20th AFL Team

[RedV3x]

Tell me one club who can get 100,000 attendance for a home game

Well there have been plenty of AFL games in the 90k+ bracket
but that's totally irrelevant to the discussion of a 20th team.
and ridiculous in the context of a NT team.

AFL is a good game for Australia but certainly not the biggest in the world, probably 4th.

The AFL has a really good set of k.p.i.
if you are talking attendances then you cannot ignore population size differences
and the fact that the AFL has multiple teams in most cities
which is rare in other leagues.

 

[Run n Spread]

3 games in the NT in 4 weeks in May next year. Really good chance for the NT to show its credentials.
Big games as well.
During the Easter show the giants only have the 1 game with the others shunted somewhere in July and August.
Perfect momentum opportunity.

 

[Run n Spread]

Also.all the US advertising surrounding the NFL game has pitched visiting Melbourne and the MCG has Australian icons and an iconic Australian cultural experience.
If the AFL wants to grow and encourage sponsorship from overseas and overseas interest what could be more iconic than the top end. Promoting Australia's game and Australian tourism could pump in millions.
Who knows in the future could have a US AFL game with the NT/Northern Australian team front and centre.
Also a way to get the players on board as they love their US sports and culture

 

[threenewpadlocks]

3 games in the NT in 4 weeks in May next year. Really good chance for the NT to show its credentials.
Big games as well.
During the Easter show the giants only have the 1 game with the others shunted somewhere in July and August.
Perfect momentum opportunity.

What exactly will this prove? That the amount of people who go to a one-off or two-off game are nowhere near enough people to make a full-time team sustainable?

You have access to the AFLNT feasibility study. You yourself hardly reference it.

 

[RedV3x]

Also.all the US advertising surrounding the NFL game has pitched visiting Melbourne and the MCG has Australian icons and an iconic Australian cultural experience.

Are they promoting AFL as well ?

If the AFL wants to grow and encourage sponsorship from overseas and overseas interest what could be more iconic than the top end.

Perth Stadium and Rottnest island.
Adelaide Oval and Barossa Valley.
SCG and Bondi Beach.
New Hobart Stadium and Southern Lights.
New Brisbane Stadium and the Olympics.
New Canberra Stadium and the nation's capital.
Oh, I nearly forgot, the MCG as the home of Australian Football.

Promoting Australia's game and Australian tourism could pump in millions.

The prime minister doesn't agree.
Tourism Australia and Qantas already promote the N.T.

Who knows in the future could have a USA AFL game

There have been quite a number already.

 

[Canberra Pear]

3 games in the NT in 4 weeks in May next year. Really good chance for the NT to show its credentials.
Big games as well.
During the Easter show the giants only have the 1 game with the others shunted somewhere in July and August.
Perfect momentum opportunity.

As others have said, a real test Darwin needs to pass is games sprinkled around the season.

Back to back games at Marrara is a clever way to boost crowds, but it's artificial. It can't be replicated over a whole season.

 

[Coolangatta]

As others have said, a real test Darwin needs to pass is games sprinkled around the season.

Back to back games at Marrara is a clever way to boost crowds, but it's artificial. It can't be replicated over a whole season.

4 games in Darwin, one each in May, June, July, and August. That would be a good test, but who’s gonna sign up for it?

 

[Canberra Pear]

4 games in Darwin, one each in May, June, July, and August. That would be a good test, but who’s gonna sign up for it?

Even then, just spreading the two games they get now is a better test.

The AFL putting the games back-to-back is to boost the crowds, but not to test their credentials.

For instance, the past three seasons they've had double ups, Darwin has averaged 10.2k.

But a decade earlier they had a four seasons of double ups, but not back-to-back, and those averaged 8.7k. And they were trending downwards.

Back to backs are crowd-boosters, not credential testers.

Whereas there's a growing feeling amongst Canberrans that our credentials are being tested with our shit fixture.

