Expansion Joondalup Falcons in the AFL?

[RUNVS]

Was going to make a similar point; I can’t get into many WC games but that doesn’t translate into attending Freo games when seats are available. Mind you, prices here are just too much for both clubs. I did go to the Dreamtime game because it was relatively cheap and piqued my interest. Maybe if a new club was selling tix for $20 there’d be some interest.

I had not thought of that but it is an interesting idea. They could market themselves as a more working class club.

 

[Virgin Dog]

If we want to go bogan we have to go big......expand the Balga Bogans to the KGB!

Koondoola, Balga and Girrawheen

Midland Mad-Dogs

 

[Altum Volantes]

Nup.
People are far too rusted on to their teams over here. Maybe a tiny fraction of Freo fans but virtually no Eagles fan will transfer over. Where would they play- if Optus it pretty much guarantees the crap Sunday slot weekly into WA every second week. Also, there really is no geography or longstanding history to the WA AFL teams anyway. Freo's fans are not just East/South Freo supporters and West Coast's aren't just coastal populations. Also, like many states, grass roots Aussie Rules is not that flash in many parts of the state.
Two teams in each expansion state works nicely currently.

Nice to see someone who recognises the supporter bases of both clubs is not geographically split across the city.

Both clubs are basically Perth #1 and Perth #2

Adding another club is not reaching new supporters, it’s just splitting the city into 3 instead.

 

[RUNVS]

Nice to see someone who recognises the supporter bases of both clubs is not geographically split across the city.

Both clubs are basically Perth #1 and Perth #2

Adding another club is not reaching new supporters, it’s just splitting the city into 3 instead.

Problem is that WA doesn't really have any other large population centres other than Perth.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

As I said in the long thread on precisely this topic, Adelaide has one club per 650 000 people, Melbourne has one club per 550 000 people, Perth has one club per one million people, and that's going to rise to one club per 1.5 million people in 20 years. How big does that figure need to get before people think Perth can support a third team? The Eagles are already minting money and selling out every game. Freo does pretty well compared to the rest of the league also.

 

[The 747]

As I said in the long thread on precisely this topic, Adelaide has one club per 650 000 people, Melbourne has one club per 550 000 people, Perth has one club per one million people, and that's going to rise to one club per 1.5 million people in 20 years. How big does that figure need to get before people think Perth can support a third team? The Eagles are already minting money and selling out every game. Freo does pretty well compared to the rest of the league also.

It's not about the population or the funding, it is about differentiation. How do you get a third club to have support when basically the entire football supporting public of WA already has a team allegiance? There is no logical way to add a third club and Perth is the only significant population centre. The telling thing here is that WA posters on here are the ones who squash the idea. Maybe in a decade or two.

 

[LittleG]

As I said in the long thread on precisely this topic, Adelaide has one club per 650 000 people, Melbourne has one club per 550 000 people, Perth has one club per one million people, and that's going to rise to one club per 1.5 million people in 20 years. How big does that figure need to get before people think Perth can support a third team? The Eagles are already minting money and selling out every game. Freo does pretty well compared to the rest of the league also.

I didn’t realise there was a long thread, otherwise I wouldn’t have put this thread up.
Your point regarding population is why it needs to happen sooner rather than later. You can’t get all the members into the new stadium as it is.
There is no point putting 1 into Canberra as the Giants play there frequently.
North Queensland, SA and NT don’t have the population base…. It’s really just Tasmania and WA that could support a new side.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

It's not about the population or the funding, it is about differentiation. How do you get a third club to have support when basically the entire football supporting public of WA already has a team allegiance?

The point isn't to get support now, it's to get support in 20 years time when today's generation of kids grow up and have families of their own. In terms of differentiation, location isn't the only way. There's also the availability and cost of tickets, which I can't imagine is great if you're a casual Eagles fan on a budget.

Nobody is suggesting this team would be an overnight success, only that they'll eventually be viable in a rapidly growing city that already has one of the financial behemoths of the competition.

The telling thing here is that WA posters on here are the ones who squash the idea.

They might be right, or they might be pessimistic because they don't want their club to have further competition.

Maybe in a decade or two.

Huh? I thought you said everyone has an allegiance already. Will they suddenly stop having that allegiance in a decade?

 

[The 747]

The point isn't to get support now, it's to get support in 20 years time when today's generation of kids grow up and have families of their own. In terms of differentiation, location isn't the only way. There's also the availability and cost of tickets, which I can't imagine is great if you're a casual Eagles fan on a budget.

Nobody is suggesting this team would be an overnight success, only that they're viable in a rapidly growing city that already has one of the financial behemoths of the competition.


They might be right, or they might be pessimistic because they don't want their club to have further competition.


Huh? I thought you said everyone has an allegiance already. Will they suddenly stop having that allegiance in a decade?

In a decade or two there may be a sufficent amount of people in another area of WA.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

In a decade or two there may be a sufficent amount of people in another area of WA.

Where exactly? The ABS has released several population estimates, and I haven't seen any of them feature a city that will even get to the population of present-day Geelong. Even the entire South West region put together won't do that.

