Expansion Giants seek US game for points

Oct 9, 2003
44,587
42,215
Singapore / 30,000 feet
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Eagles (NFL), Suns (NBA)
I’d like to see this develop. Would have no issues with Collingwood playing away in this fixture.
I'm also not against it. e.g Our Kangaroos moniker getting exposure in the US could be good for us, the "Aussie" team for American fans.

We're committed to Tassie though for the coming years, so I doubt it would be us playing the Giants in the US.

Maybe the Bombers or Tigers. With Sheeds getting involved as the match ambassador to drum up interest.
 
I wouldn't say the Fort Lauderdale ground is perfect, but it's far more suitable than any alternative. Reckon you'd have to play it at the start of the season because it probably wouldn't be available in the middle of the year. A night game there would be no different to St Kilda's 1pm Wellington fixture in 2015, in terms of east coast time here.

Personally, I'd like to see the US experiment with an AFL Women's game being played there first for premiership points.

Could even do it as a double-header women's fixture in mid/late January - avoiding the problem of playing in Melbourne while the Oz Open is on.
That's just creating a bigger load of new problems. And playing in Melbourne during the AO really isn't a problem, nevertheless they've already figured out a simpler and cheaper way to avoid it.

The women's league could benefit in a round-a-bout way though. If the men's season goes back to a split-round season opener to accommodate for this GWS-American venture, it'll allow more breathing room for the AFLW finals.
 
May 23, 2010
17,947
18,214
Chalong 83130
AFL Club
West Coast
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Perth (Demons)
Stupid idea, I've been traveling to the states every 6 weeks (from Thailand) for the last 2 and a half years, time difference is to great, they'd need to long at either end of the trip to adjust.
 
May 30, 2006
17,516
10,291
Canberra
AFL Club
North Melbourne
All sports. I visited syracuse in upstate new york in 2012, and they had a cricket field, with grandstand (similar set up to your local VFL ground)
What size though. Australia has huge (by world standards) cricket grounds only because of Australian Football. I would imagine that cricket grounds (for Indian and Pakistani ex-pats mostly) would be on the small side, and unsuited to the AFL.
 
Jul 28, 2012
11,008
10,326
Melbourne, the lost City.
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
QPR, Buffalo Bills
Just exactly where would they play? Aussie Rules size ovals with seating are not all that plentiful in California. and besides a lot of empty park space is being taken up by "tent" people.
Americans are largely very insular with just about everything foreign, an AFL game will be a novelty, something to have a chuckle about and you will never change the mind of the thousands of Al Bundy's over there.
 
Apr 17, 2006
27,230
16,553
???
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Miami Dolphins(NFL)
What size though. Australia has huge (by world standards) cricket grounds only because of Australian Football. I would imagine that cricket grounds (for Indian and Pakistani ex-pats mostly) would be on the small side, and unsuited to the AFL.
They're big enough to have a gridiron in the middle of it
 
Oct 9, 2003
44,587
42,215
Singapore / 30,000 feet
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Eagles (NFL), Suns (NBA)
May 30, 2006
17,516
10,291
Canberra
AFL Club
North Melbourne
They're big enough to have a gridiron in the middle of it
Which is much smaller than the field needed for an AFL game - or any adult 18 a side Australian Football game. You could fit an American Football field in pretty much any major cricket oval in the world (except maybe Auckland's Eden Park); but that doesn't mean they are anywhere near suitable for AFL level footy.
 

Johnny Bananas

Premiership Player Hater
Sep 10, 2010
12,673
17,001
Next door
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
I don't mind it. Much better market than NZ or China.
I don't agree. The US is a completely saturated sports market. China isn't. Even if the odds of China ever latching on to AFL are remote, they're still higher than footy ever making a dent in the American market.

I don't think the AFL should bother trying to expand internationally at all, but if they do, they should be looking at up and coming nations that haven't yet been sucked into the American sports orbit, like India, Indonesia or Nigeria.
 
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