but will continue on in a "non-football role" while Searle has resigned from his positions as a board director and director of football. No mention at all of him releasing his 40% ownership of the club. Keep in mind two years ago Searle stepped down as CEO of the club but didn't appear any less involved.

So it would seem both guys will still be involved with the club next season but won't have any media commitments. Searle wasn't even at the press conference which was notable.
 
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A recent survey of former Titans members had over 80% of respondents say they wouldn't return to the club so long as Searle was involved. I wonder if giving up his position but not ownership will be enough to satisfy these burnt former members?
 
A friend at work mentioned last week he had heard whispers of a possible relocation from CBus to Suncorp to share the expenses of the stadium with the Broncos, etc, and allowing a home game in Brisbane every week. Seems bloody unlikely but I guess anything is possible if the money is right.
 
Corkie said:
A friend at work mentioned last week he had heard whispers of a possible relocation from CBus to Suncorp to share the expenses of the stadium with the Broncos, etc, and allowing a home game in Brisbane every week. Seems bloody unlikely but I guess anything is possible if the money is right.
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Very interesting. Perhaps there are plans to merge them with the Brisbane Bombers bid team. I'm very confident an NRL team would be better off playing second fiddle to the Broncos at Suncorp than keep the Titans on the Gold Coast.

How about a little look back on the history of GC sport/Titans? This video is a pretty interesting watch if you have the time:
 
Back on topic now, anyone think these decisions will result in a big crowd next weekend when they take on Manly? It will be very interesting to see if it has any impact on the crowd number.
 
Matchu said:
Back on topic now, anyone think these decisions will result in a big crowd next weekend when they take on Manly? It will be very interesting to see if it has any impact on the crowd number.
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GC loves a winner and the titans are colapsing, they will bail like rats off a sinking ship I predict
 
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