Adelaide may hold the answers to crowd concerns

1.7%

good point I will have a look ....

Agreed Sunday games are a pain in the a. Not only for the reasons mentioned but psychologically, most of us suffer from Sunday afternoon blues dreading the prospect of Monday morning, not putting us in the mood to go out and enjoy a game of footy. And 5 or 6 pm KO times are totally not on when you've got kiddies going to school the next day. Thursdays will still not be ideal, but marginally better than Sundays.

I don't want to get into an argument about whether the figures are right or not (overall, they close to the mark to me), but I will say that 12,151 is not 9.5% of 681,301.

so what are your figures ???

didnt fox sports state last week that they did NOT determine the schedule? if true (not saying it is but maybe the onus is on those alleging to prove otherwise?) the blame is at FFA solely. Interestingly with Sydney getting some sort of FIFA party theme park for 2010 I wonder if the city will rise to the occassion and get the crowds? bit of a litmus test for future FIFA events maybe.

Thanks for the lovely comments about our Facebook Group Adrian! I have to remember to pop in to The Roar on a more regular basis so I can post these articles in our links section. Thanks for doing so yourself. The main point to be aware of is that our Facebook page started as a fan page by Santo and due to the work he, and now I, have put in we have been recognised by AUFC and been adopted as their official Facebook presence. It is a bit of a win/win, we wont have competition from AUFC on Facebook and they get us advertising the team and games for free.

I live in Adelaide and the reason I go is because the venue is good From my office in town, i can get to the terraces in 10 mins with a good position where i can see everything, no lining up, no hassle. I only go when its nice weather tho lol

Canada sort of have regions and like NZ’s relationship with OZ have one team in the MLS (but I think with 2 more in the pipe line) I originally thought of Americas MLS because it’s a development sport their with large participation but lesser specatator interest. They have a salary cap too. But there are so many little differences (we cant name a stadium Dick’s Sporting Goods for example) and the way they bring players into the league (through the college system) is quite different. It’s definitely an interesting business case though. Good points about Russia and Ireland. I think you look at as many competitions (including other codes) as you can and then try and figure out what bits would work in Australia and what wouldn’t based on our circumstances. How the Russians Coped/didn’t cop with the travel would be of interest when considering the New Caledonia idea.

AndyRoo I would think the Irish futbol comp would face similar circumstances to Australia in that it is basically a development league which is being dominated by Gaelic football and increasingly rugby union, albeit of a much smaller population and in close proximity to other European nations. We should probably be comparing ourselves to the USA, Russia or Canada in futbolling terms. In the US and Canada, futbol is (like Australia) not the professional sporting giant, and Im not sure if Canada even has a top tier professional league of its own? Like Australia, both nations are huge geographically. Russia has futbol as its dominant sport, but its teams are spread out over a huge area, I understand that a side from Vladivostok competed in the Russian Premier League at one point, this makes Sydney to Perth like a stroll.

Freud But no other Football league has the same circumstances as Australia. I agree we can’t just transplant any model into Australia, even the Bundisliga (Promotion & Relegation would be a totally different beast in Australia). But you can see the changes they have made and their points of difference to other leagues as giving an idea how things might work. The Bundisliga from an outsiders view looks in much better shape than it did 10 years ago even though Bayern are no longer winning the Champions League. No doubt the World Cup giving them a bunch of upgraded stadiums and infrastructure is the largest reason for that but in regards tot the other replicable differences, Putting a game on FTA would decrease the value to Fox but is important to increase exposure, and the payoff would be an increase in sponsorship dollars, not necessarily enough to make up for the fox money but you can see with the Bundisliga’s example it’s an important point…..if not commonsense. The game is growing and trying to find a bigger audience but a lot of teams are pricing like it is a mature product. I really think Fury are on the right track although I guess there was an economic case for charge a premium now while the product is hip (now worn off) and then come in with more appropriate prices later. Because they don’t allow private ownership they can’t spend more than they make, that is pretty much ½ the reason why we have a cap. The other half being to keep small regional teams competitive. When people say scrap the cap I think the Bundisliga is a good example, would you rather an Italian style league or a German one?

Do you think that the reason only 4500 turned up tp Newie was because no one else cares? even if it was cooler they would not have got more than 6000 odd. The HAL has lost flavour of the month status and the current crowds this season is a more accurate reflection of general interest in soccer in this country. The socceroos will fly the flag, but like thier rugger counterparts, it will be a top down relationship, and Heaven help you once that success dries up - just ask the ARU.

