Just came across this.



I also remember reading a newspaper article a while back saying Qld had the second highest participation in the country.

Queensland has been the second largest behind NSW for decades. Northern NSW was third but Victoria passed it a year or so ago. Both have just over 50k registered players. If I recall correctly there was a piece in the news earlier this year that reported that Queensland had about a 10% drop in registrations. I think it was to do with the increasing costs but my memory is hazy.

They actually mention this in the link I posted.

So 5 pages of people picking LOCATIONS, driven by people's own agenda's, even Gold Coast mentioned FFS, as if "we build it then they will come"

Look folks, if the history of the A-league has taught me one thing is that "Build and they will come" doesn't work!

The Number 1 reason for clubs failing has been the owners because they simply have NFI about how to run a football club. Yeah blame the FFA's WC Bid blah blah blah but every club they've had to take over has come out better on the other side that what they were in the hands of the private owners! And look at Western Sydney for showing how to start a club and make it work.

Expansion should not even be considered until we have owners-preferably multiple owner- who:

1. Understand how to run a sports club
2. Understand football in Australia
3. Have deep pockets that they won't mind risking if they become lighter.

Without the above, picking locations is just pissing in the wind.

The system I propose is that any new licenses should be awarded on a seasonal basis to the states feds that adopt the NCR recommendations using the same system the AFC uses to award ACL spots,clubs are qualified in to the A-league as if it is a champions league.

The aim of this to provide a reward and incentive program that would:

- Elevate exisiting state competitions
- Track the state feds progress in adopting the NCR
- Develop a strong competitive federalism between the states

Benifits to the A-league

- Improve AFC and ACL standing by providing the A-league: 33+ rounds and a P+R system that protects existing comercal interests
- Opens the league to new markets
- Creation of new derbies
- A constant source of backup if a license has to be returned to the FFA

Implementation
The system will be piloted in the following stages
Stage 1
Starting Season: 2014-15 (new TV Deal)
Spots: 2

Stage 2
Starting Season: 2017-18 (next TV Deal)
Spots: 6(4 + 4 half spots)

As I've stated before, what I would like to see is Gallop lay some guidelines as to the requirements for the entry of new clubs.

An ideal timeline would be to add 2 new teams when the next tv deal expires....ie 2016/2017

FFA has 5 years of planning, so in theory if done properly, they shouldn't fck it up.

1. Only cities with a rectangular stadium to be considered (ideally 8k - 15k in size) - thus rental costs are lower and the viewing experience is much more enjoyable

2. New teams to enter a Youth and Women's side for a minimum of 2 years before a senior team is created - thus establishing grass roots first and eliminating the fly by night billionaires who are only in it to make a quick buck (ie your Clive Palmer's etc).

3. No teams to be named after general areas (ie North Queensland, New Zealand, Tasmania, South Coast etc)...I believe each team should be named after the city they reside in, not a whole region. This forges more of an identity rather than a plastic one

The only real candidates I see in the next 10 years are:

Auckland
Wollongong
Canberra (I don't seen this working if playing out of Bruce Stadium)
Perth 2 (ie Fremantle out of a small boutique stadium?)
any smaller town with a 10k or less boutique stadium (eg Ballarat, Launceston, Ipswich etc)

People need to get it out of their heads that bigger is better...all we need are small boutique stadiums, that enable clubs to be run on a shoe string budget. The new TV deal will take care of the salary cap.

I mention Perth because it is the fastest growing capital city by a long shot, ie it is putting on over 50k people a year. In 2017 this will equate to an extra 250,000 people. It is a city of the future and some groundwork needs to be done. If they didn't have such a shitty stadium to contend with I have no doubt Perth Glory would have been the most successful franchise in Australia. Hopefully this new stadium might be a catalyst.

Also, Auckland needs to be revisited, there needs to be some research done in to why Wellington can be such as success yet Auckland, a city 3 times the size of Wellington, was a failure. Perhaps with Wellington in the picture this might encourage more people to get behind the club. Maybe promote an existing club such as Auckland City?

No to 2nd Perth until Perth Glory consistently get over 15k. 2nd Perth team should be South of river though.

This topic should be pinned, mainly so that there will be no reason to ever post an expansion post again.

Joffa, get on it lad!

It's already in the index.

I think it is the online viewing program makes it look out of focus. Try downloading it as a pdf

would be wonderful to include auckland city fc into the a-league since they have dominated the nzasb and has qualified for the club world cup so regularly. i am confident if that they play out of mt smart stadium, they will be able to manage an 8k first season average which will be bumped up by the interest of the derby against wellington.

however 10+2 doesnt sound too good for the afc, therefore i'd delay them for the second round of expansion and becoming the 14th club

a concern with mt smart stadium however, might be that it has a capacity of 30,000 and even with a regular crowd of 10,000 it would like empty.

