A-League can learn from Gold Coast Suns

"But rather than bemoan their bad luck, the Suns have offered the local fans free public transport up to Brisbane to get to the game. There’s nothing revolutionary about it, but it’s a smart initiative. It’s the kind of thing fans appreciate." Quote from: GC Suns Membership Entitlements: Entry to all eleven (11) home games, with access to seating (subject to capacity) and standing areas Free game day public transport and park ‘n’ ride options through TransLink Quote from: Translink Ticket and fare integration: We've also introduced integrated travel and entry tickets for events at Suncorp Stadium, The Gabba, Skilled Park, the Tennyson Tennis Centre, the Queensland Sports and Athletic Centre and the Gold Coast motor events. These tickets allow attendees to travel for free and gain entry to events using one ticket. And now Metricon Stadium. So what makes GC Suns' offer to local fans such a "smart initiative"? All of the major sports have this so-called offer. The completion of Carrara was always due mid-season; Suns' fans be damned. What fan appreciates having to travel to another team's stadium in another city. The whole thing's about as welcome a move for the Suns' fans as the one A-League pulled on Brisbane by sending those games to Robina while Ballymore was ready to go, or sending the Fury to play their last 'home' game at that same venue on that rotten pitch, in front of 1003. Bad example, Gaz.

The AFL secret is it puts in a small token amount in this case 10 million and then somehow has managed to secure control of the stadium despite contributing only a small fraction of the cost.The Gold Coast council contributed 50 million of the cost so the majority came from the tax payer. Apparently they are saying the AFL gets all the income, naming rights,including to hire out the stadium to others, so if its used by others the money goes to the AFL team . If this what you call a subsidy I suggest a similiar deal where I help subsidise you to buy property, you pay 90% , I pay 10% and the maintanence and I get all the rental money. Robina Stadium cost 160 million, not sure how much money the government will get back on that investement , however I don;t see if they got a contribution of 10 million and then gave away all the income to the Titans they would be better off. Unlikely that the government willl see returns equal to their investment but it will be much closer than with Carrara. The argument is these teams bring in money and are worth it , well that is debatable point. If Palmer did what Western Sydney AFL team did they took 90 million of government money to add another stadium because they didn;t want empty seats at ANZ, while making a small contribution and who knows what deal they secured there, it would be very wasteful. Palmer is the only one on the Gold Coast who has done the right thing regards the community's money..

How much did money did Palmer or the FFA put into Skilled Stadum on the Gold Coast?

The argument that the Gold Coast is close to Brisbane could have been used in relation to the Titans stadium, which cost nearly $300 mill, Carrara only ended up costing the Qld Govt $60 mill, and the AFL assumes all future maintenance costs. The Suns will get very similar attendances to the Titans over the footy season. It's a fantastic deal for the Qld taxpayer, and in fact should be a blueprint for all major infrastructure developments. I might agree with you in relation to the commonwealth games, but at least the re-development of Carrara, partly funded by the AFL, means Qld can put in a bid on the cheap. On that basis, I would argue that the AFL is subsidising sports infrastructure in Qld. If you disagree with me - tell me what other sports have contributed to the building of all the major stadiums in Qld.

Just a quick point, many AFL fans travel to see there team, the GC have a good economic positive here, the money put into the local GC econmy from these fans has obviously made sense to the various levels of government.

The money goes to building a stadium that will be underutilised and only benefits one professional sporting team. As far as being used for cricket they already have the Gabba for international games. They could play the odd 20/20 state game that would attract a crowd there, however that is hardly going to draw a bigger crowd than the Gabba anyway. Then you have that greatest waste of money the Commonwealth games, The Commonwealth games is a nothing event internationally these days, taken seriously only by Australia who were the nation who paid the highest for the Tv rights, and missing most of the world class athletes. If they were taken seriously why didn't England with a bigger TV market pay more for the rights, or even the hosting country India who pay more than Australia for the cricket rights. The Gold Coast is fairly near Brisbane , why does it need to build a large range of sporting venues for those multitude of sports just for a Commonwealth games, that would attract minimal visitors from interstate and few from overseas. You have to learn the difference between taking money from the community and giving something to the community. Its like saying a burglar is giving you a gift by robbing your house. .

A club can make deals like that with a community based club because the money goes back into the local sporting community, not to mention that AFL games pay for a facility that can be used for cricket in Summer, and which will also underpin a Commonwealth games bid. It's unlikely that a Government would ever strike a similar deal with a club owned by one wealthy individual - won't happen.

So not only do taxpayers have to foot the cost a 140 million stadium upgrade , the resulting deal of a clean stadium will make sure the public don't even get a fraction of that money back. So they have embraced the community's back account tremendously. SO what your suggesting is Palmer should start raiding community money.

Good first season results didn't ultimately save North Queensland Fury. In the case of new clubs and those struggling for survival the off-field stuff is important, and the on-field can help that. For the average fan, the results are the most important and this was a bad result. Off field, the crowd was decent though undeniably assisted by the first game novelty factor and a large proportion seemed to be Carlton fans. The, short term, recruitment mistake I feel that GC made was to rely too heavily on youth (and the Hunt marketing gimmick) and not look at picking up a few of the better seasoned players out of the SANFL and WAFL. A bit more senior experience will help a lot. There are plenty of 22 and 23 year olds in those comps that are better, at their current stages of development, than many 18 and 19 year olds on AFL lists - a few of which will be dumped at year's end. Youth had to be a big part, but not picking up a few more seasoned footballers was a mistake. And it seems to be one GWS are also making.

