A-league attendances 24/25

[LFC]

Unfortunately I cannot see a franchise based competition like the A League ever having a promotion/relegation structure. It would be a major disruption of the franchise system business model and kill off any future investment.

which is the conundrum our game is in.
Franchising models are just about $$ more than anything else.
People keep pushing this mantra because the ethnics weren't inclusive yaddayadda - the 1 and only great positive Lowy brought in was the commercial our game lacked bigtime and the mainstream exposure and the comp being Pro which is brilliant BUT its obvious it cannot sustain itself - new franchise's provide a false sugar hit, then it pitters away, casuals event goers are not weekly supporters clubs need and live off.
Frankly Speaking's last few posts paint the picture spot on !
Our game is not NRL/AFL finals driven nor have they a eco system like ours did long before finals were introduced.
Even the young Euro snobs many here put down (only because they don't care about AL) watching their stars abroad know first past the post is the be all CHAMPION.
AFL/NRL are hybrid games of their origins our game is what it was long long ago euro comp style and to date yet we are forcing this BS/false structure of aussie code model - what for the event goers ? haha

 

[LFC]

More and more countries have them. Belgium's Jupiler League has three: the relegation playoffs (understandable), the championship where the top 6 clubs compete (understandable) and one for the middle table teams (WTF???).

and there you go - they are P/R playoffs.
EPL has 20 clubs
Championship 24.
There is that much $ incl P/R hence the top 6 championship playoffs, its brilliant stuff might I add and again $ keep filtering down.
Makes for vibrant comps top to bottom whilst we have well, see you next season even though we finished bottom whatever numbers.

 

[FrontUp]

which is the conundrum our game is in.
Franchising models are just about $$ more than anything else.
People keep pushing this mantra because the ethnics weren't inclusive yaddayadda - the 1 and only great positive Lowy brought in was the commercial our game lacked bigtime and the mainstream exposure and the comp being Pro which is brilliant BUT its obvious it cannot sustain itself - new franchise's provide a false sugar hit, then it pitters away, casuals event goers are not weekly supporters clubs need and live off.
Frankly Speaking's last few posts paint the picture spot on !
Our game is not NRL/AFL finals driven nor have they a eco system like ours did long before finals were introduced.
Even the young Euro snobs many here put down (only because they don't care about AL) watching their stars abroad know first past the post is the be all CHAMPION.
AFL/NRL are hybrid games of their origins our game is what it was long long ago euro comp style and to date yet we are forcing this BS/false structure of aussie code model - what for the event goers ? haha

I'm with ya bro'...

 

[Barca4life]

I’ve probably mentioned in the past but If we get to 16 teams, it would be better if it was split into 2 mini leagues of 8 teams, that way you can have pro-rel between the worse teams and the best teams in both leagues whilst making the final series genuine for the best teams in the competition that deserve to be there.

In my opinion if they go with an expanded league it will make the league a bit boring if there was nothing to play for, I’d rather spice things up so it can drive interest up to get in better crowds and better TV ratings.

 

[HappyGuus]

There is no doubt in my mind that perception of the value of the Premiership versus the Championship has changed over the years

Interesting because my perception is the complete opposite, the status of Champion has never been stronger. Who can name the past premiers over the years? I'd just answer "City" each time as a guess. I'd probably remember Auckland in this their inaugural season. The premiers' plate can't have the same relative status as an EPL title when our seasons are so short, we have a closed pyramid, and the inequality in the fixture.

The finals are kinda necessary at the moment. The unfair fixture means the premier will never be fair, so you need to include the top clubs at the end of a season to sort it out. And finals are "best of the best", literally better than the regular season, it's not an open knockout cup. That's like saying the group stage is better than the World Cup finals.

Europe has European spots to play for, we don't. Here, AFC means little to anyone outside the diehards. The season would be dead much earlier without finals to play for. Look at NPL NSW, they tried first past the post for one season then returned straight back to finals. Even if we had 16+ teams and an equal fixture the season would be dead quickly without finals.

It doesn't have anything to do with AFL/NRL culture or FA's pockets.

What I don't like is having finals in below tiers where promotion playoffs should be implemented instead (this should exclude the automatically promoted teams that are included with finals). But finals, at the top of the disconnected pyramid, is necessary for us.