Expansion Have the Gold Coast Suns been a success?

[Established1870]

I'm not interested in GWS because anyone with a brain realizes they've got a lot longer to go before they ever get to a point we can consider them "successful". I'm not talking about just on field either, but the impact on the game in SE QLD.

At the end of their first year in the comp, I stayed with friends who live just under the border of QLD for a week and I was amazed because the club had a lot of initial support and the media/local interest beat out the Titans (and this was December 2011).

Since then, I've heard junior participation has shot through the roof like a bullet, support has been steady and their finances have been alright. They aren't filling out Metricon every week but anyone who's been to QLD will tell you the fans for all codes (bar the Broncos) are more fairweather than Hawks fans.

I think the Suns, off field, have been a success to a degree. Attendance/membership is still poor but every other sign points to the AFL having a goldmine on their hands if they don't do a Brisbane with it and other things go well. If GC are successful in the next few years and capitalize on it properly, then they can quite easily become the premier code in their part of QLD. The academy getting more home grown talent and the Suns being successful are key to that ever happening, IMO.

What do you guys and girls all think? Have the Suns been a success in your eyes?

 

[Jaffa Fan]

What has GWS got to do with SEQ?


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[Garlic muncher]

On field success is not good, not sure about finances, they perhaps like any football club will be up and down.

The club does have some sort of backing from Southport Football club which i believe is one of the biggest licensed clubs in QLD ( pokies) so that must be a big positive.

At junior level the GC numbers has exploded, the Suns have had a real impact and i would say the hope is for these kids and potential families to become members and increase support, the impact has even seen new clubs and good numbers just south of the border, which historically has been anything but aussie rules territory.

 

[Slax]

On field has failed, but when your success is heavily dependent on a single draft it can be a bit hit and miss.

Financially the Gold Coast has been a black hole for every sporting team that has ever gone there, to date not sure if Suns will be much different, the Southport deal, is sponsorship in return for social club activities being held at the Southport club (bit of you scratch your back I scratch yours).

Participation numbers have improved, but this is mostly due to the explosion of women's footy in SE Qld which has gone through the roof in recent years, better than I think anyone ever imagined.

Full members will be harder to find than most areas due to the nature of the Gold Coast, if they can get 3/5 game members it might be the way to go and then get them to step up to full members.

Will face a few hurdles over the next few years. They lose access to their training facility at Metricon during the Commonwealth Games in 2018, which is just before the start of the season. Whilst it will remain to be seen what sort of ground deal the Gold Coast Council will give them when it is up again in a few years, they're broke and looking at ways to increase revenue. The have had recent fights with NRL over Titans lease so don't expect any great deal for them or financial assistance. Holding the Commonwealth Games has been a terrible decision, it looks very much like being the financial disaster, so giving breaks to sporting clubs that the majority don't care about (that applies to Titans as well) won't go well with voters. If they though can manage to get a reasonable deal and crowds build with some on field success then it is possible for their financial position to be similar to that of the likes of North Melbourne/Footscray/St Kilda.

Turning fans (have an interest in the team, watch a couple of games on tv) into supporters (will go to a couple of games a season & will watch games on tv) then into members is the challenge in the emerging markets.

 

[madmug]

On field has failed, but when your success is heavily dependent on a single draft it can be a bit hit and miss.

Financially the Gold Coast has been a black hole for every sporting team that has ever gone there, to date not sure if Suns will be much different, the Southport deal, is sponsorship in return for social club activities being held at the Southport club (bit of you scratch your back I scratch yours).

Participation numbers have improved, but this is mostly due to the explosion of women's footy in SE Qld which has gone through the roof in recent years, better than I think anyone ever imagined.

Full members will be harder to find than most areas due to the nature of the Gold Coast, if they can get 3/5 game members it might be the way to go and then get them to step up to full members.

Will face a few hurdles over the next few years. They lose access to their training facility at Metricon during the Commonwealth Games in 2018, which is just before the start of the season. Whilst it will remain to be seen what sort of ground deal the Gold Coast Council will give them when it is up again in a few years, they're broke and looking at ways to increase revenue. The have had recent fights with NRL over Titans lease so don't expect any great deal for them or financial assistance. Holding the Commonwealth Games has been a terrible decision, it looks very much like being the financial disaster, so giving breaks to sporting clubs that the majority don't care about (that applies to Titans as well) won't go well with voters. If they though can manage to get a reasonable deal and crowds build with some on field success then it is possible for their financial position to be similar to that of the likes of North Melbourne/Footscray/St Kilda.

