Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

Sign Up Now!

With the high standard of play in the A-League, why are the crowds so low?

Correct Sutho and that’s why our game won’t compete with your league for it won’t get there my friend or are you willing to hope it does in another 20yrs from now.
For Christ sake got no chance unless the petro mob comes in and buys the lot of you.
Our game needs to be together as one and then we have some hope sooner to compete for $$$$’s let alone as a stronger viable code.
 
Last edited:
Sutherlandbear said:
Your last point on the $3 billion TV deal. Do you not think that this is what influences football administrators in this country. IE: A closed league and no pro/rel ?

They get this with virtually no international competitions as well.
Click to expand...

This amount of money is staggering considering our small population and, as you say, a no (AFL) or joke level (NRL) international dimension. It's crazy - the network CEOs appear to have been sucked into a big swinging dick competition for the rights. I keep waiting for the bubble to burst, but it keeps on expanding.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
This amount of money is staggering considering our small population and, as you say, a no (AFL) or joke level (NRL) international dimension. It's crazy - the network CEOs appear to have been sucked into a big swinging dick competition for the rights. I keep waiting for the bubble to burst, but it keeps on expanding.
Click to expand...

The AFL is like the 4th most best attended league in the world. The NRL gets roughly the same TV viewership as the AFL.

The bubble ain't bursting anytime soon.
 
Last edited:
Frankly Speaking said:
This amount of money is staggering considering our small population and, as you say, a no (AFL) or joke level (NRL) international dimension. It's crazy - the network CEOs appear to have been sucked into a big swinging dick competition for the rights. I keep waiting for the bubble to burst, but it keeps on expanding.
Click to expand...
the compliant media will not allow it to burst.

Also, their high attendances are achieved by playing all the Melbourne teams in only two stadia.
 
and NRL will gain some market share in the USA having invested far better than AFL attempts.
Origin is their draw card going live alot of places now And the 1st Round games held in Vegas are gaining momentum.
FOX USA/India/SE Asia.
Canada Sportsnet
UK/Pac Islands SKY
Netherlands of all places/Africa ESPN
PNG
Just looked it up.
NRL least has some International presence as we know but nothing like Football let alone AFL got nothing right ?

Yer Muz the Bubble is going to grow good business sadly and here we are with our game :(
 
7 own the AFL, 9 own the NRL thrown in the monopoly which they own the papers and the radio it’s no coincidence on how they control the narrative to suit their own investment portfolios.

This is very challenging for football especially for the aleague, even with the Socceroos when last week Karl Stevenovic complained that the Socceroos were not on FTA when he’s own employees control Stan sport which is owned by 9 whom they charge 25 bucks a month!

That’s why if im the APL and the FA I would be going to take advantage of more viral marketing and taking advantage of influencers as they can help promote the game more than FTA’s could do plus it’s becoming more expensive to pay for adds, the world is moving more to a viral world and as a result FTA is becoming less relevant.

You can’t underestimate how powerful the likes of Tik Tok and Instagram is becoming and maybe it’s not a coincidence that the govt want to control the info that is coming out especially when they going to ban kids under 16, because it’s all for free!
 
  • Like
Reactions: LFC
Football has so many problems in this country, its hard to know where to start with addressing them. The key point of advantage AFL and NRL have is that they are "world's best" competitions. Yes, that may be biggest tadpole (NRL) or only tadpole (AFL) in a very small pond, but it is still true. What can the A League claim, by comparison?

I come back to the point I make frequently: the only way forward is to build from grassroots up. The closed system franchise model hasn't worked, and surely it can't go on losing money at this rate for much longer. We need smaller, full stadiums, pro rel, and pitches that aren't trashed by dressed up Neanderthals.

Do I think that will happen? Depends on whether enough A League clubs go broke to collapse the house of cards.
 
And, yeah, I know its La la land stuff. There isn't the money to run one fully pro division, let alone two.

It's easy to see what we need; next to impossible to see how we get it.

We had our big chance in the 70s when Packer wanted to fund a pro football league. That moron Arthur George said no. That was our code's sliding door moment.
 
Infleuncers etc not a bad point Barca but first we need a model and product thats on the same page.
I'm with you entirely FS - wheres the $$'s gonna come from but first you need a product that has a wide range to potential grow.
Absolutely grass roots up that from there you can see the light/pathway to the TOP.
I've said heaps here and 442 days, 2 models let alone 1 thats Pro but held back and running on fumes cannot see through the trees.
It won't be sustainable depsite adding 1 or 3 more closed shop ones ahead.
It will forever have highs and lows, that not viable business.
1 incl the NPL's NST is the ONLY hope getting somewhere in this game and far lower costs than APL in over sized stads and other running costs that ticket sales are not covering, let alone a new broadcast deal that will be peanuts compared to other codes.
New dawners need to accept and those ol coverted ones who expect cushy stads etc need to accept living beyond their franchise revenue is long bow of survival.
Grass roots to NPL are your only resort for the game to reset, get organised together and crawl before you walk.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
And, yeah, I know its La la land stuff. There isn't the money to run one fully pro division, let alone two.

