You have no political nous Joff on this, do you?

Thanks for that Benjamin, guess it WAS just his opinion then! I should add he said that years ago, circa when the A-League first example - so there's time and context too.

But let's be honest here, there sky isn't the limit and we're not like the US/MLS where we can just keep expanding to all these untapped markets/cities/regions which each have millions of people. 70% of our 23 million or so people live in the capital cities and if you include the non-capital urban areas, mostly coastal based, then that's something like 90%. And those non-capital cities are the same usual suspects we speculate here. Canberra, Wollongong, Gold Coast, Tassie, Geelong and Townsville and some of those cities are relatively close to a capital city/existing A-League team ('gong, Geelong, Gold Coast & Canberra).

And that P/R talk - Crazy to put the date of 2018 on it, soo soon - WHEN did he say this Benjamin?! Must've been a while ago - 2018 much closer now and we only just expand to 12 by then! Obviously just his opinion. But like you said in conclusion, that was just his diplomatic spin to appease football purists at the time. Which is smart, as we don't know how the landscape will evolve - maybe one day we'll be ready for a P/R competition, if we're conditioned/prepared properly for it. So I suppose, never say never.

Edited by GloryPerth: 5/10/2014 07:29:54 AM

People who want Auckland are really desperate to see us kicked back to the OFC. you're dumb as dog shit JoFFA. How you ever became mod will forever be a mystery.

David Gallop must be sick to death of repeating himself. Expansion will only occur in areas where the immediate population centre is "in the millions, not the hundreds of thousands" - that is very specific.

This clearly rules out Canberra, Townsville, Tasmania, Cairns etc.

Cities such as Wollongong and Geelong are close enough to major cities where expansion may be considered.

It doesn't take a genius however to understand that Mr Gallop is clearly inferring Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (and to a lesser extent; Adelaide and Perth).

This being the case, my money would be on what several articles and rumours are suggesting: South Western Sydney and the Western Corridor (Ipswich & South/West Brisbane).

It is no secret that the FFA and Fox have enjoyed the commercial injection that WSW have brought to the league and it's only natural that they would want to recreate this. The fact is that Western Sydney is a massive, massive hotbed of football fans and talent, as well a thriving population centre expected to continue growing rapidly for the next 20+ years. Commercially speaking, this area has the potential to support another AL franchise.

During his time at the NRL, Mr Gallop stated that the Western Corridor was an ideal area for expansion due to the relatively untapped market and projected population growth. This region has since been suggested as a prime candidate identified by the FFA for expansion.

These regions would be my bet for the 11th & 12th clubs.

Never go full retard.

Can't wait for an Auckland team to come back to the a-league. An NZ derby would be great for the a-league, when it happens we should rename ourselves to the ANZ-league so the New Zealand teams feel more wanted.

Poor. Make it less obvious next time. ;)

ANZ-League gave it away? I bet Wamakie was close to fuming

Actually a old article from 2004, shortly before the death of the NSL, Tasmania was looking to field a team

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-02-06/tasmania-seeks-nsl-team/131314



I would still like to see Tassie get a team.

I can see players and marquees putting up their hands to go live in Launceston.

The reason sfc got ADP is the city.
The reason they got Janko is the city.
The reason Lampard even considered Melbourne was the city.

SFC "the biggest club" wouldn't miss the fans who started to support a shire based team.
A shire team, likewise a Sws team have a far greater pulling power from potential players, marquees and managers.
Again, much greater than Wollongong and Canbera and especially Tasmania.

Are you suggesting Fowler went too the Fury in order to find Nemo?

Hey, when you've got that much money and love your kids that much and they
"Daddy we want to find Nemo"
"F*ck it, y not?"

This thread is weird.

Val's an idiot, but a proud idiot. He'll never admit he is wrong. AC don't have the money, the backing or the even the growth potential to be a viable A-League team. The Adelaide business community couldn't support another A-League team. Not enough sponsors to go around.2nd Brisbane would have more chance, based out of Ipswich/Sunshine Coast perhaps?
The Gong and Canberra have to be the best chances for adding teams that wouldn't be a drain on the comp.

Edited by vanbasten88: 5/10/2014 10:26:25 PM

I thought they were talking of perhaps doubling the tv deal money.
In the FFA plans they will be looking to increase the money every tv deal.

I don't believe the same risk is involved as previous expansions. Along with the new tv deal giving stability to most if not all of the teams.

