Roar Guru
What will the football sporting landscape look like in Sydney in 2050?
Australian rules, rugby league, rugby union and football all have their strong points, all have their heartlands and all have or have had at different stages ambitious growth plans to spread their game.
Sydney is Australia’s most populous city, Australia’s financial hub, Australia’s international city. Win over Sydney and the rest of the country should fall into line.
I imagine that thought has crossed many a sporting CEOs mind, but is it all a bit of a mirage.
Does Sydney really care as much as the Southern Capitals and Brisbane about sports? Does being top dog in Sydney mean eventually being top dog in the country?
Sports-wise, Melbourne is our capital. Of that there is really no doubt. Perhaps culturally across a number of areas it is as well, but that can be argued and quite frankly I don’t really care.
There is no doubt that Sydney is our international city, it has an outdoor, beach and water sports culture that Melbourne just can’t compare with.
The AFL is pouring resources into Sydney hoping to capture more of the market and is making good inroads.
Football is at grassroots level far and away the market leader, and if they managed to turn players into fans they could pop another two A-League clubs in with very little trouble.
Rugby league has the West sewn up and perhaps also down South around Cronulla is another heartland, but still crowds and grassroots are dwindling in the world home of the game.
It could even be argued that Brisbane is the home of the game now, but there is no doubt league still has plenty of pull in Sydney.
Rugby union has its Australian home and flagship for the game in Sydney and there has been talk of another Super Rugby club out West at different stages.
So as we can see Sydney is a very tight, cut-throat market. It is also the most split in terms of its football following among any Australian city.
While many would say league is undisputed king and point at TV ratings, I think many things need to be taken into consideration and TV ratings is just one.
The market has changed in Sydney probably more than any other capital. Even up to ten years ago RL was unchallenged as the undisputed king, it was a long long way ahead of any other football code.
Go back 20/30 years and it would have been pretty hard to foresee the change in the Sydney footballing market that we are looking at today.
If Sydney is the real prize in Australian sport, it begs the question of what its footballing scene will look like in 10, 20 or even 50 years, will RL still be considered King?
Will union make it out of a few Eastern suburbs private schools? Will football still have huge participation but still sit low in the public’s consciousness?
Will AFL build on its last few years of good growth to become a bigger player in the Sydney market?
Will one code surge ahead and become an outright market leader in Sydney?
Who really knows what the future will hold?
What do you think Roarers, what will your favourite football code look like in Sydney in the future?