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Expansion Thread

I didnt realise that the Sunshine coast stadium is 100% being redeveloped. I thought it was a preliminary discussion.

With the works starting next year, surely they jump to the front of the queue for expansion?

Will be on par with Adelaide as the best sized stadium in the A-league
 
yer was gonna post that up earlier - plus it has a "china clause" lol....

The Australian Government has outlaid $600 million over 10 years to fund PNG’s entry into the NRL which is expected to enter the competition in 2028.

The breakdown of the total figure sees a $60m payment to the NRL for a licensee fee, $290m for franchise support and $250m to bolster rugby league in the region.

“Can’t fix cost of living, can’t fix Alice Springs, can’t fix energy crisis, can’t fix the country’s division but happy to blow $600m in PNG. FFS Albo.”

Weidler said another point that “disturbs” him is the mooted tax exemptions for players.

“That for me stuffs up the salary cap,” Weidler said.

“The salary cap is not balanced but if you’re getting tax-free money, you’ve got a double cap straight away.

“How is that fair for let’s say the Raiders who always have an issue bringing players to their club for whatever reason? They’ve got a $12m cap, suddenly PNG have got a $20m cap, which it is in effect if these tax breaks go through. That’s not fair to other teams.

The $600m cash injection for PNG has been described as soft diplomacy as Australia tries to slow China’s growing influence in the region.
 
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Football will continue to fight a losing battle when it comes to getting things like funding, remember when Arnie called for a home of football? lol

If football was No.2 let alone No.1 in the pecking order I think it will be a different story but given where the sport is in the hierarchy list of what's important in the sporting landscape it will always collect the crumbs coming from a lower end.

We know rugby league, union, cricket and AFL are always get favoured as it can give them easy political points so what can football do so they can get their share? The NRL sold an easy narrative around PNG so Australia can protect them from China.

It also doesnt help that the govt. seems to prioritise also on the olympics over international tournaments like the World Cup either.

Maybe football needs to think outside of the square? I remember Bozza said someone should create a political party for football basically you need to go govt with a narrative you can sell and I don't think football has done a good enough job or doesn't have a strong selling point to go govt.

We are simply not important enough outside of the odd scarf.
 
Barca, besides the complications we obviously have weak power brokers plain and simple and looked as such.

IMO this also highlights right now the divide in our game being weak as a power broker.
We have 2 sides that don't play as 1, being 1 we'd have some clout to present our case.
Both those other codes have strong following because they have the best of the best - we don't.
So the sell is water down.
IF we had a strong 1st open comp I would expect crowds would grow and have a better outlook overall and open the game up that the other don't have.
Linking right down imo is our main weapon to growth and sell to Gov funding.
 
LFC said:
Barca, besides the complications we obviously have weak power brokers plain and simple and looked as such.

IMO this also highlights right now the divide in our game being weak as a power broker.
We have 2 sides that don't play as 1, being 1 we'd have some clout to present our case.
Both those other codes have strong following because they have the best of the best - we don't.
So the sell is water down.
IF we had a strong 1st open comp I would expect crowds would grow and have a better outlook overall and open the game up that the other don't have.
Linking right down imo is our main weapon to growth and sell to Gov funding.
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Fair points LFC, it would help football was more unified and had a strong vision to grow the sport at all levels.

It easy to blame the govt and say they dont like football or whatever but the reality is the game is seen as the poor cousin compared to most of the codes and hasn't been strong enough to go to to get their fair share.
F Lowy tried but it slowed after the dreadful World Cup bid.

We pretty much rely on World Cup appearances and a-league grand finals for relevance and funding which is good but also is bad because we don't have a strong foundation that exists in football mad countries just see Asia as an example, I can't imagine the sport would be treated differently if the Socceroos didn't qualify for the World Cup and that the idea that the govt. would start taking it more seriously from that would be naive given the history of the sport here.
 
My major peeve on infrastructure is that Melbourne does not have a 45,000 - 50,000 rectangular stadium to be used by the 3 rectangular codes. The MCG is awful for watching football. Marvel is ok but the AFL will rarely allow use of it.

As an aside - this is the type of development we should be looking at. 12,000 seats should be an ideal size for a second Brisbane side / ipswich side in the future.

 
If A League franchises attendance figures keep on declining, A League franchises tv numbers keep declining and A League franchises mainstream media coverage keeps declining then there will be no more talk of 'expansion'.

You'll be looking at 'stagnation' or perhaps 'contraction'.

Its even possible the A League franchise competition might be looking at 'expiration' in 2 years.

Or at best....

3 years tops!
 
Ange's high line said:
Hope the NST really kicks off & APL can be put out of its misery, honestly.
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Which in the long run is probably the best outcome for football in Australia....

The A League franchises competition is really Australian football showing delusions of grandeur.

Regional or States based club competitions played in autumn/ winter with a Champions League format played in the spring would be a great outcome for the game. Let's get this franchise licence nonsense out of football and let the football club’s back in to get football going once again.
 
The Flying Bat said:
Which in the long run is probably the best outcome for football in Australia....

The A League franchises competition is really Australian football showing delusions of grandeur.

Regional or States based club competitions played in autumn/ winter with a Champions League format played in the spring would be a great outcome for the game. Let's get this franchise licence nonsense out of football and let the football club’s back in to get football going once again.
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Well why doesn't the npl get good attendance/viewership now then and do you think honestly think If they were the number one competition they would do better?
 
The Flying Bat said:
If A League franchises attendance figures keep on declining, A League franchises tv numbers keep declining and A League franchises mainstream media coverage keeps declining then there will be no more talk of 'expansion'.

You'll be looking at 'stagnation' or perhaps 'contraction'.

Its even possible the A League franchise competition might be looking at 'expiration' in 2 years.

Or at best....

3 years tops!
Click to expand...

Don't know about that man. Attendances up, ratings up, media up. Although I think not to pre-COVID levels yet.

And I think they've already been through the contraction phase. With COVID and blowing away $$$ and a pitch invasion, they've been forced to contract, spend less and play the kids.

Any further contraction probably is extinction. But people have been saying "5 years tops" for the last 20 years haha. But it's very precarious right now, one week at a time.
 
HappyGuus said:
Don't know about that man. Attendances up, ratings up, media up. Although I think not to pre-COVID levels yet.

And I think they've already been through the contraction phase. With COVID and blowing away $$$ and a pitch invasion, they've been forced to contract, spend less and play the kids.

Any further contraction probably is extinction. But people have been saying "5 years tops" for the last 20 years haha. But it's very precarious right now, one week at a time.
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Yes, I think that CCM winning the last couple of years has been great for the League. I had thought it was doomed, but it seems to have a new lease of life. Sydney FC and Victory have needed to get their acts in order, and seem to have done so. Onward and upward from here I expect.

Coupled with the start of the NST Football in Australia is finally ready to make an impact.
 
Hillbilly55 said:
Yes, I think that CCM winning the last couple of years has been great for the League. I had thought it was doomed, but it seems to have a new lease of life. Sydney FC and Victory have needed to get their acts in order, and seem to have done so. Onward and upward from here I expect.

Coupled with the start of the NST Football in Australia is finally ready to make an impact.
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for all those saying "3 years tops" the last two decades it really does seem to be a sustainable model having billionaires blow money on the league
it also lasted 27 years the community club model and who knows if it lasts forever if it wasnt cast aside

so why not have both haha
 
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