Granted, all your points make perfect sense, but I just can't understand why the Gold Coast has had 3 cracks at establishing themselves and apparently failed each time, yet the Sharks have managed to survive, albeit only just, with all their shortcomings, for 45 years?
Surely something is not right in the region somewhere...
And who's to say the Sharks would have fared any better if they'd relocated there?
When you 'they', let's be clear and remember that we are talking about different personnel each time on the GC. These were different 'clubs' with different people in charge.
The first time was in Tweed Heads. Seagulls is technically a NSW club. The football team had management issues.
The Chargers also had management issues. But they still turned a profit.
If you compare the GC's problems back then with the problems of other clubs, it's pretty obvious that there was more at play then just a lack of onfield success and crowd numbers. Half the clubs were struggling and crowd figures were down. Then, as with now, the problems on the GC can be resolved, just as they been resolved with other first grade clubs.
Historically, and generaly speaking, the reasons given for giving a club the flick fall into the following categories:
1. Geographic - no longer room for growth.
2. Financial - unable to remain viable or fund recruitment.
3. Lack of onfield success.
4. Little or no fan base.
All of these points are related to each other. It can be said that a strong geographic location can lead to an improving fan base. Equally, a strong financial base can lead to onfield success. On the other side of the coin, if they have a poor location and no money, it's hard to see how a club could survive. But amazingly, some (eg the sharks) manage to hang on.
I say historically because since 1908, all the clubs that have been omitted from the NSWRL/ARL/NRL have been given some or all of these reasons. Glebe, University, Newtown for example were all struggling on at least three out of the four points.
But the Gold Coast in the 1990s were strong on two of these points, the two most important points of geography and money. So why were they omitted? That's where they became the exception to history because politics played a larger part in their demise in 1998. When the Super League war finished, deals were being struck and part of that involved the Brisbane Broncos receiving the entire SE Qld franchise for a period of five years. This is a fact, some Broncos fans argue about it but it is public record. The new NRL administration omitted Gold Coast from the comp - not really because of the usual reasons, but because it was in the Broncos' contract.
So when people say the GC have had 3 (or some wags say, 5) chances, they are really looking at it from the surface. A little bit of digging will reveal that these were different clubs, and in 1998 there a precedent in place with the heady politics of the day taking over.
Now compare it to the sharks who have poor location, no money, no onfield success and a dwindling fan base, and ask yourself if the the right team was given the flick in 1998.
If the sharks relocated in the late 90s/early 2000s, they would received a healthy grant from the NRL, plus the support of GC Council, businesses as well as the GC bid team's financial support. It was always a big IF though because club boards (especially in Sydney) tend to become complicated when big decisions have to be made. In the end, the GC bid team decided to stand alone.
One more thing before I catch my flight to the beaut land known as Jubilee...
It is a false claim to say the GC have been "boosting their crowd figures since day 1" (from St.phil). The fact is that when they won the bid, the GC crowds were great. They have had a drop in numbers since then but there are reasons for this: team isn't travelling as well, Robina costs too much, transport and parking needs improving - all these are issues that can be resolved. There's plenty of land out at Robina, plenty of room for growth. They should restructure the pricing at the game, it's turning people off. Plus with onfield success, the crowds will increase again.
As for Searle's Centre of Excellence, in my opinion it was a mistake. And one that he and the Titans will have to recover from. Just a case of trying to grow too fast. It was always unneccessary as the sports centre at Runaway Bay is world class. The Titans were already using those facilities.
