That's a fair point, my only worry would be having to compete with the Suns and (especially) the Titans playing at the same time. Rugby League seems to be almost a religion for Queenslanders (and I say that as someone from Newcastle!). 

I reckon for Gold Coast to really work, it needs to be in a winter competition. The people up there really don't want to be sitting in a stadium during their warmer months. Sure if prices are free or a buck they will turn up, but they aren't going to pay full price during the summer. It just interferes with their summer lifestyle too much for it to be viable.

I went up there for a Jets game on a night where it was either free or $1 (from memory just had to pay the ticket processing fee) and over 14k turned up. GCU pumped us 5-1 and I remember it being a pretty good atmosphere as well. The potential is there is just has to be harnessed better.

ALeague Stats

On paper, GCU's inagural squad was unreal. They had some real stars in Colina in his prime, Smeltz and Thwaite as well as a manager who could provide headlines. 
What they did poorly was they used the "build it and they will come" mentality when they really needed to do the opposite and build support from the ground up.
Clive had some ok ideas on accasions but at the same time alientated support by making some very poor ones which overpowered the ok ones.

There was instances where GCU were a bit unluck and had some great opportunities squandared from outside of Clive's control being:

1) Initially GCU was meant to host it's round 1 fixture against Brisbane at Robina. Any new club should 110% host their very first fixture.
Controversily the FFA owned Brisbane Roar due to the owners withdrawing it's support. Prior to this season BR had very good crowds and averaged something like 15k a game. Foolishly the FFA then upped it's prices and the membership & attendances almost halved. Anyway the FFA shifted the fixture to Brisbane for R1 with the hope of generating more $$$ for it's coffers in a larger stadium. 
From memory GCU steam rolled BR in an exciting fashion but there was only a small pocket of GCU fans in attendance with about 25k all up.
In hindsight, the same or similar crowd at Robina would've been a spectatular opening fixture for the new side and would've most certainly had the local fans coming back for more. Like i said, massive opportunity missed!

2) It's R2 fixture was at home against the Robbie Fowler led NQF. "God" was the absolute marquee signing and created a huge buzz in the league.
If I recall correctly Gold Coast had torrential rain that night which kept the crowd under 10k which was a shame.

3) When crowds were getting really dire for GCU, Clive to his credit opened the ground up for free in a bid to attract fans.
Over 20,000 fans turned up only to see the game get abadoned due to torrential rain which again left fans dissapointed which was no fault of Clive's.

In summary the massive sticking point for Gold Coast is the Queensland Stadium's deal which crippled both the Fury & United. Basically unless your getting 12,000 to a game or more it makes the club completely unviable. It's why Brisbane has shifted from Suncorp despite it's facilities being first class.
Stupidly Robina, Suncorp and now Townsville all don't have summer tenants despite having opportunities to have 13 extra events on per calendar year but that's down to pure greed from the government.

A sensible compromise could've saved Gold Coast United if Robina closed some stands (and reduced operating costs) and kept capacity limited to 12,500-15,000 for example which would've been more than adequate but there was no middle ground from the state government.


 

The question wasn’t “should the next A Leagues team be handpicked” or about the merits of the APLs expansion process, it was more “in the likely event it is handpicked in a process that is against the wishes of many football fans, is GC going to be a good option” or “if we are locked into this process of expansion, which club is going to be best to bring in” - I felt like that was implied in the post but sorry for not explicitly stating all this up front. 

The last 2 hand picked franchise's have worked out well, so lets hand pick a couple more to try boost the ailing interest in the AL....

I’ve seen rumours floating about probably in the last few months suggesting that a Gold Coast team has financial backing (A couple of US blokes) and is ready to come in. (Source - honestly can’t remember, possibly here, possibly dailyozfootball etc) 

Im interested to know if that team was based in Robina Stadium again if people think they would be successful off field? (At least in comparison to Clive Palmer era GC) particularly interested to hear from actual Qld/GC residents (if we have any left) 

I think the common opinion around that was that without having someone like Clive in charge, things would be more successful. I don’t think there’s too much of an argument there, but then I think about the stadium. For those of us who have been on the forum for a long time, you might remember some of the chatter at the time suggesting that Robina was way too far out of the actual GC to get regularly attended. Is that fair? I’m not familiar with the area, I haven’t been for 20 years. Clive did try and move to a rugby league ground at one point when he was shutting stands at Robina, I think to dodge Stadiums Queensland’s “over 10k seats” policy (costs more to hire venue) but also to have something more centrally located (and for boutique feels, and no doubt for other cost cutting measures) 

interested to see if that’s still the opinion, or if it was just a bit of an excuse for poor crowds at the time? 

