I see that the active groups are not boycotting anymore, piss weak, no banner is going to make the suits and the corporates funding the suites scared. 

I guess fans here want to be treated as customers, have a week of lunacy and back to being a customer. 

The decision won't change. 

The drama queens are finally realising it perhaps. 

Most fans aren't walking out anyway. 
Majority rules. 

Just get on with it. 
If you don't like it, don't go. 

The sport will move on. 

Well said. 

As I've said before

GF is just the latest example of a long list of similar treatment

False World Cup euphoria being exposed is why everyone got their arse in their hand.

A-League attendance is already down to those who are happy to be treated like this perpetually 

Happy to be treated like what??  

Can you please list all that harsh treatment these fans are receiving??

No survey of supporters at all before making sydney decision - as if the loyal paying customers (which are becoming harder and harder to find and retain!) just don’t matter at all. 

So this is "perpetually" happening? 

Clubs need $$$. 
This is a decent amount of revenue. 
If more fans came to games then it may not have happened. 
Economic reasons. 

No $$$. No league. No clubs. No fans. 

Shafting fans is a shocking way to earn a fast buck. I used to be a Melb Heart member but never been a City member. I attended last years GF as a NEUTRAL fan - not as a member - there’s no fucking way I’m attending another AL GF now that it’s in sydney - so Apl have lost my GF money now. How is this good for AL long-term?!

Sounds like you should work for Apl

That's fine. 
I'm not sure if it works. 

But ultimately that GF in Melbourne cost the league money. 
The next 3 GFs will pockets every club cash. 

Will it succeed? I don't know. 
But if it does, and the game loses you, then it's no big loss. 


Yes. If someone doesn't agree with you then they must be on the other side. The enemy. 
That old chestnut. 🥱

No big loss if they lose you either btw 

Absolutely. 
If it means the game, league and clubs are sustainable then your opinion and mine about GF sale doesn't matter. 

The sport is bigger than both of us. 

The sport of ‘soccer’ is bigger than both of us but the AL is obviously struggling financially so EVERY money-paying fan is important imho…

imagine if the FA announced tomorrow that all future Socceroos games will only be held in Sydney for next 3 years?! Shut out the loyal supporters from all other states like they’re doing to AL supporters with GF?

nobody- including DT and Apl- knows if this sydney thing will succeed. But there are plenty that believe it will fail. Logistically Australia is way too big and expensive to travel around just for starters- unlike English Epl fans traveling quite easily and quickly to Wembley.

Unfortunately we don't have enough money paying fans. 
And a GF in Melbourne last season with 2 Vic clubs still managed to make the league a loss. 

Now a state govt has decided to pump in $$$ into the game that will guarantee the league will make $$$  from the GF over the next 3 years. 
So from a revenue point of view it WILL work. 

How will it play out as a neutral venue.. time will tell. 

But it's worth a shot for the cash injection of $5M?? 
That's 100k fans paying $50 a ticket. 
They probably won't care if me and you don't get to the GF in Sydney. 

True. People that are/have been running AL whether it’s Apl or FA/FFa just keep making different stupid mistakes.
a manufactured expansion club like Western United in a GF resulted in very low supporters at the game- what a surprise! Wouldn’t be the case if a ‘real club’ like (just for example) Sth Melb that already has good number of loyal supporters, was in AL instead.

imagine the large crowd and exciting atmosphere of last years GF at AAMI park between Melb City and Sth Melb!!

AL just keep shooting themselves - and the AL supporters - in the foot and look where it’s ending up.

Some sense in that. 
Yes.  SMFC would've been better than WU. 

But let's face facts. Football supporters have shot themselves on the foot. This is purely and wholly on them. 
Please do not direct blame anywhere. 
Us fans freely provide the bullets for the media to fire shots at the game. This occasion more than any other. 

here here the sport is bigger than us and rich owner leagues.
You only have to look at all the local organic established Clubs in the NPL that have survived hook or by crook the last 17yrs, do you actually think rich owners will stick by their investment forever and day stomaching loss's and staying around 17yrs ahead like them ?
Doubt it.
You can keep throwing money in to survive (with bugger all ROI but for APL HQ split $ %'s and or contracts like GF/Syd) but sooner or later something got to give with this model - especially when suedo supporters arn't sticking around like NPL ones have looking ahead...........(thankfully grass roots keeps on keeping on.
IF you think the GF WILL work providing revenue thats crystal ball talk, I would expect that Gov injection would be put to running costs + prize money and if anything left filtered to the remaining Franchise's subsudising to their continual loss's.......
The league is in a bubble and the current management are presenting nothing for future growth but working on band aid policy.


