Mariners' predicament represents new era of A-League expansion

of course we need a floor, just like we need a minimum wage for non-sport employees so that people aren't exploited, if you cant see that then you don't know us much as you think you do.

Hah, that is the anti-Kiwi brigade who find the viability and vibrancy of Wellington a terrible burden indeed :D

"Wellington do the same thing to great effect yet no-one suggests that a move is on the cards as a result." Every other week I read that they are "moving" out of the A-League... :p

LIKE!

The Mariner's have gotten through the last decade unscathed. That is the mark of a viable club. The next decade is set to have greater revenue streams via both the COE and significantly improved media deals. Some games may end up in North Sydney to widen the catchment area, hardly earth shattering and indeed a smart business decision. Wellington do the same thing to great effect yet no-one suggests that a move is on the cards as a result.

Real worries for the viability of our club. Mariners have always maintained a decent core of support no matter what, but have generally failed to capture the committment of the wider audience up here. Without the ability to attract names, they will always struggle to capture the casual watcher or league fan. Couple that with the sometimes dire performances this season and even the rusted-ons are starting to fall off. Plenty of people are starting to question Moss' ability to lift them above where they are. Either the players have hit their performance ceiling or he has. I suspect the latter, as many of these blokes went okay under Arnie. However relocating the current team will fail just as surely.If they do plan to relocate & spend at the same time, then all of the previous assurances were patently false.

Perhaps they could emulate FC St. Pauli and install a sausage train in the stands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdBGuhfboZk

The a league needs to stop getting ideas above its station. It is perfectly reasonable for a leagues clubs to have attendances averaging 6000 especially for small regional towns such as Gosvegas. The only areas of the country with significant support for association football are Sydney and Melbourne- hence they have two clubs each. Throughout the rest of the country support is not good. In Perth for the size of the city support is extremely poor and well behind support for Perth's basketball team. I read today that gallop is pushing for ANZ to be used next season for the Sydney derby. This is another example of the game getting ideas above its station!! It is still the fourth sport across the country (granted it has overtaken rugby union in the last 2 years).

This is about money, not jealousy or performance. What can a small club such as CCM do about revenue? I am sure the chairman is thinking about it. However he must have bought the franchise with full knowledge of its limitations. I am not sure what is in the franchise purchase but if games at North Sydney are not disallowed by the franchise of course he will use N Sydney to increase income. If he cant objections from S FC should stop it. Then he needs to think of other options or hire someone who can. Now I am not in marketing and I am sure it will show but--How else can CCM make money? Couple games with other events, New Years Eve works well at the coast but otherwise. 1. The party near the source bottles idea does not seem much of a winner and down market but at least it is a try. 2. How about looking at the upper market and moving supporters to Gosford rather than the club to N Sydney? At West Brom we introduced a very upmarket, meet the players, lunch and the Directors, seats in a select area all for about $1500. That's a bit much for the Sydney market I guess. However what about a private car from Sydney, lunch at a local upmarket restaurant, meet the owners and the captain, a couple of shirts and waiter service during the match. Someone should see if it could be done profitably. There would be economies of scale, and if it could turn a profit of $300 a head-- just 10 people would mean an effective extra gate of 100. One hundred if could be 1000. 3. A variant on this could be stay at one of the two top class hotels at the CCM and brought by private car to the ground and then the extra goodies. I am a bloody snob I know but the local working mens club is hell and parking a pain. 4. Another option is to do this for distant away games at the upmarket end ( hotels, where the players stay, game ticket and business class fair ( possibly subsidized by Qantas) and down market levels eg coach trip and cheap lunch at Newcastle, East Sydney or Parramatta. This may work well for the FFA cup. 5. Sell the option for your child to playin I a game before the match or appear from the tunnel or at least couple this with season tickets 6. Expand the number of shares so individual supporters can own a bit of the club. Say $200 non voting shares. 7. I have seen the option of selling a brick in a wall with a supporters name on it work 8. And then there is really downmarket. There has to be more that can be done with the sauce bottles which is just such a good gimmick. Masterfoods could expand this. Masterfood tomato sauce wrestling at half time in a huge tomato sauce bath-----$100 to join in --- well perhaps not, but you know what I mean, after a few beers............ Seriously, days have gone where many people would stand on a terrace in the rain when there was no TV. Now its a package that is a good day or afternoon out that might sell, especially if you have a limited catchment area.