 

[TP86]

Coming into an already established market was tricky for Freo and would be even trickier for a third team. West Coast has 106k members, Freo only has 50k. A third team would struggle to get 30k. It took a long time for Freo to build that following as well. It'd be a long-term commitment before a third team became successful.

I reckon third WA team would become the second biggest pretty quickly. Freo's miststeps, hiring practices, culture and branding have all been major impediments to growing and being taken seriously. Not expanding WA to protect Freo is sunk cost fallacy thinking.

If the third team owns the late night second Friday TV slot created by the 10th game of the weekend it could be a huge success. Could also be a trendsetter in nationalising the competition as a late-starting second Friday night game wouldn't exclusively cater to the Victorian audience.

 

[The 747]

Where exactly? The ABS has released several population estimates, and I haven't seen any of them feature a city that will even get to the population of present-day Geelong. Even the entire South West region put together won't do that.

Not a city, perhaps the growth of Perth itself

 

[The 747]

I reckon third WA team would become the second biggest pretty quickly. Freo's miststeps, hiring practices, culture and branding have all been major impediments to growing and being taken seriously. Not expanding WA to protect Freo is sunk cost fallacy thinking.

If the third team owns the late night second Friday TV slot created by the 10th game of the weekend it could be a huge success. Could also be a trendsetter in nationalising the competition as a late-starting second Friday night game wouldn't exclusively cater to the Victorian audience.

Call the team the 'Eastern Invaders' and make them the WA heels.

 

[JackOutback]

Where exactly? The ABS has released several population estimates, and I haven't seen any of them feature a city that will even get to the population of present-day Geelong. Even the entire South West region put together won't do that.

WA needs to invest in its regions better. We should have several mid-sized cities scattered around the state. Really, the only likely contender is Bunbury, taking in the whole South-West. Hell, you might pull some from the Peel/Mandurah reason to boost the numbers initially.

 

[radiojake]

Joondalup is on my birth certificate

Know nothing about the place as we moved back to SA when I was still young

I guess they would be my team though

Endorse this move

 

[andana]

Anything to get the obnoxious wperth fans out of the wafl

 

[AnEmptyChair]

I don't think it would happen for a bunch of reasons, not least the weather, but I love the idea of a Northern Australia team that represents NT and FNQ, splitting their home games between Darwin and Cairns, with perhaps the odd game in Alice Springs.

 

[eastfreo75]

I agree that Perth is probably the best place for a 20th team to go with Tasmania's 19th. Rich, footy mad state that has had excellent population growth.

I completely disagree that the talent pool is too small. If we added 2 more teams and got to 20, we'd have more Australians per AFL team now than we did in 2012 when GWS came in. We'd also have way more Australians per AFL team than we had in 1995 when we got to 16 teams.

The development pathways are also better than they ever have been and will continue to improve. 20 teams is fine.

Nobody in Perth agrees with a third AFL team.

 

[eastfreo75]

As I said in the long thread on precisely this topic, Adelaide has one club per 650 000 people, Melbourne has one club per 550 000 people, Perth has one club per one million people, and that's going to rise to one club per 1.5 million people in 20 years. How big does that figure need to get before people think Perth can support a third team? The Eagles are already minting money and selling out every game. Freo does pretty well compared to the rest of the league also.

Fremantle is half the club is West Coast and a third team will be half of the Dockers.

It's extremely difficult for a third team to poach fans.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

West Perth could get 20-30k members I reckon and become the Joondalup Falcons in the AFL. I would drop the Eagles and sign up tomorrow as long as it is the West Perth football club that is joining. If it was some new club called Joondalup then I Woukd have no interest.
Would have to be red and Blue also, Red Jumper with a blue Sash as home jumper, away jumper or flash can be anything.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Tasmania then Bunbury/Busso 19/20th in 4/5 years

 

[BallaratBulldog]

I think NT was going to make their own report.

 

[Hamingja]

How many people would actually ditch their current teams to support a third WA team?

More than in Tassie because there is a massive waitlist to get a seat for the Eagles.

People in Tassie only want a team so they can see Collingwood/Richmond/Essendon/Geelong etc play instead of GC, GWS & Freo. Tassie team will be a disaster.

 

[HalloweenJack]

West Perth could get 20-30k members I reckon and become the Joondalup Falcons in the AFL. I would drop the Eagles and sign up tomorrow as long as it is the West Perth football club that is joining. If it was some new club called Joondalup then I Woukd have no interest.
Would have to be red and Blue also, Red Jumper with a blue Sash as home jumper, away jumper or flash can be anything.

I think there would be a lot of Eagles members leaving and joining if the new club was aligned to West Perth. My first team is West Perth and always will be and if they became part of the AFL they would be my first team again. I can't see it happening though.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

I think there would be a lot of Eagles members leaving and joining if the new club was aligned to West Perth. My first team is West Perth and always will be and if they became part of the AFL they would be my first team again. I can't see it happening though.

Agree, unfortunately the AFL don’t like traditional clubs even though 12 of the now 18 clubs are traditiona clubs.
I honestly don’t think a third franchise will work here, it will have to be a traditional club.