I'm not against South Melbourne being considered but by what metric will they average 10k?
More likely they will average about 5 - 6k per match with the derbies boosting the figure, not that there is anything wrong with that, after all  Melbourne City has struggled to achieve 10k through the turnstiles with the likes of Cahill and Kewell amongst others...so these expectations usually tend to be over estimations. So does that mean more likely 3-4k(probably unlikely to be that low)?
And what does a third CBD team in Melbourne mean for further expansion in Melbourne or Geelong for that matter?
There needs to be some sort of strategic plan and it should have been in place a long time ago.
And what role does a B-League play.
Interesting times ahead, it will be interesting to see how the FFA responds but good luck to South Melbourne's bid.

I agree with poster above. I hope South Melb, they have generated a lot of interest. But like the poster above, I hope the very small minority of their fans that have been death riding the A-League since it's inception clean their act up.

I hope they get in, it would be great...despite that doucebag sm fan thats always arguing with me lol. 

David davutovic on sen now saying the online traffic the south bid story generated on the herald sun site blew the cricket and the numerous afl stories out of the water today.

Cheers, will check it out. 

Wow didn't see this one coming. Kept well under wraps, normally the gossip and leaks get out. Hopefully the FFA are not hustling us and using our bid to drum up interest and the price from other bids, like they've done in the past. Obviously biased but the club has everything ready to go and would be a safe, low risk and economical option. I think the FFA can't afford to 'experiment' with expansion clubs at the moment. If the next couple fall over then investors would be hesitant to risk their money later on, would not be a good look. The league desperately needs viable teams right now and then maybe take a risk or two in a few years time. Would be a massive operation running teams at all levels from under 9's to NPL to HAL as well as a woman's team.

Watch highlights of the npl grand final, looked great facing the main grandstand, and that's with a crowd of just over 5k, empty seats will not be a problem that's for sure.

How does lakeside stadium look from the cameras perspective? I ask this because we have seen how bad games look on tv in large stadiums even with 15-20k support, so if their average at first is 5k and inline with the camera, it could be one of the better looking games for crowds on tv. 

It doesn't matter if they average 5k. They will still be sustainable on 5k. People need to get out of this mindset that every club needs to average X amount of fans. If the stadiums appropriately sized and they are sustainable, what god damn difference does it make what the average is. There is room for big clubs and small clubs in the league and they will have at least 2 derbies each season and potentially 4 depending on the draw. Let them in.

Perth Glory had a very good average attendance in the final years of the NSL, they have struggled for 10 years to get back near that level.
South Melbourne were avg about 6k in the last year, ccm levels, I would love to know where the support is going to come from? The glory days of the 60s and 70s when they had massive support is long gone. 
People can go on about traditional authentic club with a rusted on support,  I just don't see it, all those people are long gone & putting them in the A league is not going to bring many of them back.
The south chairman believes they can average 10k a game,  rubbish it will be more likely at 5k per game, the only reason I see for their inclusion is for 6 derby games a year and that wasn't a great idea in Melbourne the first time with Heart.

You know, I'm not sure on this bit. It's a matter of execution. We already have an example in the aleague of an ethnic based club that retained its old identity in a new brand and sympathetic to old and new. Brisbane Roar. Initially it seemed a bit meh, but has really grown on me especially with the new badge.

Not discounting though that marketers are able to come up with incredibly gay ideas aswell.

Heidelberg fans pala

To which point are you addressing with this answer?

So we can get 400k from sky, you beauty

Not even. 11-14 would be SM, Brisbane Strikers, South Sydney and then Tasmania. 15-16 will be the likes of Wollongong, Canberra, maybe South East Melbourne or Geelong. That isn't even looking in WA or SA. Auckland would be a 2nd division team if it were to happen.

Support no, but many would still come to games.

As a Victory fan I'd be very happy to have South Melbourne in the A-League, for all the reasons people have said.