 

The other thing about this GF deal is that it's not that much money. $10m over 3 years is not much at all. If they needed to find $3.33m per year, they could have just reduced the salary cap. Dropping the cap from $2.5m to $2.22m saves the same amount of money. Fans probably would have still had a bit of a sook, but they would have got over it pretty quickly and moved on. There definitely wouldn't be much talk about boycotts or walk-outs. The GF makes plenty of money when hosted by the home side. Now they will definitely take a hit on GF ticket sales, especially if 1 or more interstate teams are involved, and especially if they are priced the same as previous years. Also if this first GF is a disaster, they will have trouble selling sponsor spots for the next one, which will be another financial hit.

Time will tell. 

I wouldn't have a problem with reducing the cap. 

But this is the decision by the APL. Which is run by the club's. 
So I think we can dismiss the uproar from the club's about being against the decision
DiPietro was on the APL board. He knew about it. He would've been part of the discussion. Why didn't he resign when the decision was made internally? 
Weak. 

No, you get rid of the salary cap, or raise it to 7 mil, and thats for now. Btw, I'm sure any of Melbourne's teams supporters would be happy to drive Di Pietro to the airport to re-settle in Sydney. He helped get the numbers for 'that' decision and in return a massive golden handshake and gets to walk away into the sunset.

Nope. 
Not gonna happen. 
Cap is here to stay. 

It's needed unfortunately. But that's a debate for another thread. 

What do you mean golden handshake for Di Pietro?

Clubs know how much they can spend. The havs will spend more, the have nots will mot spend as much on players and facilities. That is how it is around the World. Take the Mariners, they know that they cannot operate like Melbourne City or Sydney fc do. Therefore, why the over regulation? The salary cap is purely a restraint of trade, Infact that's Socialism.
Do you not think there was a deal done for DiPietro's vote on the three grand finals? He saw this as a way to finally get out if Victory with a handsome payout of sorts. The Apl needed Victory onboard to get this over the line. Lederer, as the 'non independent chairman' may have done a deal that DiPietro could not refuse.

The salary cap is saving the club's from themselves. 
Yep. Perhaps a socialism system in place. 
Sadly, the league may need it to be sustainable and stable. 

Di Pietro was part of the process. I don't know what happened in the boardroom. 
But if he wanted to make an issue of it, he couldve done it during the negotiation process. 
But he chose to do it after the announcement. That was for show from the looks of it. 

If he gets out of victory then it isn't a "golden handshake". 
It's just him simply selling his shares he owned. 
It's not a severance package

Well, I disagree with salary cap issue, its a Democracy and should never have become a drakonian Socialist style regime. There are other clubs that would love to get into the top flight as well. They must not operate with a safety net when they know how to operate they're businesses, in a professional environment. Even with a NSD there is no pro/rel. It is half a job.
Thai leagues have 16 teams in level one, and 18 teams in level two, and then some, in a functioning football ecosystem.

That's fine. 
I understand your point of view. 

But I accept the system we operate under. 
I think it needs to be in place. 

But a discussion for another thread. 

This thread is about the minority walkouts because of a club represented board decision about the GF in Sydney for 3 years generating $10-15M. 
While the majority of fans stay and watch the games. 
But according to some, they aren't "real fans". 

Bit like a fundamentalist religious group that calls others infidels if they don't subscribe to every bit of their philosophies 

So just like all other top tier sports in Australia?

What's happened to Fitzroy FC? 
Where are they now?
And Don't give me that merger story. 

Newtown jets? North Sydney bears? 
Are they still around??
Don't know NSW well. 

This is the nature of pro sports on this country. 
Just the way it is. 

Newtown and Norths play in the NRL feeder competition, one level down. They are a shadow of themselves these days.

Off the top of my head

Lopsided fixture lists to satisfy TV every season

Attendance limiting kickoff times to satisfy TV every season

Hedgefunds supplying Marquees to specific franchises rather than others to improve metrics

Star Wars

Real clubs excluded from expansion process due to TV 'fish where the fish are ' dictates

Active support suppression