If you announce expansion teams, will the punters come?

No.

Not even Southern Sydney? You're talking about 3 different areas that'll draw in hundreds of thousands of fans. 

I forgot about Southern Expansion. You are a 100% right. FORZA SOUTHERN!!!!

There will be an initial boost but once the boredom of a closed system sets in, it will be down again.

Promotion and Relegation will fix that. 

In the normal world it might, but Australia is FAR from the normal world in sport.
Aussies are used to closed shop leagues in the winter professional sports. Nothing will change the mindset. There is not a chance MV will keep such a big support if relegated, they would be a touch above most in a second division, but nowhere near 6000.

doubt it.

Unless tens of thousands of Honda-snobs now want in

Chances of them being relegated would be quite low anyway

Rather than promo/relegation why not just have two conferences of equal standing, with the top two and bottom two switching conferences each season.
The top four from each conference could form a final eight final series.

Gives everyone what the want #winning

I think your day release has been activated a little too early

That's not a pyramid as my 3 year old would say.

Attendances, should be up on last year, but nowhere near record heights

I used them as the example as they have the biggest support. 
Would dread to think what would happen to the likes of CCM, PG ,BR or MC. Think they all may fold in their current guise.

where is the promotion 10 days away from kickoff? there is a sexy ad doing the rounds... will we see it on FTA TV?

Do we have those concerns about the youth league? Would need a new model to handle p/r

We can but hope

@ Sutherlandbear

Teams folding upon relegation is often cited as a reason why pro/rel shouldn’t be introduced but teams needn’t fold if it’s managed properly.

The solution used elsewhere is the parachute payment which keeps clubs stable for a period of time after relegation. This also provides them with a financial advantage over their new second tier opponents in the new season.

The introduction of transfer fees would allow relegated clubs to offload expensive players and generate much needed additional revenue

And finally relegated clubs could draw larger attendances competing for promotion than stagnating at the bottom of the HAL. Mariners for example would likely increase crowds in a second division over what they’ve achieved these past two years.

pro/rel is not the immediate answer to the current problems but it’s osrt of the future if it’s plabbed for imo.

All sounds good Waz, but i fear the public won't buy it. They hardly support some of these teams now, they will never support them in a second tier.
I am pro relegation / promotion , but i can't see it working in this country, the people are just not interested in second tier anything.
I do pray that i am wrong.

But the 2nd tier doesn't need sell out crowds everyweek. That's not what it's there for.

Never mentioned sell out crowds. Australian sporting fans have a very limited attention span and would soon forget who these teams were.

I know for a fact my friends and i would be nowhere near a second tier match, just like we don't do now.

Only started going to Football regularly in OZ when the A League kicked off. Tried the NSL and it was rank with rank grounds and attendances. That is how the second tier would turn out, but with less spectators.

How are all non A-League teams surviving right now? 

How will it make money then? Sponsors wouldn't be interested in under-supported teams

Realistically hoping/expecting the following for R1:

AU v SFC - 13,500
Melbourne Derby - 35,000
WP v NJ - 8,000
BR v CCM - 17,000
PG v WSW - 12,000

Thoughts? Can we expect these? Is my prediction too high/low?

Way to high, BR v CCM @17,000?? Even if there playing Bolt I cant see it. 

Victory vs city will be over 40k , Brisbane probably around 15k

Opening round of the season, plenty of optimism around the club in a family friendly time slot. I think we'd be expecting at least 15,000. 17,000 could be achievable.

If Bolt was to play (he won’t) they’d get 25,000 there easily, possibly more.

As it is I think they’ll go over 15k based on ticket sales, membership and promotion - Roar fans are keen for the new season.

The following week v Nix will go over 20k at this rate. 6,000 miniroos tickets have been sold already and we’ve got two weeks to go with that promotion.

Trying to find a source but have heard some of the top NPL clubs in Victoria are getting around 500k per year in sponsorship today. Can't be a stretch to assume similar could be achieved for a national 2nd div comp