What has the A Leagues Males got to lose, viewership is so low. I believe there is only one way to increase stocks and capture the imagination.
Add Apia Leichhardt, South Melbourne, Marconi, Melbourne Knights, Canberra and Wolves, as well as a Second Tier of Football. Thats it! 

FA and/or APL might be taking note, Silver Lake's third investment, according to A League Hub article, will be used to fund a 'Second Division', and an
FFA Cup Womens competition as well. I noticed the article didn't state 'Second Tier' for the Men's, instead it reads as 'Second Division."
This is for 2023. Does that mean 2022-23, or, 2023-24? Surely it will run about the same length of the season as the A League itself.
As Big Kev used to say, 'I'm Excited!'

There a huge demand for Aleague football ,they are gagging for it out there.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AxelTuanzbeast/status/1469545180697018368

Might wanna go have a shower then little plastic.... 
Oh and give ol Hollandia a call and let them know the "different entity" are claiming history going back to 1950s on their jerseys this year. Hahaahah tool. 
https://mobile.twitter.com/aleaguewomen/status/1420924173761662976

I feel gross for replying to the bitter who has ruined this forum but City never changed anything.
The A-League bid was a different entity, exactly the same way the Roar were a different entity to the Lions.

Expansion would be great, so many options right now: Tasmanian Abyss, South East Qld Mlkyways, Aukland Cattle stations or Canberra Extreme Left Wingers.

Looks like Brisbane Gladiators pty ltd have given up trying to appeal to "mainstream" Aleague and happy to just be themselves.... Love to see it:
https://twitter.com/NPLAustralia/status/1469126391555715073

Pretty much to make the club championship make sense:
A-league Men: Canberra
A-league woman: expanded to mirror  A-league Men  

A second bid team for Canberra has emerged: Another bid team launched to get Canberra into the A-League | Riotact (the-riotact.com)

I think they recognise that Gallop's open bid system was the wrong way to go about expansion. It left a lot of parties investing a huge amount of energy into getting bids going and then being deflated when they lost, without anything else to do but take their ball and go home, since a second division was a distant mirage even for the ones interested in it. In fact, they could have had an entire second division with the number of bids that didn't make the cut.

And then the FFA went and picked two of the most underwhelming bids of the lot, just because they dangled a bit of cash upfront, Gallop had a boner for derbies (which have instead been cheapened through inflation) and Foxtel said they only wanted extra Sydney and Melbourne teams, because apparently viewers outside of the two biggest cities don't exist. It's almost a lesson in not what to do.

With the APL running things I suspect there has been a lot of behind-the-scenes movement, especially with Canberra which is pretty much an open secret, and then probably also Wollongong and Gold Coast. All three have suitable stadiums, don't cut into existing teams' fanbases and have existing club structures (either NPL or ALW) to build upon, so there is much less of a chance that they will fail the way WU and Macarthur have so far.

Pick Canberra and one of those two, then let the other one know they have a spot in ca. 2025 along with Tassie or Auckland. And meanwhile, let existing NPL clubs work on starting up the NSD, even as a semi-pro comp. By the second half of the 2020s you have the framework for a proper football pyramid.

The Silver Lake investment will apparently be $130m and that is just for a minority stake in the league. I can't see a pair of licenses going for $60m+, can you?

You just gave reasons it can't work  all the while there are disenfranchised passionate football people in this country putting up with fat cats calling shots. Second tier, expansion, trasfer fees economy!!!@@!!!!!!!!!!!hurry the fcuk up!!!!
Negative stuff won't be accepted.
You know Dave Gallop  an ex- medium fast shield bowler at all?

Surely they are better off having a second division structured correctly instead of parachuting in new teams immediately. 

Who cares if its uneven games? Its not an issue at the moment.

A second division with a mix of established and new entitys formed and playing in 2023, with promotion for the top 3 to head into the A-league in 2024, with Pro/rel of 1 up 1 down from 2025 onwards has to be the structure.