Advertiser is News Limited. In today's Tiser there is three pages of football, two for Adelaide united news.

The problem is that foxsports determine the schedule. However if Foxsports can show the EPL with viewers choice( you can select which game you want to watch out of 5 that are playing at the same time) they can do it for the a-league. If friday nights/saturday nights/ tuesday morning or whatever is the ideal time for fans to watch the A-league, all games should be played at that time. I mean who seriously wants to watch players struggle to play in 41 degree heat at a stadium with no roof? Nobody, thats why only 4500 turned up to newcastle on the weekend.

The problem is that foxsports determine the schedule. However if Foxsports can show the EPL with viewers choice( you can select which game you want to watch out of 5 that are playing at the same time) they can do it for the a-league. If friday nights/saturday nights/ tuesday morning or whatever is the ideal time for fans to watch the A-league, all games should be played at that time. I mean who seriously wants to watch players struggle to play in 41 degree heat at a stadium with no roof? Nobody, thats why only 4500 turned up to newcastle on the weekend.

Well please do explain how the A-League can simply copy the Bundesliga and introduce cheap tickets and a membership culture? How is a team like Bayern, coming from Germany's richest city, in it's richest state with practically no competition (1860 are nothing compared to the Reds), with a huge backing population where football is by far the number one sport, how is that meant to be translated into something useful for an A-League club? Apples and Oranges. German fans are born into it, 5-6th generation while the A-League is in its infancy and is an artificial league, clubs have little affiliation with their host cities/areas other than they borrow the name and hope to seek out local sponsors whereas the German clubs are figureheads for their region, a gathering point to hold the people together. Their league is more evenly spread (with the exception of Bayern) because of the strict regulations on ownership, not because of any cap which is the only way the A-League clubs can be held in a pack.

Comparing fan numbers between an NFL team and Adelaide in the HAL... please. You're just nitpicking, and not doing a very good job of it.

The core FTA, Cheap tickets and a membership culture would all work at growing football so I am for it. Their league is now more evenly spread, it does worse in Europe as a result but I believe BL fans would be happy. That is also going to be an isue the FFA will have to deal with. do they scrap the cap so big teams can do better in the ACL or do the keep the cap to have a more open domestic league.

A few interesting points from Adrian's article: Firstly, Adelaide might be the laughing stock of much of the country but it's right up there with Perth as far as being an excellent place to have a professional sports club goes. The Croweaters are football (Aussie Rules) mad and the Crows have been a huge success, that Port has gone down the drain was inevitable, the AFL in their haste to reinforce their place in the SA market rushed into giving the license to Port, they would have been better served opting for another unaffiliated club and marketing it different, perhaps aimed at the country or Adelaide Hills but they thought that the Port supporter base was big enough, they were wrong. That football (soccer now) gets so much coverage in the papers is certainly helpful but the whole sporting landscape is unlike that of the eastern cities. AFL dominates, it's by far the most popular sport with pretty much 2 clubs (yes there are supporters of other clubs but that is a minority) dominating the entire state. There are no code wars, football has its place and that is in second. Even netball gets really good coverage in SA, in other states its behind 4 football codes. Regarding the Friday night fixtures. After their success in the ACL, doesn't it make sense that they get such a high proportion of quality fixutres? North Melbourne had the same deal in the late 90's and Essendon around the turn of the millenium, when they were dominating they played half their season in prime time Friday night slots. Last but not least: "Their fanbase are certainly a loyal bunch, particularly demonstrating so this season, with a Facebook group with close to five-thousand members" - Interesting that this line hasn't been torn apart by the unusually timid crowd today. Musolino wrote an article on November 3rd regarding clubs making better use of the internet. At the time he was critical of Adelaide United for their lack of activity on Twitter yet he thinks the Facebook group is a good thing. I'd say on the contrary, 5000 members is nothing. If you are getting 11,000 through the gates at week, that would be the absolute minimum you'd expect as fans on Facebook, it's THE social networking platform in Aus so to pat yourself on the back for 5000 members, well let's put that into perspective. Minnesota Vikings (Ok, different country and but NFL competes with other codes in MN) DE Jarred Allen has 144,000+ fans. "Brett Favre THE VIKING" has 46K+ fans, this is a guy that the state has hated with a passion for nigh on two decades and he still has that many people following him on Facebook, yet Adelaide's 5K is worth noting?