Would South Melbourne fans really want the necessary changes in ownership and the handover of IP that the FFA would require though? It'd be pretty ironic after all those "plastic franchise" barbs many South Melbourne fans throw out for them to become one of them.

The only other workaround is to have some semi-related "Southern Cross" team in, and nobody wants that.

Hopefully Victory and the other clubs with their new group will win back some of these rights for clubs in the meantime.

They'll pull better crowds than City from day 1 and you know it.

Would Heidelberg fans support South if they were in the A-League?

They call me Crusader normally...

What has Softnews uncovered in his special tinfoil hat into the red menace stalking Australian football?

Which multi is he?

All the info coming out from south to sweeten it is that they will be the market for South-East of Melbourne.
They're having a laugh if they think they will be the team for the South-East. MAYBE inner south east if lucky.
Their growth is based on their Ethnic group. Fact 

I think the next 2 expansion clubs will be more about the FFA showing that they do have the ability to grow the league successfully. The HAL started with 8 clubs and over a decade later there are only 10 clubs. So, if your a potential sponsor, investor or broadcaster, that's not a great advertisement for the abilities of the FFA/HAL. South Melbourne are a low risk safe option as a lot of the work is already established (identity, facilities, staff, youth pathways, and most importantly an existing fanbase and history). With the very high population density of Melbourne, there is no doubt 3 HAL clubs can be sustainable. I also doubt the Victory and City will be effected negatively. They may lose some fans, but those fans are probably people that were originally fans of SMFC anyway.

I actually agree we should eventually get a second NZ team in - obviously Auckland (if run properly this time around) would be the best idea.
However this would only be once we are looking to add in the 15/16th teams. Definately not this time around.

This is where the bid team need to sell the clubs viability, keep ramming home the fact that we have a sweet stadium deal which means we will never be running at a loss on game day, the fact we can take that further and actually make money off our social club on game day rather than just ticket sales. Make it clear to them that this particular expansion is one that they will never need to worry about bailing out or taking over. Sell it as the safe option. Which in terms of viability it is.

As far as what other clubs would benefit from south, again just stick to the facts, point out that Adelaide United biggest ever crowd at Hindmarsh stadium was against south Melbourne, point out that Perth glorys biggest ever crowd at nib stadium was also against south, records that still remain today, hype the fact we have a clear advantage of renewing rivalries with teams that we are familiar with from the past on top of the rivalries that will be created with the rest.

If we are removing the whole ethnic thing and keeping it purely based on the bid, we should be able to present a case that knocks it out of the ball park, a south bid should not have any holes in it.

I think the toss up still really is it better to expand into new pastures or risk over grazing in an existing pasture?

If I was putting in a bid for Souths I'd definitely be addressing these issues too ... i.e. show that the team will not only boost Melbourne games, but also assist other teams in the A-League (thus proving that it isn't saturation of the market in Melbourne alone). In the end if the A-League was run by the clubs this is what you'd expect from any bid.

Agree, hence why only my last comment ... and only made because others have raised it.

I don't think it's really going to affect city, the fact we have our own stadium means that our identity will not dilute the other 2 teams, city fans also don't seem to like coming to the other side of the cbd, bit like Melbourne demons fans lol. Any remote loss of fans will be compensated with derby crowds, in the end city and victory are likely to average more with south than without. City going from 8k to 7k against a team like the Mariners won't mean all that much if the next fortnight they have 20k+ against south, the numbers will definately be in the positive column.

The last thing to worry about is club colours.We would still survive if all teams had blue and a variant.

In regards to the "ethnic" comments ... I think you'd find that it probably wouldn't be the first "ethnic" team they introduce that will have troubles, it will be if they go to introduce a second "ethnic" team. Souths generally seemed to have made some strides to broaden their appeal, and in the end their sustainability at the A-League level would require them to continue to engage the greater community.

Would their traditional blue and white stripes be different enough from other teams??? Think Perth are the only team with horizontal stripes at the moment. Would be good to have a different colour (navy blue and white, victory - light blue and white, city - royal blue and white, south)??