Also, a NSD doesnt work if the A-league continues to be played in Summer. It needs to be moved to winter and played alongside the Asian leagues and communtiy football in Australia. Stadiums are not a concern anymore. The league needs to fight for its own shre of the pie. 

Also, 15 teams is the peak for the A-league. Play everyone twice and have a bye. 16 teams and 8 a week games is overkill for mine. Not enough talent either. 

Yuk!!!! Thats sounds gross mate, wouldn't feed that to my dog :)
Maybe they can serve that up next year at the "Thanksgiving Round" or during the "Super Soccer Superbowl" match ..... lol

Tomato or Soy sauce in a Yeeros, Not Happenning!

Does make you wonder who is calling the shots now.

And yet, by selling two licenses in the space of 6 months Silver Lake will claw back almost 50% of their "investment into Australian Soccer" ......Who would have thought huh?

What Bullshit!! How can 2 teams come in next year?? Stupid leading stupid.
6 months of so-called research then to get expressions of interest and then to officially go and pick 2 teams, give them enough time to set up and recruit. This is All going to be in place for next sesson?
Apl/FA cannot get a Second Tier competition up and running without pro/rel in that place holder spot in the footballing calender as it is.
Expansion used to give Gallop integestion, these guys get the same.
Townsend and co will lose money if they accept more teams.
Prolonging expansion is their desired result.

Woolongong Wolves will be in next season. 

Sounds to me like this has been bubbling away in the background for a while now and there’s little murmurs starting to get out. I highly doubt they just rocked up at the start of this week to APL HQ and started discussing it cause Carl had a swipe at them.

I just hope to god they don’t repeat the failings of the last round of expansion. The most important factor in expansion should be ensuring fans/resident actually want or will support a team.

I hate posting anything from news.com.au but I haven't seen this anywhere else. Copy/pasting the article so no one else actually has to click the link and give them traffic.

Expansion for A-League could come as early as next season | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

A-League could grow as early as next season to ensure a fairer competition
A ‘strategic review’ will decide when and where the men’s A-League competition will expand.

A 14-team A-League remains a possibility for next season, with the Australian Professional Leagues to conduct a “strategic review” into expansion over the next six months.

The new season kicked off on the weekend amid the fallout from Adelaide United coach Carl Veart’s comments that the competition isn’t fair because teams don’t play each other the same amount of times.

The APL, which runs the A-League, wasn’t thrilled with Veart going public with his thoughts last Friday, despite admitting the competition’s structure isn’t “perfect”.

The 12 A-League clubs play each other at least twice, before playing another four teams a third time to meet the minimum Asian Football Confederation requirement for clubs of 26 games per season.

“It might not be ideal and it might not be a perfect structure, which I think we all agree, but to call it unfair is probably inappropriate,” APL managing director Danny Townsend said.

Adding two teams will ensure a genuine 26-round home and away season. Clubs and players, as well as Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, are screaming out for more games for the betterment of Australian football.

A 16-team competition consisting of 30 regular season rounds, plus finals, is widely regarded as the ideal A-League structure.

“The APL has stated that it’s our objective to get to a full home and away season, with either 14 or 16 teams, depending on the outcome of the strategic plan,” said Townsend, who “wouldn’t rule out” teams being added to the A-League as soon as next season.

“The APL has stated that it’s our objective to get to a full home and away season, with either 14 or 16 teams, depending on the outcome of the strategic plan,” said Townsend, who “wouldn’t rule out” teams being added to the A-League as soon as next season.

“There will be a strategic review on our process of expansion conducted over the next six months with a view to actioning that strategy once it’s complete.

“We need to do work on what the process should be, not what is the process itself, because we don’t know that yet.”

The location of potential expansion clubs remains a hot topic, with the APL understood to be receiving plenty of inquiries from interested investors.

A second New Zealand team, most likely based in Auckland, has been discussed, as has a Canberra side to sit alongside the national capital’s women’s A-League outfit.

Tasmania remains an expansion option, as do second teams in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.

Good poll here for some derby names. Fascinating to read what the target market of the Isuzu Trucks leagues wants from expansion franchises....
https://www.reddit.com/r/Aleague/comments/qp2jwz/what_name_should_be_given_to_melbourne_victory_vs/

Darwin seems like a stretch Cairns maybe but defo Canberra. struth.

So the NRL just announced a new club to come into the comp in 2023. It made me jealous in the hope that such a thing could happen for Canberra soon, and similarly well in advance, in the A-League!