Future of the AFL

[||-GOB-||]

I don't think some of you understand how much of a stranglehold rugby league and soccer have on Western Sydney.

There's no way a team will be placed there because the costs to the AFL of propping it up would make the decades of hard work and good luck with the Swans look like nothing.

 

[RUNVS]

I don't think some of you understand how much of a stranglehold rugby league and soccer have on Western Sydney.

There's no way a team will be placed there because the costs to the AFL of propping it up would make the decades of hard work and good luck with the Swans look like nothing.

Sure the AFL would need to help the team that moves to Western Sydney for several years but now is the best time to introduce a 2nd AFL team in Sydney on the back of the Swans several years of success. I live in Sydney and i think that a team in Western Sydney could work.

 

[||-GOB-||]

Sure the AFL would need to help the team that moves to Western Sydney for several years but now is the best time to introduce a 2nd AFL team in Sydney on the back of the Swans several years of success. I live in Sydney and i think that a team in Western Sydney could work.

Years? Try decades... I'm not bullshitting about what I said earlier.

 

[chrisjie]

I can see another team in QLD in the middle term (Kangaroos) and one more in NSW in the longgg term once rugby bites the dust.

As for the draw being a 'farce' look at profession sports in the US and GB. No fixture is perfectly fair. Imagine being in the same division as the New York Yankees and having to play them more than any other team.

 

[RUNVS]

Years? Try decades... I'm not bullshitting about what I said earlier.

Maybe but its got to happen. Interstate clubs have a good history of being successful both on the field and off the field. The AFL needs a bigger share of the Sydney market and to do that they need a 2nd AFL team in Sydney.

 

[||-GOB-||]

Maybe but its got to happen. Interstate clubs have a good history of being successful both on the field and off the field. The AFL needs a bigger share of the Sydney market and to do that they need a 2nd AFL team in Sydney.

The AFL needs less Melbourne teams and more teams in NSW and QLD if it wants to remain relevant as a national comp. However, what the AFL need and want to happen is very different to what will happen.

 

[tandino]

Agreed. What some people dont understand is there is a rivalry between different parts of Sydney. Some people wont support the Swans because they are from the wrong part of Sydney however they will support a AFL team which is based in their part of Sydney.

So if the precious West Sydneysiders won't support Sydney, who's to say they will support "West Sydney FC"

 

[shoe]

I was thinking about it today, how plausible is a NZ team??

I think there could be a potential market there.. obviously the main concern would be travelling to & from there (especially from Perth), but the flight from Vic -> NZ is short. It wouldn't be much different from being in Adelaide.

Kiwis are as sports-mad as we are, not to mention the amount of Aussies that live there now... worth a thought?

 

[Footy Matt]

Kangaroos to the Gold Coast and Hawthorn to Tasmania would do the trick alone in my view. No need to add more clubs to the competition.

 

[Hawkk]

In the year 2000

 

[RUNVS]

I was thinking about it today, how plausible is a NZ team??

I think there could be a potential market there.. obviously the main concern would be travelling to & from there (especially from Perth), but the flight from Vic -> NZ is short. It wouldn't be much different from being in Adelaide.

Kiwis are as sports-mad as we are, not to mention the amount of Aussies that live there now... worth a thought?

Yes it is worth looking in to as New Zealand and Australia have alot in common so its plausible that New Zealanders may embrace AFL.

 

[||-GOB-||]

I was thinking about it today, how plausible is a NZ team??

I think there could be a potential market there.. obviously the main concern would be travelling to & from there (especially from Perth), but the flight from Vic -> NZ is short. It wouldn't be much different from being in Adelaide.

Kiwis are as sports-mad as we are, not to mention the amount of Aussies that live there now...worth a thought?

Yeah I heard that those yanks like sports too, lets put a team in the USA. While we're at it let's put one in Canada too so they can have a North American derby!




Some of you people are so out of touch with reality it isn't funny...

 

[Hap Hapablap]

I was thinking about it today, how plausible is a NZ team??