Hunt did play the game at an early age; not a lot and the money being spent on him is a joke, but he did play Australian Football as a junior. Falou never has.

You really think there is anything to learn from a club who pays the highest possible amount of money for a player who has never played the game, then lose their first game by more than a hundred? I wouldn't want to learn anything from them personally.

Fuss starting up a franchise or club these days is tough. Rebels suffered a 43-0 walloping, however they have won a couple of games since. I'm sure the Suns will do the same money can't buy you happiness, or success The Suns will be fine in the long term, because the AFL has the money The question is "at what cost?''

For me, for ANY sporting team, THE first - and most important - KPI is: "results on the pitch:". After 2 seasons of professional club football, GCU has been outstanding on the park - I'd be surprised if ANY sporting team anywhere in the world has entered an existing sporting competition and been as successful as GCU. In its debut season, GCU were in the Top 3 positions all year and finally finished 4 points from the top after stumbling in the last month of a 27 match season. In its 2nd year, GCU also made the finals and were 1 goal away from playing in the GF. And, it's not just GCU - NQF & Heart also were excellent - on the park in their debut seasons. So, it depends on what's important in sport ... if results are important then, based on the performance tonight of The Suns in its opening game, new A-League clubs should be advised to continue to "do the opposite".

I agree to a certain extent, most of the southern immigration to the GC was a generation ago, it is their kids, GC born who are the future and seeing GC junior football has grown by 10% this year and was quite strong to begin with, i forsee quite a good future. IME, many fans of traditional clubs who move become fans of the local clubs, and even if they don't their kids surely do. I do agree that GWS has far more chance of big growth, but GC will be more of a Geelong type team, and become very hard to beat at home.

Clive Palmer is a wealthy man, but nowhere near as well off and powerful as the Australian Football League. And the AFL has EXPERIENCE in expansion. On top of this their intentions are pure. They want people to play, attend and love the national game. Soccer is a foreign game on these shores and being force fed a club, like GCU, which belongs to one man, not a club of members does not appeal to the Australian psyche. The AFL tried it with Brisbane Bears and Sydney Swans. Everyone must help out to make a club work, not just one generous benefactor.

you could say, if GCU had someone like Tinkler, rather than Palmer, than chances are GCU would be in a far better position than what they are currently in

Its also possibly too early to really claim a difference. Let's see what sort of crowds the Suns are drawing in their third year. This year the ex-pat factor will probably be higher, with neutrals starved of footy buying memberships. That will drop once the novelty wears off, then the Suns will need to rely on their local support. That's when they may find themselves in trouble. The Titans are different issue, the bulk of GC born and bred are RL fans. With only 500k, growing to 800k by 2030, the Suns don't have the same growth opportunities as GWS will; and given most of the GC growth is expected to be from NSW and other parts of Qld if the AFL can't win them over at home why would the Suns do so later in life? And why would an ex-pat swap clubs? Longer term, GC are the riskiest of the AFL's expansion options so far, but this year I expect they'll look OK off-field.

Over 41 thou for Saints, Richmond last night, IMO thats about on par, Richmond have not been on the finals for who knows how long, and Saints are a good cure for insomnia with the type of rugby style pack game they seem to play, having said that, they seemed to step away from that last night and it was a very entertaining game. The Suns who are closely alligned with Southport football club will do OK, and will make money, particuarly with their "clean" stadium deal at Carrara, and they recently signed a multimillion deal with Metrocon, to become stadium sponsor. http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/03/16/299645_gold-coast-lead-story.html Looks like a crowd of around 25,000 tonight at the Gabba, anything over 20k would be a victory crowd wise for the Suns. Football wise it was pointed out that the Suns have more AFL experience on their list (average AFL games ) than Richmond, i would expect if the Suns win it will be close, expect the ball to be very hot early.

how can you say the AFL has not thrown money to the Suns. They have ! Why would they not do that. The AFL is a big business with lots of $ and they have a new product to sell. It makes sense what they are doing. Is it the right thing - for them it is. Its all about translating the game into $'s. The AFL does that very well. One thing that has surprised me tho this year is the number of empty seats i have seen at the AFL games on TV> Are the attendances down this year for the AFL or is too early? Maybe the AFL is experiencing over saturation of their product?

No. The AFL have not thrown money at The Suns. How much was Hunt again? Why didn't Palmer get a top AFL or NRL player to join them? Maybe it would have been too hard for them to adapt? If Perth get an NRL team, should they poach an AFL player? Who would it be? I must say that the build up to The Suns first match has been pretty intense and I will be watching Hunt tomorrow night for a little while to see how he goes and read the press reports on Sunday. I might take a peek again in a month or so to see how he is going then. I might even enjoy some of the play, but every goal will leave me cold and asking the question, "why would you get points for that?" There is sometimes a build up of fast and furious play only for it to end in a anticlimax of a punt kick to score. How about introducing the try to improve the game as Rugby did about 120 years ago?