MelbourneGWS
Club Legend
- Oct 1, 2022
- 2,054
- 2,939
- AFL Club
- GWS
We will have to agree to disagree on the benefits of GWS to Canberra. As previously stated they have made the longest lasting commitment to Canberra (21 years when their deal expires in 2032), and see themselves as Canberra’s AFL team. The ACT government also obviously agrees with Barr calling the GWS relationship to our region, a unique “co-located model”, which has been “ highly successful”.With all due respect, f**k GWS.
Canberra gets more people to games than Western Sydney, why should we settle for their scraps?
The current deal screws over Canberra and Western Sydney simultaneously.
Nobody is demanding it as much as Tasmania, that doesn't mean nowhere else could sustain it.
Interestingly, Canberra has been demanding a team for longer. We were the first non-Victorian location to bid for a team, and we've been repeatedly passed over since.
We don't have a local government fawning over the AFL (to the same extent), so we're a bit behind there, but the 20th team won't have to jump through as many hoops as Tasmania. Our team would get ~$3m a year in government funding, which is more than any AFL team other than Tasmania would get.
Personally, I think a Canberra team would be as sustainable as a Tasmanian team (if not more). Canberra has fewer AFL fans than Tasmania, but more in the one city. The 2019 Gemba report indicates Canberra has 85% more AFL fans than Hobart. Will grow more with our fast population growth.
The ACT economy is already 27% larger than Tasmania's - and that excludes our NSW suburbs. ACT residents' average disposable income is 22% higher.
So we have more people in the single area likely to attend games, with more money to spend on tickets and merch.
If a Tasmania team is sustainable, so is Canberra.
Otherwise, agree with your other points about us being just as sustainable as Tasmania