Well might Tourism and Events Queensland celebrate Jeff Horn’s historic win at Suncorp Stadium, because they’re not going to be celebrating a Socceroos game any time soon.
How good was Horn’s incredible welterweight world title win in Brisbane yesterday? I was sitting transfixed in the stands for what was one of the most remarkable sporting events I’ve ever seen.
And TEQ and Brisbane City Council deserve every plaudit they get for bringing one of the biggest events in Australian sporting history to the Sunshine State.
The sun was certainly shining on Horn – who from my vantage point won the fight fair and square – and the reported crowd of around 50,000 that filed into Suncorp Stadium to witness his astonishing Rocky-esque victory.
But a few unpalatable truths will get lost amid the fanfare, starting with the fact thousands of seats remained empty by the time an unsuspecting Manny Pacquiao sauntered into the ring.
Here’s some free advice for Australian sports promoters: whatever you think is a fair price for a ticket, reduce it by a third and you’ll be a lot closer to the mark of what fans are willing to pay.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
For all the speculation about the ‘Battle of Brisbane’ breaking attendance records, the honest truth is that Duco Events struggled to shift thousands of unsold tickets, eventually moving the cheapest seats down a tier when it became clear no one was willing to pay huge costs to sit in the nosebleeds.
Nevertheless, there were still swathes of empty seats throughout the stadium, with the promoters once again overestimating just how much money event-fatigued punters are willing to pay at the box office.
Still, you could argue that fight fans in Brisbane at least had the choice of whether to attend or not, which is more than you can say for Socceroos fans in the city.
By the time Australia hosts Thailand in Melbourne on September 5 – presumably at AAMI Park – it will have been more than five years since the Socceroos last played a World Cup qualifier in Brisbane.
You could argue that’s largely the result of the Queensland state government putting all of their eggs in the Pacquiao basket, with the Filipino fighter walking away with a reported prize purse of some $10 million despite losing the fight.
And with thousands of fans descending on Brisbane from interstate and beyond – packing out the city’s hotels in the process – you could argue that from TEQ’s point of view, it’s money well spent.
But the reality is a significant portion of Queensland youngsters are missing out of the chance to watch their national team play on the biggest stage of all.
Yet you could never accuse Football Federation Australia of caring about the welfare of fans.
This is the same organisation that blithely expects fans to fly to Japan to support the national team at Saitama Stadium, but couldn’t be bothered informing those same fans where the next game is taking place until it’s effectively too late to book travel.
(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Does anyone at FFA headquarters care what the critics think? They’re probably more concerned with how they’ve come out looking in the wake of the Garcia report into corruption being leaked to the international press.
But after the A-League draw was released last week – one which once again sees Brisbane Roar play second fiddle to a host of other codes and events – it’s hard to escape the feeling that football in Australia remains a frustratingly Sydney and Melbourne-centric pastime.
Horn’s victory yesterday helped put Brisbane on the international map, even if many viewers in the northern hemisphere were bemused by the result.
But it won’t be enough to convince the Queensland state government to open the purse strings and pay for a World Cup qualifier.
More’s the pity for fans of a team that increasingly is national in name only.
Betty B
Guest
Second largest city in the State? You should check your population statistics; abs.gov.au has official data. Townsville 200K Gold coast 560K, Logan 308K, Ipswich 300K, Sunshine Coast 290K Certainly that's bigger than Toowoomba's 70K, and bigger than Newcastle, Penrith and most regional cities in Australia, but it's far from the second largest city in Qld. Out of interest, the QLD population is about the same as SA, WA, Tas and NT combined.
punter
Guest
Martyn sees the opposition about playing the man not the ball, then goes out & plays the man not ball. As Alana Mossiset says, isn't that ironic?
Neil
Guest
Your post was apt, but as a born and bred Queenslander I did not appreciate your hillbilly comment, insulting words are easy to throw around but hard to retract.
Wainscoting
Guest
You sound like a very unhappy person Fadida. All the best.
Martyn
Guest
Nemo playing the man and not the ball. Again
Midfielder
Guest
Nem Like the new guy MV are trailing Mark key .. Spanish youth team ... be a great 10... only 31... His wiki https://www.ccmfans.net/community/attachments/mkstats-jpg.858
lesterlike
Guest
The pitch at Suncorp is a cow paddock and the atmosphere is always terrible. Too top that all of the QLD government can't even be bothered to actually pay for the event like every other state. The only thing Queensland is good at is moaning, their pitiful effort during the Asian Cup embarrassed the country and don't deserve any football event.
Lionheart
Guest
ha ha - because I'm a little late in the mornings, but I've been on this site way longer than you, and well aware you'll jump the truth.
Lionheart
Guest
Nemesis says SFC get 7 additional games on FTA. That's going to kill our game, most boring team in the A League.
Lionheart
Guest
hillbillies? really Stuart, I would have thought such words were below you. I might add, you're hardly on your own as the same can be said for many of the other posters above.
Lionheart
Guest
and a good post Eddie, a rare one on this article
Lionheart
Guest
Roar are well supported - about third on attendance list in the league, and they don't have a local derby like the Sydney and Melbourne teams to boost their numbers. You should check the figures before posting.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I remember you now, you did this last time I was in a football thread a month or so ago. Went through and cherry picked out all my comments and replied to them individually. Let me just go turn off email notifications for this topic.
Lionheart
Guest
Seriously Midfielder. And I thought you were a serious poster who considered before he posted. PS. I think much of those QLD mining royalties have gone to supporting Hunter sports in recent years, in football, league and racing.
Lionheart
Guest
"all elite codes, not just football, have had underinvestment in Qld right through the 2010’s" You're talking as an Ausy Rules fan only. That's not true for rugby league, far from it. For rugby I would say investment across all States is pretty static. As Bob points out, netball is doing well. Similar with baseball. Boxing just got a massive hot and the Commonwealth Games are here in next year.
Lionheart
Guest
now you are being silly
Lionheart
Guest
Remember how many more Australians played tennis, and won, in the days before that event was given a permanent home in Melbourne.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Thank you for explaining the difference between a rectangle and an oval. I had no idea. Also, there's a lot more to the stadium experience than just how close you are to the action.
Lionheart
Guest
I think you're right about the QLD gov willingness to pay much, and costs are rumoured to be high for Suncorp. I can't go along with the continuous beat-up of the Suncorp surface however. It has some terrible moments to be sure, but it also has some magnificent times. I've seen plenty of bad surfaces on all our grounds but rarely are they criticised like the Suncorp surface.
Lionheart
Guest
say what? it's a cricket ground, highly unsuited to football. almost as bad as the MSG. Suncorp remains the best football/rectangular stadium in Oz.