A team from Melbourne and a team from Sydney because it makes financial sense for sponsors and stakeholders.

makes most sense, unless they are looking to move into new markets. The FFA and Foxtel would probably argue there are still new untapped markets in both cities....and they're not exactly wrong...

They won't argue , they will agree.

Sydney is a given.

Melbourne's only obstacle would be where?
Would it be South Melbourne
Or
People keep saying SE. Dandenong/Frankston. Would they and could they play at Lakeside?
What would you call them?
(I mean, can you call them Dand or Frank etc or does it have to SE Melbourne ?)

Edited by scott21: 5/10/2014 10:56:38 PM

3rd sides for Sydney and Melbourne seem to be the strongest commercial possibilities - increasing Fox's penetration in their key markets, adding more derbies to the fixture list, and taking advantage of the larger number of potential investors/sponsors.

Another idea, is to open up second side in Brisbane - representing the state of Queensland rather than the city itself or a suburb. There was talk that some fans were lost to Roar when they switched from Queensland to Brisbane (admittedly price changes and some poor communications with supporters didn't help either). Call them Queensland Rovers, and have them play games in Brisbane, Townsville, on the Gold Coast to engage the whole state. Also adds the derby which is both city rivals and city vs state rivals into the fixture list.

I believe South's 40 year lease gives them control over all domestic football at the venue, so it would be near impossible for a franchise unconnected to SMFC to play out of Lakeside. Whilst Lakeside has good road and tram connections to the South-East suburbs and makes sense as a venue for a side representing that area, I suspect the ease of public transport into the CBD would most likely lead to AAMI Park being the venue of choice, perhaps with City switching to Etihad if they get their shit-right on the pitch and start pulling decent crowds.

You mean Souths wouldn't allow it.

Is it enough to call a team "South Eastern Melbourne" and expect fans to come?
How would they differ from Victory or City? Is the geographical bond enough?
How do they unite the region?
I don't know much about the area.


Do you mean playing out of Suncorp? Otherwise it's QE2.
You would only be able to play 1 game in GC and Townsville max per year if they played at Suncorp. Fans in Brisbane would prefer to see Roar if you can only see eg 7 home games live. Then comes the next issue, do you dump games vs Ccm, Phoenix and glory to the countryside every year or do you give them mv, sfc etc?
This also kills off potential GC or Fury bids down the line. Or they would eventually change to Brisbane Rovers.
Im not in love with the idea but if it means another team in Qld I think it's good. The key would be focusing on Ipswich, Logan and Sunshine Coast. GC and the rest would follow naturally.

A 12 team comp is 33 games (probably), thats either 16 or 17 home games. I would recommend playing out of QE2 (eventually hoping for the government to alter the arena)
1 x GC
1 x Townsville
1 x Sunshine Coast
1 x Ipswich (but they don't have a-league standard)

Fans should be encouraged to travel to home games instead of away games.

Its not hard to imagine
"The People's team" bla bla bla

Similar with maroon shorts. With the letters QR over a Queensland map etc ( not to be confused with Queensland Rail) . They'd probably f$ck it up though, and have an all maroon kit and call it Qld United

In this situation I would like to see certain criteria met by locations to host games eg. Local publicity, tv and radio. Local advertising and backing from the councils. Beer tents, food trucks, mingle etc. Saturday games, to make the "regional" games an event people look forward to every year. This is so other centres have opportunities to host matches also if they have the facilities and can generate a good public.













Edited by scott21: 6/10/2014 07:12:18 AM

I'd say any new Melbourne team would most likely locate themself out in the South East, maybe taking over St Kilda's training base out at Seaford which they are planning to abandon in a few years time after ratepayers poured a fortune into it. I do agree that a third team would still play at Swan Street though, Melbournians don't seem to have an issue with having a team represent their area and still travel into the city to watch them. Not a fan of calling a team SE Melbourne, would rather call them Monash with Monash Uni having campuses all over the area, and tha major freeway connecting the SE being the Monash. It is a name synonomous with the SE.

Gallop provides the answer to where he is looking to expand the A-League to.

I doubt Geelong, Canberra, Tasmania, maybe even Wollongong etc. are not on the agenda.

I guess if done right the markets where the fish are smaller in number should still be able to provide a financially viable second tier comp and average in the 5 - 8 k range...