Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:18 am
The great forum in name of the Essendon Football Club
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dom_105 wrote:A. The AFL is entertaining the thought of cutting the number of rounds to 17. Idiots Alternatively we get closer to having all sides play each other twice in a 22 round season
B. We are struggling as it is to sustain clubs in Brisbane and Sydney (The former with the lowest membership in the league, the latter with the fickle-ist.) I believe both clubs have recently reported record profits and memberships???
C. The only thing that makes those two abovementioned clubs viable is the Melbourne-based support, something these new clubs will have to do without. Can you explain in detail your basis for this statement - to me it sounds more like a personal theory rather than fact
D. Splitting the Sydney market in two will have an effect on the Swans that I don't think the AFL have even taken into account. Alternatively it will provide Sydney with a local rival that may inject some West Coast/Freo type intensity into the local fixture. It will also give the Sydney market week in, week out Aussie Rules thus placing the game in the media glare constantly and not just every second week
E. Every single Gold Coast-based franchise in a national competition has failed. Simple as that. Time to change that trend then I guess
F. Carrara isn't up to AFL standard, in fact it isn't even close really. Perhaps, so lets see the AFL bring it up to standard, not a difficult challenge when you see the great job they did in helping the MCC build the MCG
G. Homebush is home to 4 NRL clubs. Your point being?
H. Sydney games do not rate in Sydney. They usually come in 4th on Saturday Nights, sometimes worse. Perhaps because Aussie Rules remains a significantly better game to watch live, in which case, we should be playing more live games in the new frontiers such as Sydney. As long as the TV stations are happy to pay the money, who cares if it rates or not
I. How many players are we going to lose to these new clubs? Maybe one or two, but if they are uncontracted and there move to a new club helps to ensure the future of our club, then its a small price to pay. What if for just one year, the new clubs had priorty over non-contracted players. These guys are moving on anyway however in this case they are simply moving on to predetermined clubs. We would have lost them anyway. However, according to reports, the Gold Coast club is likely to be made up from a bunch of very talented under 16's who recently won the National Championships
J. How many games are we going to lose to these two clubs with salary cap concessions/player zones/draft picks? From memory Essendon won its first 15 games over Brisbane. A squad that incidentally had 7 Essendon players. During the same period we played in 2 Grand Finals
K. Will it cost us a Grand Final? No
L. If West Sydney was such a sure thing, why are there not consortiums falling over themselves to be granted a license? The AFL has already indicated that new licenses will be set up in the traditional manner, ie, Membership based and therefore you will not have provate consortiums falling over themselves. Having said that, the West Sydney council is reported to be extremely keen to secure an AFL team in its region highlighting the fact that there are 300,000 people living within 30 minutes of the area's centrepoint. It is also the second fastest growing region in Australia behind, er, the Gold Coast!!
M. Why have the clubs not been consulted about this? Instead, we have Fitzpatrick spillng the beans in the Sunday paper. Not a great way to conduct business. Of course the clubs have been consulted. The AFL has been outlining its expansion plans for the last 5 years. The only clubs that are bleating are those with an agenda. In otherwords, publicity sluts Colless and MAcGuire
N. Where are the financials that show that these two clubs will be sustainable? Probably in research documents that you have not read
O. What reassurances has the AFL given existing clubs about their future in their respective markets? You mean like how the AFL has gone to struggling Melbourne based clubs and said, "hey, this isnt working for you here in Melbourne, but will will financially underpin your 2 Bit operation by largely paying for you to relocate the club to a new stadium, with guaranteed fnancial benefits" Go and have a chat to the Kangaroos.
And finally, is it really worth the effort? If it delivers a viable, long term future for our great game then of course its worth it
Windy_Hill wrote:dom_105 wrote:A. The AFL is entertaining the thought of cutting the number of rounds to 17. Idiots Alternatively we get closer to having all sides play each other twice in a 22 round seasonThen why not have 24 teams and then we could still have a nice 22 round season
B. We are struggling as it is to sustain clubs in Brisbane and Sydney (The former with the lowest membership in the league, the latter with the fickle-ist.) I believe both clubs have recently reported record profits and memberships???
C. The only thing that makes those two abovementioned clubs viable is the Melbourne-based support, something these new clubs will have to do without. Can you explain in detail your basis for this statement - to me it sounds more like a personal theory rather than fact
D. Splitting the Sydney market in two will have an effect on the Swans that I don't think the AFL have even taken into account. Alternatively it will provide Sydney with a local rival that may inject some West Coast/Freo type intensity into the local fixture. It will also give the Sydney market week in, week out Aussie Rules thus placing the game in the media glare constantly and not just every second weekFremantle V West Coast rivalry is based on the long standing rivalry between Fremantle and Perth suburbs/areas....it has been a long term rivalry. Does such a rivalry exist in Sydney?