Turning fans (have an interest in the team, watch a couple of games on tv) into supporters (will go to a couple of games a season & will watch games on tv) then into members is the challenge in the emerging markets.

You can't call them a failure. Some clubs have won a single premiership in a century!
I do think they will always Be a concern to the AFL. History of sports clubs on the GC tells us that.
I do think it was a mistake to put 2 clubs. In SEQ anyway. But how & when we decide whether it is working is up for debate. Certainly the AFL will never tell us. For the sake of the competition & $200million investment we must hope they make a fist of it.

 

[Established1870]

I do think they will always Be a concern to the AFL. History of sports clubs on the GC tells us that.

I have to say that I don't really agree with this. Most rugby clubs folded there because of the League War while Gold Coast United became defunct due to Clive Palmer a giant moron (how he has more money than you or I honestly staggers me). If the Suns were to break the curse of GC clubs not being successful and won a flag or two over the next few years, they'd establish themselves fairly quickly after IMO.

I do think it was a mistake to put 2 clubs. In SEQ anyway.

I think it was a mistake to build up an entirely new club there when the AFL had 2 perfect opportunities to put an existing one there (North and Southport). North would've been perfect as a relocated GC side. But, North like to think they're relevant as they are in a national competition and put paid to that. Southport being a successful club with money and a closeness to Gold Coast would've worked too.

But how & when we decide whether it is working is up for debate. Certainly the AFL will never tell us. For the sake of the competition & $200million investment we must hope they make a fist of it.

The Suns are working though? On-field they've been deplorable but off-field they've actually boosted the game a fair bit up there. Junior participation is huge and they've helped enormously with increasing those numbers. And as I said before, they had more media coverage than the Titans at one stage, and usually have bigger attendances (aside from this year, I believe).

 

[Garlic muncher]

People forget that the GC is a destination in the southern winter months, i wonder how many families, singles, couples, groups of mates etc combine visiting the GC with taking in a AFL game ?, compared to GWS the market i would have thought would be far larger.

Combine that with a growing city and suburbs, combined with a traditional footy demographic that lives there, combined with a strong growing junior base, combined with the backing of the Southport FC.

I would have thought that 2 teams in SE QLD would actually be a better fit for footy than 2 in Sydney - yet here we are!.

 

[madmug]

People forget that the GC is a destination in the southern winter months, i wonder how many families, singles, couples, groups of mates etc combine visiting the GC with taking in a AFL game ?, compared to GWS the market i would have thought would be far larger.

Combine that with a growing city and suburbs, combined with a traditional footy demographic that lives there, combined with a strong growing junior base, combined with the backing of the Southport FC.

I would have thought that 2 teams in SE QLD would actually be a better fit for footy than 2 in Sydney - yet here we are!.

The contra view is that people go to the GC for the sun & the beach. but dont really have football on their minds. i dont see that changing anytime soon.

 

[Garlic muncher]

The contra view is that people go to the GC for the sun & the beach. but dont really have football on their minds. i dont see that changing anytime soon.

Then of course there is the contra view that sees families or whoever visiting the GC for precisely the sun, beach and watch their footy team.

What's the bet during school holidays sees a couple of big Melbourne teams playing on the GC or perhaps The Crows

 

[Garlic muncher]

“In 2016, half of our home games will be twilight matches at Metricon Stadium, and in a win for the city we will host Carlton and St Kilda on the coast during the Victorian school holidays creating great economic impact for the Gold Coast economy,” Travis added.

 

[madmug]

Then of course there is the contra view that sees families or whoever visiting the GC for precisely the sun, beach and watch their footy team.

What's the bet during school holidays sees a couple of big Melbourne teams playing on the GC or perhaps The Crows

Does that justify the cost? Some holiday makers?
As I said, for the sake of the AFL & the huge investment made by them, it better work

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I think the problem is .... I don't care.

