20th AFL Team

[Canberra Pear]

I missed the bagder-based name memo for Canberra accounts.

I feel like I'm missing something. Should we be named the Canberra Badgers?

Not from what I've seen. People from Wagga (or Griffith or anywhere north of Albury) send their kids to Unis in Canberra, get their furniture from Ikea in Canberra, and get medivaced to Canberra Hospital. If they need to go to a bigger city it's Canberra. Plus there have been Riverina teams in the ACTAFL/AFL Canberra on and off for decades.

If they were competing with a NSW side maybe not, but compared a Sydney side (or a Melbourne team) I think people from the Riverina would back a Canberra team.

I think, just like the rest of the Canberra bid, the Riverina isn’t as black and white situation.

It's a distinct region a bit removed, so we can't just tack on their 250k people to our market like they're going to be able to attend 11 games.

But we’ll be the closest AFL team for the majority of these people. Even if we don’t play regular season men’s games, I expect we’d still have a presence (preseason, AFLW matches etc). We’ll likely have a few players from the region, so their friends and family will come, too.

It’s not a big block of population we can just tack on, but it’s also not nothing. I can see the Riverina adding 500-1000 to the average crowds.

 

[Professor Knowall]

I've finally had enough time to come back here and catch up on the latest talk - and had to wade through a half dozen pages of often bizarre, way off topic tripe, culminating in a pretend Pies fan who only displayed his gross ignorance of Canberra.

What really amused/bemused me was all the posts about 'effin Christchurch - WTF ... because I'm actually posting this from Christchurch, where I've been for the past week! Now, of all the possible locations for an AFL 20th (or 21st or 22nd) team, Christchurch ain't among them - and what plans the A-League, BBL, NBL, NRL, Netball or whatever may or may not have in Christchurch or Perth or wherever are also utterly irrelevant for this thread.

But, though also off-topic, some here may be interested about their new stadium, of which I had the privilege of having a little preview tour. The structural work is now complete and it's now being fitted out. It's very impressive and what was stressed to me was that it was only the roof that really makes it viable. This was the key lesson learned from Dunedin, which now bills itself as New Zealand's event capitol, based on the overwhelming success of its roofed stadium as an entertainment venue (Dunedin has less than half Hobart's population). Christchurch want in on all those events, and there was talk of Dunedin, Christchurch and Hobart forming a partnership attracting top acts to their roofed stadiums.

Also, there was much talk, what with the upcoming rugby union WC, about Christchurch pitching itself to rugby lovers worldwide as the "World Rugby Capitol" or some such similar term - nothing was decided, so just talk at this stage. But, over a drink or two, I spoke with an Englishman and a Scot who both recently came to Christchurch (the Scot as a permanent migrant) to further their rugby coaching careers. They and others explained that CanterburyChristchurch has the reputation of having the world's best rugby-soaked culture and coaching knowledge, and thus an opportunity for Christchurch to cash in as a "mecca" destination for rugby tourism. But enough of all this off-topic stuff - hopefully some here may find it of some net rest, unlike much of the other off-topic rubbish about Christchurch and Perth.

Discussion on the looming 20th team boils down to 3 realistic options -
Canberra - the favourite option, though the stadium size and facilities may be an issue.
Qld 3 - Shooting up to 2nd favourite, given the surging participation numbers and the really high quality of the leading recruits of the last few years. I can foresee the first Australian Football match in 2033 at the new Brisbane stadium to be a state of origin contest between Qld and Vic - and given all the recent top end talent from Qld, I'm. not sure who would be favourite!
WA 3 - OK, it'll reduce the travel demands of the Eagles & Freo by providing a couple more derbies, but otherwise doesn't provide any advantages compared to the other two options.

 

[hampton]

No, the Swans and the Lions were relocated functioning VFL sides NOT a failed NSWRL side.

Incorrect, both were bankrupt and Fitzroy were failing on the field as well and would not be existing today had it be if they werent moved to Sydney and Brisbane and given extra funding by the VFL in the bid to create a national comp.

edit - it even shares this on Sydney Swans website if you need to better acquaint yourself with AFL history:

It was revealed that South Melbourne had suffered an operating loss of at least $150,000 for the five previous years...

Significantly, it was noted that the VFL had frozen South Melbourne’s share of the ground improvement fund, which stood at $500,000 in 1981. This meant the club was unable to improve the facilities at Lake Oval in South Melbourne, which had been the club’s home since 1874.

Clearly, the message from the South Melbourne administration was that there was no alternative. If the club continued to operate as it had done it would not survive. But if it adopted the Sydney proposal it would not lose its identity, either through an amalgamation or a ground-sharing arrangement, which could even lead to amalgamation.

No, The Bears are a resurrection of a failed NSWRL side.

No they're not actually it's a brand new club with the branding of the Bears. The North Sydney Bears NSWRL club still exists and is operating in NSW, not being moved or resurrected, existing as it's own entity.

Perth Bears
North Sydney Bears

But don't let the truth stop your agenda.

 

[RedV3x]

Incorrect,

No, the Swans and the Lions were relocated functioning VFL sides NOT a failed NSWRL side.

But don't let the truth stop your agenda.

Look in the mirror.

The Bears are a resurrection of a failed NSWRL side.

 

[Canberra Pear]

I've finally had enough time to come back here and catch up on the latest talk - and had to wade through a half dozen pages of often bizarre, way off topic tripe, culminating in a pretend Pies fan who only displayed his gross ignorance of Canberra.

What really amused/bemused me was all the posts about 'effin Christchurch - WTF ... because I'm actually posting this from Christchurch, where I've been for the past week! Now, of all the possible locations for an AFL 20th (or 21st or 22nd) team, Christchurch ain't among them - and what plans the A-League, BBL, NBL, NRL, Netball or whatever may or may not have in Christchurch or Perth or wherever are also utterly irrelevant for this thread.

I think you may have misread (or I may have), but the references to Christchurch were about the NRL’s future options. A bit of a derailment, but in the discussion on who had more options to expand to.

Discussion on the looming 20th team boils down to 3 realistic options -
Canberra - the favourite option, though the stadium size and facilities may be an issue.

In its current form, Manuka’s definitely not big enough. But the ACT Government is already looking to upgrade it to 20k for cricket. So that should strengthen our bid as that progresses.

Qld 3 - Shooting up to 2nd favourite, given the surging participation numbers and the really high quality of the leading recruits of the last few years. I can foresee the first Australian Football match in 2033 at the new Brisbane stadium to be a state of origin contest between Qld and Vic - and given all the recent top end talent from Qld, I'm. not sure who would be favourite!

I just can’t agree with this. SEQ is booming. I’m all aboard a future team, but the timing just doesn’t fit for the 20th team. A new team occurring alongside the opening of the much bigger stadium would flood the market with seats and any demand would just go to the Lions rather than the new team. If the new stadium wasn’t happening, it’d be a better option, but not with Vic Park opening around the same time.

WA 3 - OK, it'll reduce the travel demands of the Eagles & Freo by providing a couple more derbies, but otherwise doesn't provide any advantages compared to the other two options.

Even then, a new team doesn’t reduce travel any more than North playing games there already does. A much cheaper option to reduce travel.