Are the new kids on the block struggling to fit in?

The location of the teams is not any good. Western Melbourne is a short distance from Melbourne and not that well populated. Parramatta is within about 20 minutes drive for 2 million. Surrounded on all sides. Leumah is right on the South West edge and they would be lucky to be 20 minutes drive for 200k 1

$864,000 x 12 clubs = $10,368,000 That's about a third of the money that FOX are paying for the TV deal this year, which amounts to $32 million. And the season is only halfway through.

No mates -"to cover the cost of stadiums!!!!!) You have to be kidding. Professional squads are now around 23 strong and you can add at least 8 "extras" to that for coaching and medical staff. Now the total of contracted people is about 30 to 35 strong, and you have to remember these people have to be paid for a full year whilst only playing games ,normally around 14, for half of that year. Try counting the wage bill for that lot and tell me where that money comes from. Cheers jb..

Im not blind to the fact clubs need people to come along to games, and at least get enough to cover the cost of renting stadiums like Wellington and Brisbane had to do with these massive stadium cost (They were to big and still are). Move to smaller boutique stadiums to fit the smaller crowds. No more ANZs etc we need to be realistic.

No mates- You pose a question, "Do crowd figures really matter these days"?. Just for a moment tear yourself away from your keyboard and put yourself in the position of a club treasurer ,or even a club investor. Now apply your question and the answer has to be, "You'd better believe it.!!!!!! Last season was not a good one for A-League clubs gate-wise, with the average gate over 67 games dropping to 10,400/game. In the 18/19 season that figure had been 10,950 per game over the same number of games.(67) This season the figure has dropped dramatically to 5760 over 67 games and still dropping. Can you even start to work out how much this is hurting the clubs financially.? Lets try . Assuming a $25 dollar entry and using those average figures, each club would have drawn the following amount of gate revenue. Season 18/19 - 10,950 by $25 @ approx 6 home games = $1,642,500. Season 19/20 - 10,400 by $25 @ approx 6 home games. =$1,560,000 Season 20/21 - 5,760 by $25 @ approx 6 home games. = $ 864,000 So, no mates ,if you imagine that a drop in gate earnings this season so far of around 50% or around $700,000 per club is nothing to worry about then so be it, maybe it's a good job you are not the business manager of one of our A-League clubs. Cheers jb.

We need both WU & Macarthur to not only survive, but thrive. If either team folds, then so does the A-League, plain & simple. We need ALL teams to grow, cause I ain’t going back to the semi-pro NSL days.

Everyone use to torment Wellington for there poor crowds and the same mob would also say there dragging the league down. Also lets not forget the squatter statement. Now if anyone is squatting on a license its WU with no home at all and a club built on lies. Do crowd figures really matter these days? Compared to the football being play?? As for the old NSL clubs just check now for their crowds numbers, they are around 100 people on a good day, No thanks.

I think the author has a bias towards some former NSL clubs being selected instead of the two we have. However, he didn't present any logical argument for any of those clubs being included. I think I am certain that Ad City have no current interest in making a bid for an A League license, even with their new club chairman being Greg Griffin. [Andy, you might have more info on that than I do?]. I am an interested observer re the Tarnit Stadium situation, I know how building these things get drawn out and it is easy for those who want it to fail, to fire from the cheap seats and hide behind fictitious names on a chat site. The things that others have brought up re coaches and playing style, they change as success comes and goes. What is a pigs ear today may end up being a silk purse next season. Lets wait and see.

Good point buddy.

You are right mate. But two would be ample. Plus you have the Mariners a simple train ride up the coast or a longer trip to Newcastle. 4 in NSW is the right number.

Great post. There needs to be a tonne of marketing to be done as there hasn't been any over the years. Most people don't even know when the A League finals are on. Plus this season has provided a plethora of goals that could be used as marketing for next season.

