A-League Grand Finals To Be Played In Sydney Has Been Revoked! Replaced By 'Unite Round'

[Munga]

More Sydney BS!

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Eight figures for three years is good, but if this will always be sold to the highest bidder, we know it will always be Sydney. And it takes away an awesome part of our league, home Grand Finals!

 

[Punt Road Feral]

One of the best things about the A League is the club who deserves to host the right in front of their fans does unlike the NRL and AFL.

So many memorable events with home GF games. Tbh if they are desperate for cash I’d rather it go over two legs so they double to gate takings and tv ratings as well as it creates a story.

 

[Munga]

It looks like it's $26mil over three years. That seems like a decent sum. I might have tolerated it for three years, take the cash and run. But it will stay in Sydney, count on it.

 

[SM]

Imagine a City v Victory Grand Final in Sydney.. wtf.

Great for me to see Adelaide if we make it but such a bizarre decision.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Over the past few years, the NSW Government has spent a lot of money in hoovering up as many Socceroos and Matilda games as they possibly could, aided and abetted by a Victorian Government that has shown very little interest in competing for the rights to host those games (despite the strong crowd at the recent Matildas v Sweden game at AAMI Park). This is just the logical next step.

The majority of the football media in this country comes from NSW (I can almost imagine the tweets from Rugari right now), so they'll fully support the move. From a short term perspective and a bottom line perspective, it makes sense, but it alienates a significant majority of football fans around the country and depletes the goodwill accrued through the Socceroos' performance at the World Cup.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

It looks like it's $26mil over three years. That seems like a decent sum. I might have tolerated it for three years, take the cash and run. But it will stay in Sydney, count on it.

This isn't quite right. According to the APL press release, it's expected that people coming to Sydney will spend $26 million in NSW as a result of the grand final being hosted in Sydney. The actual amount received by the APL from the NSW Government (Destination NSW) is not public.

 

[Munga]

This isn't quite right. According to the APL press release, it's expected that people coming to Sydney will spend $26 million in NSW as a result of the grand final being hosted in Sydney. The actual amount received by the APL from the NSW Government (Destination NSW) is not public.

Ah right. Well let's hope the eight figure sum is $99mil.

Sounds like the clubs agreed, so you'd think they are getting a cut. And the league is taking a guaranteed pot regardless of who's in the GF.

I just can't see mass numbers of fans travelling, nor neutrals turning up. The money better be more than worth the trouble.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Article from the Daily Telegraph about the deal (it's behind a paywall).

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/aleagues-strike-threeyear-deal-with-nsw-government-for-grand-finals-to-be-hosted-in-sydney/news-story/ded67927159e4e13d33159e4cf2abeab

• The NSW Government approached the APL about the prospect of paying to have the grand final hosted in Sydney;
• It's taken 12 months to negotiate the deal;
• A-League Women's grand final will be staged at the end of April each year;
• A-League Men's grand final will be on the first weekend of June each year;
• Accor, Allianz and CommBank are all booked to host the grand final, and the stadium chosen to host the grand final will depend on which teams qualify (e.g., they'll use the venue with the lowest capacity for a grand final featuring two teams from outside Sydney);
• APL is negotiating with several well-known European clubs to play against an All-Star XI in the week leading up to the grand final, with the match to be played at Accor Stadium;
• All clubs are on board with the move to play the next three grand finals in Sydney;
• APL will work with sponsors to try to create travel packages to make it is affordable;
• Exact value of the deal is not disclosed, but it is understood to be "eight figures".

 

[Dixie Flatline]

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I take it back. Rugari is actually against the decision from the APL.

 

[Munga]

This'll be good...

 

[peternorth]

Unsure about this either way. Money talks, fair enough. Makes sense. Ive always felt that a successful league/sport that's not afl or nrl requires strong, vibrant support from sydney/nsw. The NBL went down this path many moons ago (early 2000s).

Over the past few years, the NSW Government has spent a lot of money in hoovering up as many Socceroos and Matilda games as they possibly could, aided and abetted by a Victorian Government that has shown very little interest in competing for the rights to host those games (despite the strong crowd at the recent Matildas v Sweden game at AAMI Park). This is just the logical next step.