 

[Garlic muncher]

Does that justify the cost? Some holiday makers?
As I said, for the sake of the AFL & the huge investment made by them, it better work

Yep, it will work and my bet is that the GC will work quite well.

The GC does not have the tourism market to itself - the sports tourism market in Melbourne must be absolutely massive, just as many thousands of WA people head to Melbourne with partners, families for footy, food, comedy shows, shopping the same can probably be increasingly about Melbourne people heading north to beat Melbourne winters, now there is a extra pull from the GC if your footy team is playing.

 

[madmug]

I think the problem is .... I don't care.

I think now I see how you've got to 36,000 posts

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

Where can you find the stats on participation on the GC? It's great to hear they are up. Being a 20 plus year plan it is one of the best indicators of what potential their is in the future.

 

[madmug]

Where can you find the stats on participation on the GC? It's great to hear they are up. Being a 20 plus year plan it is one of the best indicators of what potential their is in the future.

All due respect, but having a 20 year plan is not an indicator. Its a plan!
I think we should hope for a positive outcome.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

All due respect, but having a 20 year plan is not an indicator. Its a plan!
I think we should hope for a positive outcome.

Huh. I mean growing participation is an indicator that the game is growning and that GC could hopefully become self sufficient in twenty years

 

[djpaulydemon]

When they finally have a proper training facility after the commonwealth games they most likely improve on-field and at least become a more suitable place for players to want to be traded to and they will retain more of there own players.

 

[Old_Man_James]

My gut feel is the difference between GC and Bris vs Gws and Syd is that, is that the gold coast appears to of had significantly more impact on Brisbanes membership/ attendance levels, whilst Sydney is at record highs with GWS. We will have to wait till both QLD clubs are doing well though for a proper comparison.

 

[madmug]

Huh. I mean growing participation is an indicator that the game is growning and that GC could hopefully become self sufficient in twenty years

Well, er, yes, um, no, ahhhh, maybe!

Anyway, Other parts of the country could be considered self sufficient in players now, but didnt get a team given to them.

 

[madmug]

When they finally have a proper training facility after the commonwealth games they most likely improve on-field and at least become a more suitable place for players to want to be traded to and they will retain more of there own players.

Yes,

We live in hope of that.

 

[Slax]

You can't call them a failure. Some clubs have won a single premiership in a century!
I do think they will always Be a concern to the AFL. History of sports clubs on the GC tells us that.
I do think it was a mistake to put 2 clubs. In SEQ anyway. But how & when we decide whether it is working is up for debate. Certainly the AFL will never tell us. For the sake of the competition & $200million investment we must hope they make a fist of it.

I think that this is really what is comes down to. The AFL have put over $100m additional funds into Gold Coast (that is money on top of normal distributions) and now are having to fund Brisbane as well because of the loss of supporters to the Gold Coast, so they are now having to put an extra $15m into the two clubs a year, that on top of the heavy funding of junior programs in the region. So if there continues to be no success from either side it will reach a point when the AFL will turn off funding and bring in a team from Tassie.

 

[Slax]

My gut feel is the difference between GC and Bris vs Gws and Syd is that, is that the gold coast appears to of had significantly more impact on Brisbanes membership/ attendance levels, whilst Sydney is at record highs with GWS. We will have to wait till both QLD clubs are doing well though for a proper comparison.

Brisbane had a solid base of members who travelled up from the Gold Coast region (takes about 1 hour), these have gone to Suns creating an issue for Lions in getting them replaced in a small market (Brisbane might have 2m people but only a couple of hundred thousand care about AFL). I seriously doubt that the AFL ever looked at the demographics of the Lions Queensland membership and where they lived. I say this because the AFL managed to give the Giants a name that no-one in NSW ever uses, there might be a greater Western Sydney on some map but it has always been referred to as Western Sydney. The AFL never registered the name Western Sydney Football Club, much to the amusement of the FFA when they decided to bring them into the A-League.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

Well, er, yes, um, no, ahhhh, maybe!

Anyway, Other parts of the country could be considered self sufficient in players now, but didnt get a team given to them.

Only South Australia I think and they hardly need another side

 

[madmug]

Only South Australia I think and they hardly need another side

WA3 & Tas1
Bloody obvious really