There are some weird and wonderful comments on this subject ,covering all sorts of angles and yet not one commenter has referred back to 2005 when the A-League started. To refresh their memories the league was started ,under a governmental plea, to resurrect a semi professional competition that had died in it's inability to improve both in standard of management ,and selling itself to a wider public. The man asked to oversee this new approach was a self made multi millionaire , who for some years had left the game after being involved with NSL club Hakoah/Eastern Subiurbs. That club too, despite being recognised as a top team, deserted the league some 4 years after F Lowy. The man. F Lowy accepted the governmental challenge and decided to take our game to a new level in one fell swoop, starting a fully professional league. In the information sent out to potential "investors" Lowy's number crunchers let it be known that to survive in his "new" league ,clubs had to look at averaging 10,000 paying customers to their home games, this giving them, the clubs , a steady income from their home gates. The question to be put today ,some 15 years later, is how many of the participant clubs have managed to get anywhere near that "magical " figure, Melbourne Victory, Sydney, to a lesser extent Brisbane Roar and Perth, and just about there you have to draw the line. In recent weeks we have seen the Covit plague blamed for small crowds and yet just last week the opening 3 rugby league games attracted nearly 60,000 fans (average crowd 20,000). In Brisbane, Sydne,y and Melbourne, while in the same time period the 3 A league teams playing attracted 20,000 (average crowd 7,000) well below that 10,000 forecast made 15years ago.. When will the licence owners of our clubs waken to the fact that they have to sell themselves to the football public. They now have control and there is a huge audience out there just waiting to be entertained but our game is lying a poor third (even in virus times) to the other codes who are spending fortunes advertising their sports BEFORE their seasons started, and are continuing to do so. jb.

Are WU & MacArthur successful? Yes. Both were granted a licence. Does anyone remember the “other” teams? Me neither.

I completely agree that they should have teams. Canberra has been doing a great job in the W League as well. Maybe Tasmania should firstly create a W League Team as well? Because at this point it seems like Canberra should be the next A League Team for Mens as well. However a 3rd team in the Melbourne or Sydney does make sense due to the population numbers before Tasmania and Canberra.

I also don't get the point of view in the article as if both new teams are down but 1500 fans a game in the world's worst pandemic in a long time, how is this judged as a failure? Maybe this article would make more sense in 5 years time if the numbers are still down. But first or second season in covid times seems like the wrong time to compare attendance figures.

tassie is ripe for the picking from a football point of view. I would not be surpised if the FA is using westerns games there to guage what sort of crowds they get before looking at getting tasmania im the comp. There is no AFL/Rugby teams that play there, im not sure if theres basketball/cricket played there, but tasmania is virtually untouched. canberra should've been the other club in this league from day 1, they have too much of a rich football history to not be in the league

AFL has only two stadiums in Melbourne being the MCG and Marvel after how many years? If WU finish their stadium that will be three Stadiums being used for A League which is already more. Also how many non cbd clubs are there in AFL? WU is actually going outside the cbd and taking a sport around vic which AFL isn't doing. And AFL only started around 1990 as previously it was VFL. Plus their link to Tasmania now is also something AFL might not always be doing and not leading into a Club in Tassy.

So where should have the licenses gone to instead? Its easier to criticise than construct a valid argument.

I completely agree that Adeliade, Brisbane and Perth need more teams. As does Canberra and Tasmania. However Sydney has a population of 5 mil and Adeliade 1 mil. Thats 5 times less. Simple maths dictates that there should be more teams in Sydney to being with.

No one is going to build a stadium before they get a license. Instead of a 15 mil investment it becomes a guesstimate of 150 mil before a license? That doesn't sound like a deal any other team had to pay. If there are club owners willing to invest than whats the problem? Who's to say that Canberra would be averaging more fans now and what stadium would they have. A team is building a football stadium outside of a cbd and people are complaining? How high are your standards for football :silly: . This is a positive for the game. Regarding the delays, how many people own construction companies that build stadiums in Australia that have the authority to say how the project timeline should go? Paying 25 bucks to enter a game doesn't mean you know how to build a stadium :stoked: . This is tounge in cheek but kind of serious as well.