The majority of the football media in this country comes from NSW (I can almost imagine the tweets from Rugari right now), so they'll fully support the move. From a short term perspective and a bottom line perspective, it makes sense, but it alienates a significant majority of football fans around the country and depletes the goodwill accrued through the Socceroos' performance at the World Cup.

I think you're right. Looking at the world cup coverage
Sarah Walsh - sydney fc/wsw
Bozza - sydney born/raised, former Mariner
Niav Owens - NSW
Bayliss - ???
Basheer - ??? He's very polished and you wouldn't know where hes from
Foster - NSW

 

[nobbyiscool]

This is ******* bollocks.

Although angering your fans, selling your showpiece to a city that people won’t travel to out of spite, and announcing it in a manner that insults your fans is the perfect Oz football response to a modicum of World Cup success.

 

[apollo_creed]

Unsure about this either way. Money talks, fair enough. Makes sense. Ive always felt that a successful league/sport that's not afl or nrl requires strong, vibrant support from sydney/nsw. The NBL went down this path many moons ago (early 2000s).



I think you're right. Looking at the world cup coverage
Sarah Walsh - sydney fc/wsw
Bozza - sydney born/raised, former Mariner
Niav Owens - NSW
Bayliss - ???
Basheer - ??? He's very polished and you wouldn't know where hes from
Foster - NSW

Pretty sure Basheer is an SA boy. But assume he lives in Sydney and has for a while.

 

[Andonis1997]

This'll be good...

"When will you resign?" is the main one he's getting

 

[giggler99]

More Sydney BS!

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Eight figures for three years is good, but if this will always be sold to the highest bidder, we know it will always be Sydney. And it takes away an awesome part of our league, home Grand Finals!

This sucks balls! The uniqueness of a home Grand Final is what made the Grand Final special in the A-League. What if we get another WU V City final who's gonna turn up to that turd of a match in Sydney? It doesn't take long after a spike in interest for football in this country to screw sh!t up again!

ohh and Farrk the Sydney Football mafia who think the world revolves around them.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

This sucks balls! The uniqueness of a home Grand Final is what made the Grand Final special in the A-League. What if we get another WU V City final who's gonna turn up to that turd of a match in Sydney? It doesn't take long after a spike in interest for football in this country to screw sh!t up again!

ohh and Farrk the Sydney Football mafia who think the world revolves around them.

I'm surprised that the media types that are generally most supportive of whatever the administrators do have actually come out in strong criticism of the decision this morning. APL has really put everyone offside this morning.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

This'll be good...

It'll be a let-down. Pre-screened questions and they'll select the easy ones for him to answer.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Apparently the fan groups of Victory and City are already planning protests to be displayed at the Melbourne derby on Saturday. I'm going, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they cook up.

 

[Munga]

"When will you resign?" is the main one he's getting

Yeah I was on with that as well, but the clubs wanted it.

Are we that desperate for cash? Just 12 months ago the league received $140m from Silverleak and $200m from Paramoth. Eight figures for selling the soul and disenchanting over 90% of your fanbase seems idiotic.

 

[Munga]

Apparently the fan groups of Victory and City are already planning protests to be displayed at the Melbourne derby on Saturday. I'm going, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they cook up.

#itsapublictoiletseat

 

[giggler99]

Yeah I was on with that as well, but the clubs wanted it.

Are we that desperate for cash? Just 12 months ago the league received $140m from Silverleak and $200m from Paramoth. Eight figures for selling the soul and disenchanting over 90% of your fanbase seems idiotic.

How much of the World Cup money will go to the League? Probably not much now that the FFA don't run it! In any case I would prefer most of that money go to grassroots.

 

[peternorth]

Pretty sure Basheer is an SA boy. But assume he lives in Sydney and has for a while.

interesting.

 

[Jetafl]

As a fan of the A-League I'm a traditionalist so I like to see the team that earned the right to host (I'm sure this is all about money) and if we have a stronger league for it, I accept it. But as a huge Reds fan the GF Reds v Wanderers in 2016 at AO with 50k plus was rocking.

Quite the advantage for the Sydney based teams if they didn't earn the right to host.

 

[Dixie Flatline]