I think there could be a potential market there.. obviously the main concern would be travelling to & from there (especially from Perth), but the flight from Vic -> NZ is short. It wouldn't be much different from being in Adelaide.

Kiwis are as sports-mad as we are, not to mention the amount of Aussies that live there now... worth a thought?

no chance. firstly its the australian football league and we have enough support from the nation that we dont have to go scrapemongering into dangeous territory. plus kiwis would hate an aussie sport and definetly not support it. lets keep the game here in Australia thanks and if the Kiwis want an AFL league they should make one for themselves rather than jumping into our leagues.

 

[ChrisFooty]

No team is viable for western sydney for the sort-medium term future.

I agree the Gold Coast is better off getting a new franchise (The swans victorian past is their main liability)

 

[FootyJunkie]

No Vic team wants to move and will fight tooth and nail to stay in Victoria. North and the Dogs are getting beefed up facilities, so why would they move? The AFL has now gone soft on attacking the idea of re-location and especially mergers compared to the '80s and '90s. Ross Oakley killed off Fitzroy when the AFL didn't know any better, thinking a merger would be humbly accepted and hoped that people would understand that it was for the good of the game. There was so much talk and speculation and about a merger for ten or so years, but when it was finally done in 1996, the league got so much critisicm it has never brought the subject up formally again.

If the AFL want second teams in Sydney and South-East Queensland, they are going to have to bite the bullet and offer new licenses. Bring in Southport, as for the second club, I'd bring in a start up club that represented the area between West Sydney and Canberra, playing lower drawing games at Manuka and bigger/blockbuster games in West Sydney...the Central Wildcats?

 

[ewol]

A major contributing factor to the success of the both the Sydney and Brisbane clubs is the fact that both areas have large expat Victorian (and WA/SA) supporter bases.

The Gold Coast also has large expat supporter base thus making it an ideal area for a second QLD team.

Western Sydney on the other hand and in particular Blacktown (where the supposed 2nd Sydney team would be based), has a few things going against it namely:

1) It as a very strong traditional working class demographic whose roots are firmly entrenched into rugby league.

2) A large percentage of the local population are from the poorer ethnic backgrounds whose roots are firmly entrenched into the round ball game.

3) Western Sydney (along with its rather infamous reputation) is not exactly the first port of call for the majority of expat Vics and West Australians etc.

Moving a Team to Western Sydney would be a very bold move indeed and would have to be part of a very expensive and long term plan.

I can't see this happening for a very long time...

 

[Ronin]

Again i dont agree. When the Swans first went to Sydney they didnt have alot of fans and it took a long time to build up a good fan base. Those fans arnt likely to abbondon their club for another. If a AFL team moved to Western Sydney then it would be hard the first few years but support would slowly build within the Western Sydney area and within 10 years the western Sydney club will have over 30000 members. People say that Western Sydney wont accept a AFL club but i bet the same thing was said when Souh Melbourne relocated. It is a move the AFL must make if it wants to expand.

Absolutely laughable.

 

[Ronin]

Yes it is worth looking in to as New Zealand and Australia have alot in common so its plausible that New Zealanders may embrace AFL.

See my previous response, then multiply it by a factor of 10,000.

 

[huntos]

Considering that sport is evolving where television controls the game i think that a second sydney team will be placed in Sydney within 15 years, the AFL will sacrifice support money for melbourne clubs such as north and footscray to go after the larger TV audiences of Sydney because thats what will earn them more money.

For the TV networks its better to have a western bulldogs in west sydney with half the crowd and twice the TV audience potential than bulldogs in melbourne with half the potential TV audience. Just like in the AFL now they move the game from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night to boost TV ratings, in the NRL they have even gone to Monday night despite their low crowds and unprofitable clubs for a boost in allowance from the TV money.

The only question with the future of the AFL is if the new clubs will be relocated or if they will created, it clear that the AFL want clubs to relocate but if North win the premiership this year it will be very difficult to persuade them to take up the offer.