 

[Cmarsh]

3 games in the NT in 4 weeks in May next year. Really good chance for the NT to show its credentials.
Big games as well.
During the Easter show the giants only have the 1 game with the others shunted somewhere in July and August.
Perfect momentum opportunity.

Slightly off topic to the thread but its befuddling to still see GCS play home games in Darwin.

Game entering a boom period on the gold coast with it producing quality young talent, rising junior participation, growing crowds and a team perhaps good enough to win the next premiership but thay are still taking home games 3500 kms away.

Can only think there is a contract they have to honour?

Otherwise, its baffling.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Slightly off topic to the thread but its befuddling to still see GCS play home games in Darwin.

Game entering a boom period on the gold coast with it producing quality young talent, rising junior participation, growing crowds and a team perhaps good enough to win the next premiership but thay are still taking home games 3500 kms away.

Can only think there is a contract they have to honour?

Otherwise, its baffling.

Exactly. You can't expect them to cover a whole growth market while splitting their resources with a secondary market.

Victorian teams should be the only ones going to secondary markets. They've got plenty of make up games and can still play 11-plus games for their home fans.

 

[RedV3x]

Exactly. You can't expect them to cover a whole growth market while splitting their resources with a secondary market.

Victorian teams should be the only ones going to secondary markets. They've got plenty of make up games and can still play 11-plus games for their home fans.

Plus Victorian fans get to see their teams a lot more with all those derbies.
Cairns would provide some benefit unlike Darwin.

 

[Run n Spread]

Even then, just spreading the two games they get now is a better test.

The AFL putting the games back-to-back is to boost the crowds, but not to test their credentials.

For instance, the past three seasons they've had double ups, Darwin has averaged 10.2k.

But a decade earlier they had a four seasons of double ups, but not back-to-back, and those averaged 8.7k. And they were trending downwards.

Back to backs are crowd-boosters, not credential testers.

Whereas there's a growing feeling amongst Canberrans that our credentials are being tested with our shit fixture.

Hiw exactly does back to back games boost crowds? It's good at building a profile and staying in the national consciousness but if anything it inhibits crowds.
An one off event people are likely more keen to attend rather than get a second go straight after

 

[Canberra Pear]

Hiw exactly does back to back games boost crowds? It's good at building a profile and staying in the national consciousness but if anything it inhibits crowds.
An one off event people are likely more keen to attend rather than get a second go straight after

Because they've been deliberately scheduling them to maximise people travelling and attending both games.

It's a clever way to boost crowds, but not a good indicator of sustained crowds over a season.

 

[RedV3x]

How exactly does back to back games boost crowds?

With domestic competitions it builds momentum with regularity and familiarity.

True one-off events would suffer from a second showing. e.g. NFL in Melbourne.
People are going to see what's it's like not to gain regularity and familiarity.

 

[Run n Spread]

Because they've been deliberately scheduling them to maximise people travelling and attending both games.

It's a clever way to boost crowds, but not a good indicator of sustained crowds over a season.

And yet I'm told no one will visit the NT to go to the footy as it's too far.
So clearly there is potential in an iconic Australian location to make it work

 

[Canberra Pear]

And yet I'm told no one will visit the NT to go to the footy as it's too far.

Yeah, it's too far to regularly travel to. Hence why they have to bunch the games together so people only have to travel the once.

 

[RedV3x]

And yet I'm told no one will visit the NT to go to the footy as it's too far.

In Sydney they don't even travel over the Harbour Bridge to go to the footy.

So clearly there is potential in an iconic Australian location to make it work

What iconic location to make what work ?

 

[Run n Spread]

In Sydney they don't even travel over the Harbour Bridge to go to the footy.



What iconic location to make what work ?

Sydney shouldn't have 2 teams
Time to pull the pin on GWS

 

[Giant YoYo]

Sydney shouldn't have 2 teams
Time to pull the pin on GWS

Swans can't cover all of Sydney and there's no region in the country with as big of a population that only has one team.