E. Every single Gold Coast-based franchise in a national competition has failed. Simple as that. Time to change that trend then I guessAgree....the new NRL & NBL Franchises seem to have started off nicely
F. Carrara isn't up to AFL standard, in fact it isn't even close really. Perhaps, so lets see the AFL bring it up to standard, not a difficult challenge when you see the great job they did in helping the MCC build the MCGAgree again although this has been a long term issue that the AFL has not appeared to want to solve
G. Homebush is home to 4 NRL clubs. Your point being?Could it be that if 4 NRL clubs use the venue on a regular basis, then the playing surface will get chopped up and b be in poor condition for AFL games?
H. Sydney games do not rate in Sydney. They usually come in 4th on Saturday Nights, sometimes worse. Perhaps because Aussie Rules remains a significantly better game to watch live, in which case, we should be playing more live games in the new frontiers such as Sydney. As long as the TV stations are happy to pay the money, who cares if it rates or notThe AFL will care and the stations will certainly care if their ratings are poor. If this happens we can expect the TV stations to "request" the AFL fixture be such that the likes of Essendon play the expansion team in Sydney each year to help boost ratings. That's not good for bomber supporters outside of Sydney
I. How many players are we going to lose to these new clubs? Maybe one or two, but if they are uncontracted and there move to a new club helps to ensure the future of our club, then its a small price to pay. What if for just one year, the new clubs had priorty over non-contracted players. These guys are moving on anyway however in this case they are simply moving on to predetermined clubs. We would have lost them anyway. However, according to reports, the Gold Coast club is likely to be made up from a bunch of very talented under 16's who recently won the National ChampionshipsWhich current contracted Essendon players would you be happy to lose Windy? (and I don't mean players that no-one wants) as the new clubs will chase the best available talent. Yes there is talk that the Gold Coast team will have access to the best local youngsters but that also impinges on other clubs rights to an open draft.
J. How many games are we going to lose to these two clubs with salary cap concessions/player zones/draft picks? From memory Essendon won its first 15 games over Brisbane. A squad that incidentally had 7 Essendon players. During the same period we played in 2 Grand FinalsLosing games to the new club(s) is not the issue...how will our draft choices be affected and will we lose players because the new clubs will be able to outbid us in a contract war?
K. Will it cost us a Grand Final? NoWhat Windy said
L. If West Sydney was such a sure thing, why are there not consortiums falling over themselves to be granted a license? The AFL has already indicated that new licenses will be set up in the traditional manner, ie, Membership based and therefore you will not have provate consortiums falling over themselves. Having said that, the West Sydney council is reported to be extremely keen to secure an AFL team in its region highlighting the fact that there are 300,000 people living within 30 minutes of the area's centrepoint. It is also the second fastest growing region in Australia behind, er, the Gold Coast!!
M. Why have the clubs not been consulted about this? Instead, we have Fitzpatrick spillng the beans in the Sunday paper. Not a great way to conduct business. Of course the clubs have been consulted. The AFL has been outlining its expansion plans for the last 5 years. The only clubs that are bleating are those with an agenda. In otherwords, publicity sluts Colless and MAcGuireDisagree here Windy...is this your personal opinion or based on fact. From what I've read, it appears that the clubs and media were all surprised by Fitzpatrick's announcement, especially the detail in terms of time frames and possible set up of the teams.
N. Where are the financials that show that these two clubs will be sustainable? Probably in research documents that you have not read
O. What reassurances has the AFL given existing clubs about their future in their respective markets? You mean like how the AFL has gone to struggling Melbourne based clubs and said, "hey, this isnt working for you here in Melbourne, but will will financially underpin your 2 Bit operation by largely paying for you to relocate the club to a new stadium, with guaranteed fnancial benefits" Go and have a chat to the Kangaroos. The Kangaroos situation is dead and buried and so you're not really answering the question Windy. The AFL has come out and said we're gooing to have two more clubs and the TV money will cover everything. But will that cover finding two new major sponsors and the whole raft of lesser sponsors...will Victorian clubs lose out on sponsors who want to be see as players in the more attractive new markets?
And finally, is it really worth the effort? If it delivers a viable, long term future for our great game then of course its worth it
You do make some good points, but at the end of the day it dosen't really matter either way. The AFL is GOD, It's not even their way or the highway, it's their way or their way.Windy_Hill wrote: --snip--
From what I have read, the proposal is to re-model the Olympic Baseball stadium ito a boutique AFL stadium with seating of about 10,000. This will be good in ensureing you dont have 1/4 full stadiums which have no atmosphere.tom9779 wrote: my problem is with western sydney.....i mean homebush is a HORRIBLE place to watch sport. I personally think that team will struggle to pull a crowd.
bet they do... name your price?swoodley wrote: The Brisbane Bears method was a disgrace and embarrassing to the code and so you would figure that the AFL will not use that method again.
what i heard was the baseball field was to be used as a training venue and for NAB cup/practice games...not big enough for a proper AFL match.Windy_Hill wrote:From what I have read, the proposal is to re-model the Olympic Baseball stadium ito a boutique AFL stadium with seating of about 10,000. This will be good in ensureing you dont have 1/4 full stadiums which have no atmosphere.tom9779 wrote: my problem is with western sydney.....i mean homebush is a HORRIBLE place to watch sport. I personally think that team will struggle to pull a crowd.
Based on what?tom9779 wrote: these areas deserve a footy team