Surely, a city of 1 million people in a Rugby town, there has to be at least 3 or 4 rectangular alternatives that have a capacity of say 10-15k?

can anyone from Auckland confirm this?

Also, I'd disregard anything the AFC says, we have to put our own interest first.

Can this thread please mean that every other stupid expansion thread is locked and directed here?

I agree with the idea of it being in the index.

Yes, that is the plan.

=d>

unfortunately there aren't many options. Eden park is even bigger and north harbour isn't near most of the population and thats it. Mt Smart is actually only 26,500 seated and one of the ends is just grass so thats where the extra 3,500 comes from but i don't know if that makes it seem any better when talking about how full a stadium seems.

but put it in perspective, sydney and brisbane both play in huge stadiums (45k and 52k respectively) and before this season they were getting 11-13k in season 7 and about 8-9k in season 6 and i think the emptiness was just something you have to deal with when its the best stadium at your disposal.

The only other problem i have with Mt Smart is it has an athletics track on one side of the stadium but other that its fine.

With Auckland you're pretty much limited to Mt Smart with 35k seats, or North Harbour with 25k.

On the drive home from the Wanderers game I was wandering why the WSW have such a great feel about it obviously winning is good but from the word go it really did feel like a club for the supporters. I genuinely feel this club is going to go along way. It has a great connection with the supporters. All the supporters are vocal and active and have a genuine passion for the team.

Why has this club of Only about 8 months old got such a great feel about it, simple, the FFA went to the fans to decide what the club culture would be, where they would play, colours, name, coaching staff. They went all around Sydney speaking with fans asking what they want.

Which brings me to my point, from now on when we are looking at bringing a team in to the HAL a series of forums should be held well in advance to discuss the all these things that the fans want and which best represents them.

Agreed.

The FFA were backed into a corner when no-one would invest and finally put their money where their mouth was. In order for this gamble to pay off they had to get the fans 100% onside, so for the first time since the A-League was formed the fans were given genuine input into the way things were going to be run. It's no secret that ANZ Stadium was pushing hard to host games - but credit to the FFA, once the fans made it clear they didn't want to go there, the idea was firmly knocked on the head. The decision to play derby games, in particular, at 'home', rather than cashing in by shifting to a bigger venue, was a masterstroke.

The more involved the supporters are - the more involved they will stay.

Time to expand into Alice Springs.

-PB

wats happened to that south coast football bid?? Or is that another bid that the FFA have failed to engage which will eventually bite us in the ass when we want to actually expand.

Can you expect a bid to hang around for five years in the hope of some crumbs from the table?

The real target over the next 2-3 years is to create an environment in which investors want to get on board - so when we are next looking for an expansion/replacement side, there will be multiple bidders.

The FFA have done an excellent job with WSW, but it has to be remembered that the only reason they did it was because no one else wanted to.

Canberra, South Coast, Tasmania, Fury and any serious other prospective bidders (and yes, I include South Melbourne/Southern Cross in there), should be kept on the boil, actively engaged by the FFA to create more buzz about possibilities... And most importantly, when the time comes for one (or more) of these sides to be brought into the league, those NOT brought in should be kept fully informed in order to retain their interest for future expansion.

You can if you treat them decently.

Problem in the past was that losing bidders didn't find out until well after the decision had been made and weren't provided with any information about where their bid failed or what could be done to improve in the future.

i don't expect any bid to hang around if its not guided by the FFA. Look at canberra.

If the FFA had engaged the canberra bid we could have had in 5 years time Townsville and canberra ready to step in. But the FFA still have no clue.
Consolidation is first priority i understand that, but you need to have expansion in the back of ur minds-and planning and strategy is key. Provide these other areas with direction and goals.

Such a shame they treated the supporters of the GC and NQ so poorly.

exactly.

the great thing about the wanderers is that the current name, colours, stadium, kit etc all had a strong majority of votes, all of which i was in favour of.

This thread is now on the front page when you search A-league expansion:p

Mt Smart stadium might be lowering capacity to around 10,000 if the NZ warriors move to Eden Park in the next few seasons to make way for a speedway at Mt Smart. I would rather they kept it around 15,000 but nonetheless, this would be a much better capacity for an Auckland team.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/8087073/Warriors-a-step-closer-to-Eden-Park