Heck, even Giants can't do all of Western Sydney given how huge it is which was partly the problem. Thankfully they're focussing on LGA's much closer to the stadium rather than trying to do all of Western Sydney and as far as I can tell, it's working.

This is a strength of the Swans, having clearly defined areas closer to the SCG that they could focus on. Why the Giants didn't follow the same formula is beyond me.

 

[Run n Spread]

Swans can't cover all of Sydney and there's no region in the country with as big of a population that only has one team.

Heck, even Giants can't do all of Western Sydney given how huge it is which was partly the problem. Thankfully they're focussing on LGA's much closer to the stadium rather than trying to do all of Western Sydney.

The fact western Sydney is a growth area is a myth.
It's population growth is not from birth rates but immigration but from immigrants who have no interest in footy

 

[RedV3x]

The fact western Sydney is a growth area is a myth.
It's population growth is not from birth rates but immigration but from immigrants who have no interest in footy

Almost the entire population of Australia comes from immigration.
Australian Football has been attracting followers to since before became a country.
Queensland and NSW are now right up there with traditional Australian Football states in producing Australian Football players and fans.
Your posts should be banned for being completely idiotic and without merit.

 

[Run n Spread]

Almost the entire population of Australia comes from immigration.
Australian Football has been attracting followers to since before became a country.
Queensland and NSW are now right up there with traditional Australian Football states in producing Australian Football players and fans.
Your posts should be banned for being completely idiotic and without merit.

Queensland yes. Gold Coast has been a phenomenon
Western Sydney is a drag on the competition

 

[Giant YoYo]

The fact western Sydney is a growth area is a myth.
It's population growth is not from birth rates but immigration but from immigrants who have no interest in footy

Sydney is projected to have 8 million residents with the west projected to have the greatest growth.

Western Sydney already has the largest natural increase in births since that's where all the growth in families are, in new growth areas.

Sydney’s great baby divide: How fertile is your suburb?

Babies are increasingly scarce in some neighbourhoods.

www.smh.com.au

A stark baby divide has become entrenched in Sydney as the number of births climbs in the western suburbs but nose-dives in many of the city’s most affluent areas.

During the past decade, births have fallen by 20 per cent or more in the eastern suburbs, north shore, northern beaches and inner west districts while rising solidly in the Blacktown, outer west and south-west regions.

If you can show me documented evidence to the contrary to back up your claim, I am all ears.

PS. Immigration from parts of the world with no interest in footy is happening all across Oz. This really isn't unique to Sydney (but made more prominent due to the competitive non-footy sporting landscape here) and it's a challenge the AFL will need to overcome and if it can come up with the right formula in Western Sydney, it can be used as a template across the country for growth into diverse communities.

 

[Bjo187]

The fact western Sydney is a growth area is a myth.
It's population growth is not from birth rates but immigration but from immigrants who have no interest in footy

Yeah but most of those are from the sub continent and Asia who have zero interest in rugby either, so it's one place the afl are starting off on a near equal footing, if they do their attraction of fans and talent right.

 

[Canberra Pear]

On the subject of interstate vs international growth (if you're assuming interstate migration being better as footy fans), Darwin doesn't fare well there either.

The Muval Report captures interstate migration stats.

In the latest report (covering 2024), the ACT had the highest rate, with 1.2 people coming from interstate for every person leaving.

The NT has the lowest, with 0.8 people coming for every person leaving. Darwin itself is lower again at 0.72.

The three positive areas of Sydney in terms of internal migration were all in Western Sydney.


This is just a single-year snapshot, but the report says Darwin is consistently poor.

"Greater Darwin has faced a consistent downturn, sliding further into negative migration territory year after year."

TLDR; Darwin's (relatively low) population growth isn't coming from interstate.

Interestingly, in 2024, more than 50% more Melbournians than Sydneysiders moved to Canberra. Bodes well for a premade footy-supporting population.