Melbourne and the Sunshine Coast

[Sunny coast shark]

There are plans to upgrade Sunshine Coast Stadium. Put a team there and the Queensland Gov will probably throw money at it.



I reckon kids from Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay would get behind the Dolphins if the team used a name like "East Coast" and engaged with the community.

No chance members of the Sunshine Coast community will drive to Redcliffe or Suncorp to support the dolphins, I wouldn’t and I’m a bloke who has been to well in excess of 350 games

 

[Saxon]

Financial hard ship lol I guess you haven’t seen the plans as to what’s going down at the leagues club.

Are these the same plans they've been promising for the last 30 years?

 

[Timmah]

Didn’t say it was a bad thing Timmah, I’m talking about ticketed membership, ignored what exactly Timmah...

What about Ticketed Membership?

You've still not conceded the simple facts:
- Cronulla (and Manly) struggle with attracting and maintaining their home crowd averages
- Both clubs have the same issue with members

As a result, both are prime candidates for relocation compared to other clubs.

 

[Generalzod]

Are these the same plans they've been promising for the last 30 years?

Here take a look

 

[Perth Red]

16500 is more than enough to play NRL games plus the upgrade is stage one, there is plenty of room to build stands on the ends in stage two to lift the capacity to 20k

Not sure why you think it will lack corporate facilities? Will have stands on both sides and have a lot more facilities than many current teams.

no it won’t. That artists impression is of the eventual finished 25k plus upgrade. The $60mill upgrade is only buying the small stand on the left of the picture and looking at it it there is very few boxes.

 

[Perth Red]

Here take a look
View attachment 44517

where’s the stadium upgrades? Looks same except for a few hundred extra uncovered seats.

 

[Generalzod]

where’s the stadium upgrades? Looks same except for a few hundred extra uncovered seats.

Geez Perth afraid that you melt away from the rain drops.

 

[Sunny coast shark]

no it won’t. That artists impression is of the eventual finished 25k plus upgrade. The $60mill upgrade is only buying the small stand on the left of the picture and looking at it it there is very few boxes.

Incorrect the picture is stage one.
You didn’t answer my question about should Townsville have a team, or what about Geelong ?
The sunshine coast’s population is easily big enough for a NRL team but it needs a lot more than a decent population and solid growth for that to happen.

 

[Perth Red]

Incorrect the picture is stage one.
You didn’t answer my question about should Townsville have a team, or what about Geelong ?
The sunshine coast’s population is easily big enough for a NRL team but it needs a lot more than a decent population and solid growth for that to happen.

My mistake. Must be cheap builders to get two stands for $60mill!

NQ has bigger population and league clubs money to keep them afloat. Ideally you’d lock up the major cities first then look at best regional options. RL is happy in smaller fanbases though.

 

[Generalzod]

My mistake. Must be cheap builders to get two stands for $60mill!

NQ has bigger population and league clubs money to keep them afloat. Ideally you’d lock up the major cities first then look at best regional options. RL is happy in smaller fanbases though.

Oh well can’t please everyone...

 

[Sunny coast shark]

My mistake. Must be cheap builders to get two stands for $60mill!

NQ has bigger population and league clubs money to keep them afloat. Ideally you’d lock up the major cities first then look at best regional options. RL is happy in smaller fanbases though.

It’s population is not bigger and the fact is as far as regional centres go the Sunshine Coast is bigger than the central coast and Wollongong and certainly bigger than Townsville and growing at a faster rate.

We are not ready for an NRL team ( yet ) but we are certainly moving towards regular games and other sports playing out of the new stadium and if QLD gets the Olympics than I wouldn’t be surprised if stage two gets completed of the stadium.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Sorry but in the current financial climate, the Melbourne Storm are unlikely to move any home games from its home ground. That is its choice and its rights to do so, just like any other NRL club.

All the talk about AFL in comparison is somewhat disingenuous and not relevant.

 

[Perth Red]

View attachment 44529
It’s population is not bigger and the fact is as far as regional centres go the Sunshine Coast is bigger than the central coast and Wollongong and certainly bigger than Townsville and growing at a faster rate.

We are not ready for an NRL team ( yet ) but we are certainly moving towards regular games and other sports playing out of the new stadium and if QLD gets the Olympics than I wouldn’t be surprised if stage two gets completed of the stadium.

Fair enough, I'm not doing very well in this discussion lol.
Im a big advocate for reigning in club spending to get an overall expenditure level at an amount that can be met comfortably by realistic revenue generation for the majority of clubs. What that would do would be to make it far more achievable to spread the game to smaller population areas (who also struggle more to attract sponsors as well as fanbase).

I guess it depends on your vision for the top level. Should we have more clubs spending less or just have fewer clubs who can spend more? Would say a 22 conference based top level with clubs operating on a $25mill total expenditure budget lead to more people watching the game live and on tv and kids being more exposed to top level and getting into the game, or would it just be more small clubs struggling to get 12k to games and unable to make ends meet? Maybe getting 12k to games is ok and we have smaller 20k stadiums accordingly if revenue doesn't need to be so big? Should we punish successful wealthy clubs so smaller clubs can keep up?

Nq do seem an anomaly given their population size but seem a pretty sustainable club, I guess their LC must be popular.

 

[Timmah]

Don't be silly PR, Melbourne Storm are evil for not giving up a home game!

 

[mongoose]

population aside, Townsville is the government and economic hub for North QLD, the Sunshine Coast is mostly just a tourist strip.

 

[Captain Apollo]

population aside, Townsville is the government and economic hub for North QLD, the Sunshine Coast is mostly just a tourist strip.

I've been to a few Cowboys home games in Townsville, back before JT joined the club when they were a relative rabble on the field. Even back then they used to get good attendances and people would drive hundreds of kilometers to get to and from those games.

 

[Vee]

Cowboys catchment is from Mackay west to Mount Isa and north to TSIs.

 

[Sunny coast shark]

population aside, Townsville is the government and economic hub for North QLD, the Sunshine Coast is mostly just a tourist strip.

Population aside who do you think goes to the footy ?

 

[Sunny coast shark]

I've been to a few Cowboys home games in Townsville, back before JT joined the club when they were a relative rabble on the field. Even back then they used to get good attendances and people would drive hundreds of kilometers to get to and from those games.

How many people drive hundreds of kms to go to the footy?
It’s makes a nice story but I bet you count in the hundreds the amount that actually do, your dreaming if you think people do a 700km round trip from Mackay to Townsville.
The size of the Sunshine Coast and its rapidly growing population and economy is no issue for having regular footy, however money is and I hope that changes.

 

[Vee]

How many people drive hundreds of kms to go to the footy?
It’s makes a nice story but I bet you count in the hundreds the amount that actually do, your dreaming if you think people do a 700km round trip from Mackay to Townsville.
The size of the Sunshine Coast and its rapidly growing population and economy is no issue for having regular footy, however money is and I hope that changes.

I drive 335km each way to watch them.