It's easy to see what we need; next to impossible to see how we get it.

We had our big chance in the 70s when Packer wanted to fund a pro football league. That moron Arthur George said no. That was our code's sliding door moment.
Click to expand...
that's amazing, what was arthur george's reason?
 
grazorblade said:
that's amazing, what was arthur george's reason?
Click to expand...

My understanding, which is limited, is that it was around the time of World Series Cricket, and - again, this is a loose understanding - that Packer wanted to create a competition based on a structure of new – Mono will shudder here – clubs. George apparently would not agree to this, but rumours suggested that the issue was that his power over the game would have been diluted and he wasn't prepared to accept that. My memory of the time (yes, I''m old enough to have one!) was that Arthur George ran football like a personal fiefdom.

I stress that this is little more than heresay on George's motivations. But the Packer offer was real, and George killed it. Perhaps someone knows more.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
My understanding, which is limited, is that it was around the time of World Series Cricket, and - again, this is a loose understanding - that Packer wanted to create a competition based on a structure of new – Mono will shudder here – clubs. George apparently would not agree to this, but rumours suggested that the issue was that his power over the game would have been diluted and he wasn't prepared to accept that.

I stress that this is little more than heresay on George's motivations. But the Packer offer was real, and George killed it. Perhaps someone knows more.
Click to expand...
if the current mix of franchises and traditional clubs can be massaged into a pyramid system then perhaps thats what we could have had 40 years ago...
 
grazorblade said:
if the current mix of franchises and traditional clubs can be massaged into a pyramid system then perhaps thats what we could have had 40 years ago...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was the perfect window, and Packer was putting up serious money - enough to finance an internationally competitive league at that time. He saw it as the winter counterpoint to World Series Cricket.

What might have been, eh?
 
Frankly Speaking said:
Yeah, it was the perfect window, and Packer was putting up serious money - enough to finance an internationally competitive league at that time. He saw it as the winter counterpoint to World Series Cricket.

What might have been, eh?
Click to expand...
Paul Mavroudis blog mentioned that there seems to be two narratives for why Australian football has underperformed - bad governance and xenophobia. He said the book "australian football a tale of two halves" made the bad governance theory stronger.

That's the first strong example I've heard outside the new dawn era

from the new dawn era I would highlight everything from gallop's era and under lowy forming new clubs with no underage teams as pretty darn disasterous then keeping the traditional teams out for too long (apparently they were wanting a second tier from day 1!)
 
grazorblade said:
Paul Mavroudis blog mentioned that there seems to be two narratives for why Australian football has underperformed - bad governance and xenophobia. He said the book "australian football a tale of two halves" made the bad governance theory stronger.

That's the first strong example I've heard outside the new dawn era

from the new dawn era I would highlight everything from gallop's era and under lowy forming new clubs with no underage teams as pretty darn disasterous then keeping the traditional teams out for too long (apparently they were wanting a second tier from day 1!)
Click to expand...

Looking back, Gallop was a disaster, but Lowy's concept of the A League was deeply flawed and undercapitalised from the outset. What is remarkable, I think, is that the competition still exists after years of declining crowds and disastrous ratings.

But the League is entirely dependent on sugar daddy investors, and that is a perilous existence.
 
Frankly Speaking said:
My understanding, which is limited, is that it was around the time of World Series Cricket, and - again, this is a loose understanding - that Packer wanted to create a competition based on a structure of new – Mono will shudder here – clubs. George apparently would not agree to this, but rumours suggested that the issue was that his power over the game would have been diluted and he wasn't prepared to accept that. My memory of the time (yes, I''m old enough to have one!) was that Arthur George ran football like a personal fiefdom.

I stress that this is little more than heresay on George's motivations. But the Packer offer was real, and George killed it. Perhaps someone knows more.
Click to expand...
Heheh its a little before my time but consensus was that better the devil you know than the devil you don't????
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
Sure if you can convince a foreign investor that has just paid 25 million dollars that his investment might soon be worth nothing if he is relegated you may have a plan.
Click to expand...
well who knows if we don't follow the same trajectory as today with a 2nd tier eventually breaking through. But it all happens before we are born/are young and we get to grow up with a traditional football pyramid
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top