Analysis Single Malt GC Sporting Updates (TITANS NEWZ)

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The atmosphere at the Gabba tonight was absolutely crazy. Haven't ever heard a crowd so loud in any live sport I've ever been to. Could have just been where I was sitting though. The last 10 minutes made my ears ring and my heart race. Pissing down rain and nobody seemed to care. There were chants, screaming, cheering, booing, all at once.

Best game I've been to in years. Even saw SUNS coincidentally, who was sitting in the tier above me haha.

Bad luck to the Lions, but it was a fantastic game to watch as a neutral. I wore my Suns guernsey to the game at got plenty of banter hurled at me - mainly from Pies fans mocking us about the loss to the Dees.
 

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Titans v Broncos... in Sydney?
THE Titans were hours away from shifting their Good Friday Queensland derby against the Broncos to Sydney.

The Gold Coast Bulletin can reveal preliminary plans had been made for the derby to be played at ANZ Stadium as negotiations between the Titans and Stadiums Queensland hit a stalemate on Tuesday.

If the Sydney move was to happen, the changes had to be actioned by Tuesday night.

The Titans reached a short-term agreement to play the match at Cbus Super Stadium hours before the deadline.

Before the club was placed into voluntary administration in February, it was paying up to $2 million a year to play 12 games at the Robina venue.

The contract was its second-largest cost behind player and employee salaries, and regarded as a huge reason for the club’s financial struggles.

Titans boss Graham Annesley and NRL head of club services Tony Crawford are expected to meet Stadiums Queensland and Government divisions this week to negotiate a new long-term agreement.

The Titans’ claim is simple — they want to pay less to play at the stadium.

The Government has been reluctant to come to the party, despite negotiations starting more than a month ago.

The Titans are the stadium’s only permanent tenant, but they also realise the club has few alternative venues to play home games on the Coast.

It is not only Stadiums Queensland the Titans and NRL have to negotiate with.

The transport department is involved because of public transport options along with police, given traffic management and security plans are implemented at games.

Access to the stadium has been a talking point and Annesley said that had to be considered in the negotiations.

“It’s well acknowledged, even by Stadiums Queensland, that there are transport and access issues associated with getting to and from Cbus Super Stadium,” he said.

“All we’re seeking is a sustainable financial model given the issues associated with the location of the stadium.”

A Stadiums Queensland spokesman said an option to reduce costs was to limit which seating areas were opened.

But Clive Palmer went down that route while he owned the now defunct A-League football outfit Gold Coast United and it was met with a supporter backlash.

“An individual hirer can specify to open a limited number of gates or stands to bring down costs and Stadiums Queensland is very happy to discuss options with hirers as it does with the Titans,” the spokesman said.

“We have always been willing to work with any interested party to ensure that both sides get a reasonable return from a hiring agreement.

“The arrangements for the Titans is consistent with the commercial model applied at other venues and within other codes.”
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It can't be underestimated how important it was for the AFL to secure management rights of Metricon before the Suns were established and essentially avoid the situation now plaguing the Titans. Stadiums Queensland is notorious for cutting bad deals with tenants and luckily the AFL had the foresight to address this before it became a problem.

Maybe it's time the Suns offer an olive branch here? I know they are in direct competition with one another but there are advantages for both clubs in sharing tenancy of Metricon. The biggest issue for the Titans seems to be their inability to broker lower rent costs with Stadiums Queensland but this would not be an issue at Metricon because the Suns have management rights which allows them to dictate cost of rent. More importantly, if the Titans can show they have another option it would likely force Stadiums Queensland to budge and lower the cost of rent while the Suns would obviously gain financially from having a second tenant at the stadium. This could just be a simple contract put in place for the remainder of 2015.

Fortunately, the two teams don't play on the same day throughout this year but they do play on the same weekend four times. There is often talk the surface being wrecked when the two sports share a venue but in this case the Suns play the day before the Titans three of the four times so the ground should be in good shape for the Suns all of one match. So, is it in the best interests of both clubs to share Metricon for the remainder of 2015?
 
it did cost the league 20 million in advance though, but over the 20 year lease should be worth its weight.

Stadiums Queensland would flip out if the Titans tried to move to Carrara though - and they would have the ultimate say. I dont see it happening. The only way i think this could have happened is if Robina hadnt been built at all.
 
The_Wookie said:
it did cost the league 20 million in advance though, but over the 20 year lease should be worth its weight.
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Definitely worth it. Small price to pay for what they will get out of it. Is it really a 20 year lease? I thought it was 10 years.

