B-League or A2-League for second tier?

Great Figures, Grobb. However the A-League cannot attract 27,000 fans the only way they have done this so far is a Melbourne Derby and we cant have 27 rounds of derbys a season. There should be no B-League until each club can reach at least an average of 12,000 solid fans a year

zzz, rather boring article. Short of things to write about? Speculating on what a hyperthetical league, decades away might be called? pa-lease.

but whats wrong with NSL, it has history, and that is where a number of the teams come from

@ thom_canberra "I don’t know why people seem to assume that our second tier is going to be called A2-League when it not only sounds terrible, but doesn’t make sense. "Frank Lowy has said that he wants a ‘B-League’ and it just wouldn’t suit a comprehensive league system to have the same name for each league with just a different number. "B-League has much more identity than A2, in my opinion, and I believe, although this may seem like a minor issue, it is an important part of our football-cultural identity and we should get it right for the future." Your opinion is based on.... well your opinion. You like the sound of B-League more than A2-League. That is all you've offered. People naturally differ. For me I don't see the link between A-League and B-League, given our region's trend to use the first letter of our nation's name in the league title. A2-League seems to link better for me. But, like others have said, it's really a non-issue at this stage.

The Bangladesh top division was known as the B.League until 2009.

This is all a bit ridiculous for me, It is not the K.League it's the K-League http://www.kleaguei.com/main/index.aspx

What is the proof to back up those crowd figures? You mentioned the last five years of the A-League. So average crowds dropping from about 14,000 to about 9,000 is your proof?

All the talk is either it being A2-League and B-League, or a name that has no relation at all with the current name. I always thought that they could get away with defining the leagues by calling it something like A-League Premiership and A-league Championship, Or A-league 1st Div and A-league 2nd Div The FOOTBALL LEAGUE does a similar thing with the 4 divisions being called Premier League, Championship, League 1 and League 2.

I agree with LT80 on the capability of a second division. I think all football fans would like a large enough support base to cover a second division but the reality is that right now we need more of a support base before that will work. especially with the distances needing to be travelled. The best option at this stage may be to redo the state leagues to a template similar to the a-league transition except that all current state premier league teams(as opposed to the NSL teams that barely made a mention) are welcome to put in for a franchise and have to prove facilities / finances and become a semi-professional organisation that is run by a hopefully competent administration. If we can get some media options, even to the point of broadcasting them on a local TV station or highlights on internet broadcasts it may start more of a following for the local areas as well. When and FFA cup is put in place these are the teams that would compete and(possibly) head interstate.

Yes and no. He also predicted the A-League rights would match that of the AFL (so we're talking $1 billion over 5 years). Also, he said all this before we ramped up the bid to host the WC. Once the WC decision comes our way - everything changes irrevocably. We're talking about a paradigm shift of massive proportions.

Also from all reports I've found, Harold Mitchell said the FFA could get up to $100 million a season by 2013, which is well short of the $200 you're saying.

The NSWPL is not broadcast on TV. Sutherland & Manly are funded by their associations which are massive (20,000 members for Sutherland), Granville Assoc have just taken ownership of Parramatta who are back in PL, clubs such as Apia have over 1200 registered players. Evidenced by the A League pre-season matches against Sydney FC of 2009 we know these clubs get crowds for big games (3,500 to Apia, 5,500 to Sutherland midweek games). These clubs are already semi-professional, have youth teams & members in place & have survived for decades. The administration is what is lacking, to bring it together although I am not sure what takes place in the other States. The State federations need to be taken out of this & the top clubs take place in an elite national comp, with the opportunity for promotion.

Teams survive as they do all over the world, and we will be no different. You can see from the figures that I have made sufficient allowance for: a drop off in attendances and revenue with relegation, a lowering of salaries (contracts are written with the possibility of promotion/relegation in mind), and a proportionate share of the TV rights that reflects the lowering of costs as teams are relegated. In decades to come, we ill stop worrying about whether a team from a particular region is represented or not. If five Melbourne teams get promotion, so be it - they've earned it! And vice versa, these things will not concern us anymore, and the game will be so healthy, we will stop having these useless discussions that are effectively holding back the game today. The sporting landscape will change in Australia on December 2, after which, you will see that my figures will prove to be quite conservative. As for attendances - those figures are conservative - the proof of that is in the last five years of the A-League, and the health of clubs in the state leagues. There is no shortage of evidence that shows my figures are very reasonably and verifiable estimates.

Exactly where will these 12 B-League clubs with an average crowd of 9,000 come from? Where do the figures of 27,000 or 3,000 come from for that matter? And how will an A-League club survive once relegated? How does a B-League team's crowd triple when promoted? Take those rose tinted glasses off.

It's not about copying the English system you don't give a name that invokes images of inferiority because it's less attractive to sponsorship. No one wants to tie there brand to the 2nd best tag so they will come up with some other name. The English example was only brought up as a counter to the claim it would be too confusing, it was never brought up as a reason to do it just an example.

I have worked on simular models over the past 3 years and it would work if implemented properly and if the A-League, A-League2 and A-League3 are run inderpendently from the FFA and socceroos. great post.

I would like to see a second division in soccer for the sake of the clubs that sustained the sport for many years before the a-league. But how realistic is it at the moment? The AFL is making the first steps towards a national second division at the moment with the national knockout cup starting next year for teams from the state leagues. In rugby league, the QRL has been pushing hard for a national second division competition to replace the national U20s. But some of these competitions like the Qld Cup, SANFL and WAFL already get good attendances (not much less than some a-league clubs) and rate well for their match of the round where they are broadcast on the ABC. What sort of attendances does the NSWPL get? Is it broadcast on TV?

ooooooooohhhhh i dunno mate big call. ive been to two games recently dandenong thunder v oakleigh and south melbourne v heidelberg and i dont think there was a lack of support. at the dandenong game the ground was packed. theres was no seating in the grand stand. all around the fences there were fans, there was an active group of greek fans behind the goals with drums (i love active support btw) and about another few hundred lined up around the canteen area just talking or ordering food. this doesnt even mention the youth side on the oval next to it. i think it can work because there are enough fans (as it is) and people in those communities it can reach out to. take dandenong for example, the area has a large population base but no professional sports side. unlike other countries all our sides are located in the city as opposed to out in the suburbs. i think something out in those suburbs will work. by the way dont take my argument the wrong way, i am a victory member and i like the team (used to love until hatamoto came along to kill my love) but i think its not the best way to improve our national team. the differnce is melbourne victory dont have under 8's through to under 18's. teams like oakleigh cannons, bentleigh greens, south melbourne, preston lions, dandenong thunder etc have around 500 or more players in multiple divisions. these kind of club, i honestly believe, will do well with a professional side. plus all those 500 players, plus the other thousands around the area playing for different clubs will have a local professional side to aspire to. i know were not brazil or argentina, but in those nations they adopt this sort of structure. its not such a crazy idea in my opinion and its definately worth a go. the worst thing that can happen is we flop, the best thing that can happen is all the euro snobs and partiipants which dont attend the a-league will be engulfed within the professional area of australian football (soccer). lets do it