So, the crowd cap is back. It is very easy for fans to get upset, but really, can you blame Clive Palmer? There have been many calls from fans for Big Clive to “dig deep” and foot the bill. After all, he’s not short of a quid.
This ignores the fact that you don’t become successful through poor business practice and excess. The Chairman of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, is one of the richest people in the world (11th), but famously flies around the world in economy.
Palmer claims that Gold Coast United bled him of $5 million last year. That is a lot of money.
Any smart business-person isn’t going to stand for that. The crowd cap is estimated to save the club $1million this season, that’s a reduction of 20%, which is nothing to be sneezed at.
But the cap is a black eye for the game, an acknowledgment that despite its massive success over the last five years, the game still has struggles.
So where does the blame lie?
The FFA have responsibility of promoting the game in this country, and it is fair to say that they have taken their eye off the ball domestically in recent time due to their devotion of 100% focus on the world cup bid. There is also some blame that can be levelled their way in admitting the team at all.
The admission of Gold Coast United has hurt Brisbane crowds, and is really starting to seem like they have tried to pony up to Clive Palmer, a wealthy mining magnate with an outspoken love of football.
The fans are no innocents here, either.
This is a controversial sentiment, but the reality is that without the fans, the club doesn’t exist. And where there is inaction from the club, the fans should try and pick up some of the slack. This is as simple as trying to drag a friend along to a game.
Who hasn’t been dragged along to something they otherwise wouldn’t have gone to, but actually enjoyed it, or at very least enjoyed the experience of going to a game with friends.
If every second person that attends a Gold Coast United game brought a friend, a niece or nephew, or a friend of their child along to the game, the crowd numbers spike dramatically.
The other guilty party is the administrators (both club and FFA). As it stands, the club needs to get 8,000 through the gate to break even. The club isn’t getting anywhere near that.
So the administrators should have negotiated a much better deal for the game. After all it in the interests of Stadiums QLD to have the ground used in some capacity, it is a world class venue and deserves to be used for more than just the Titans.
Ironically, the Brisbane Roar have been looking to get out of Suncorp Stadium as quickly as they can because that deal – also with Stadiums QLD – is bleeding them dry.
Finally, it is worth noting that closing sections of stadia and limiting crowd numbers isn’t uncommon, Etihad stadium regularly closes sections of the top tier when crowds are low, and if you have a close look at the Storm games at AAMI Park, the top tier on the side that the TV cameras are on is usually closed. It is done to reduce overhead.
The problem that Gold Coast United has is that they have to pay extensive levies for extra security and the use of the Robina train station (which the stadium is practically a part of) as soon as the crowd reaches 5,001. The levy is the same should the game be sold out.
There is a simple solution to this: as fans, vote with your feet. Turn up to the game, only to have them turn you away because the ground is “full”.
As soon as people start getting turned away, the policy will soon change.
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