The_Wookie said:
Stadiums Queensland would flip out if the Titans tried to move to Carrara though - and they would have the ultimate say. I dont see it happening. The only way i think this could have happened is if Robina hadnt been built at all.
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I guess the problem for the Titans is that Stadiums Queensland has them between a rock and a hard place right now. Metricon is realistically the only other option on the Gold Coast but you are probably right in saying they would step in a veto the move. The Titans don't have enough money to build their own stadium and I don't see the NRL investing the type of money to make it a reality either. So what can they do? Maybe they could broker a deal with the NSW Gov/Tweed Shire Council to play games in Tweed Heads again? At least that way they don't have to deal with Stadiums Queensland and are still basically playing on the Gold Coast.
 
Possibly more concerning is that they've started capping crowds. Clive Palmer did that back in the Gold Coast United days and it didn't end well. I remember the Gold Coast public didn't react well to a crowd cap and Gold Coast United posted some of their worst crowds at those games.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow if league fans have a problem with a crowd cap.
 
Actually, unlike Gold Coast United, the Titans have nothing to do with the cap. It is Stadiums Queensland, and in the larger context of negotiating a new agreement.

Not that there'll be a big crowd there tomorrow. :)
 
As the article says, it's behind the goals where very few people sit anyway, so I doubt it will have any effect on the crowd, but in terms of over all perception it's not a great look.
 

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Iva Bigun said:
We will struggle to beat that even for the Q Clash
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Brisbane's game against the Eagles today could affect the crowd number a fair bit. If the Lions win then perhaps Brisbane people will be more inclined to head down the M1 and witness a likely win at Metricon. It will be interesting to see how the Gold Coast public reacts to an under performing Suns outfit this coming weekend. They've never pulled a crowd under 10k in the last five years so I guess we'll find out how loyal the fan base is at the Lions and Crows games over the next two weeks. The Gold Coast has often been branded fickle by the media when it comes to sports so a lower than expected crowd number for the next two home games would back up that theory.
 
It's worth mentioning that the QClash this Saturday at Metricon will go head to head with a rugby league international double header at Robina. Fiji vs PNG starts at 5:30pm and Samoa vs Tonga starts at 7:30pm on Saturday. The QClash starts at 4:35pm so they are in direct competition with one another. Should be interesting to see what kind of crowd both events can pull.
 
Matchu said:
It's worth mentioning that the QClash this Saturday at Metricon will go head to head with a rugby league international double header at Robina. Fiji vs PNG starts at 5:30pm and Samoa vs Tonga starts at 7:30pm on Saturday. The QClash starts at 4:35pm so they are in direct competition with one another. Should be interesting to see what kind of crowd both events can pull.
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That rubgy game will get bugger all attendance , but still may beat the qclash.
 
Donble said:
That rubgy game will get bugger all attendance , but still may beat the qclash.
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I think we're going to get a good idea of how loyal the Gold Coast footy fans are this weekend. You've got 17th vs 18th being played in the smaller stadium/city. No marquee player like Ablett to watch. Both are arguably in their worst positions in years and the night before the Aussie rugby league team will be playing in Brisbane so that may affect the crowd as well. Considering all factors, what sort of crowd would demonstrate loyalty to the struggling Gold Coast Suns? The Suns were doing quite well around this time last year and their fixture against the Lions pulled 16k at Metricon. The Lions only pulled 16k against the Eagles on Sunday so the Brisbane public isn't overly keen on them at the moment. So maybe 13k? If 13k showed up I think you could say the GC fans are loyal to the team. If it goes below 11k then I reckon you could say quite a few have jumped off the bandwagon and the Gold Coast will live up to its reputation of being fair weather/fickle.
 
If we get the expected 400mm rain & gale force winds over the next 3 days, it will surely have an impact on crowd totals. Especially when you can watch the game live both on Foxtel & free to air on the Goldy.
 
Corkie said:
If we get the expected 400mm rain & gale force winds over the next 3 days, it will surely have an impact on crowd totals. Especially when you can watch the game live both on Foxtel & free to air on the Goldy.
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Don't forget Gold FM's live broadcast of every Suns home game on the radio as well. The coverage is about as good as it possibly can be which is both a privilege and a detriment.

Wild weather will definitely play its part if it plays out as expected. I'm sticking with my figure of 13k showing the city's loyalty to the Suns.
 
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