Also, of the 4 home games they've played this season, 2 of the visiting teams are amongst the lowest drawing away clubs: Wellington & Perth.

....And that's because we have a few European players with flair in the SFC squad.

GA, the ex CCM trainer and players who jumped ship have been given a lot more love from SFC's fan base than they ever received from Bluetounge's dour supporter fan base---GA and the SFC fans are just loving the love trip...

Is this bloke qualified? http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2014/11/24/charlesworth-chases-games-sydney-save-mariners "We need a model that works and no administration in the last 10 years of this club's history has achieved that, the club was over $4million in debt when I took over last year.”

Great. More CCM bashing. I sense some jealousy over the fact that CCM have out performed most larger capital city clubs over the past 10yrs.

"CCM’s average home crowds for the previous 4 seasons is 9.2k" But only 7.6k this season so far, may be due to poor form.

...and yet, the Jets are also a regional club, and Gallop has come out and stated that they are important to the league. The fact is Central Coast does not appreciate having any form of sport representing their region aka Canberra - too many out of towners with no local loyalty or interest. CCM may survive, and having average crowds of 7k is not a problem, as long as the club can source alternative revenue.

The fact that "the wages are fully covered" is diverting money that CCM must have the option of redirecting to those other line items. You're clearly a smart fellow Fuzz...but bizzarely everyone is blinkered on this valid point. I can only assume its due to some socio-political, egalitarian agenda? ;) Repeating "the wages are covered" over and over and over is absurd. That money must be controlled by the club and they must be forced to direct it to breaking even...,for their own good. But attack away...im not an insider or an accountant or have full access to all of CCMs reports etc etc etc ....

Then you need to throw in the fact that significant away support comes through the gate from the Jets, Sydney and Wanderers. If the expansion clubs include either/or Wollongong-Canberra then you can add a few more to the list. The Mariners articles rarely take into consideration the business plan and weigh its merits.

Once again u want to fit reality to an economically illiterate viewpoint. If a franchise is bleeding money for ten years...that much is certain and confirmed, we all know this and it is not in dispute...then they must reduce costs. A large part of that is wages. Nothing changes this basic fact and no amount of derision from u or others will change it. Laugh all the way off the cliff i guess! :) Whether i watched the league recently or not is irrelevant. I have watched plenty of the last decade, but its not the point. I follow the evidence...which is that after almost ten years only two clubs have reached any sort of individual sustainability. The struggling clubs exist on subsidies and good graces of those who lease the franchises and the only way to stop this is to alter the "model" ...indeed to radically deregulate it. The hal according to those currently in charge is going multi tier some day, may as well do it sooner than later to keep clubs like CCM kicking. And allow for more up and coming teams from the NPL to enter the fray.

Has the author reviewed CCM's annual reports for the past 9 years in researching this opinion piece, or is this article based on "it's my opinion, so I don't need any facts"? At the very least, in the absence of the Annual Reports, unless we know the stadium deal that CCM has with the Gosford City council, it is ridiculous to try to use "average crowd figures" to create a business case to allege CCM is financially vulnerable. We know CCM's players' wages are fully covered. What are the other major expenses? 1. Stadium & other rental 2. Wages for football department other than players 3. Travel 4. Wages for non-football department What a re the major revenue items? 1. Match day revenue (gate, corporate events, membership) 2. Sponsorship 3. Merchandise 4. Other ... for CCM, player transfers have been a useful source of income. All CCM has to do is ensure Revenue > Expenses. Even a small loss - perhaps, up to 500k - each year would be acceptable and may provide the owner with better net tax position for his overall investment portfolio. CCM's average home crowds for the previous 4 seasons is 9.2k. This is higher than: MelbHeart, Perth Glory and NIX.