So where is the money coming from?
Auckland went bust twice
Yet you want to put a CC side in?
So where is the money coming from?
Auckland went bust twice
Wellington - sht stadium, small population, 1 potential bid
Christchurch - great stadium, small population, union dominated, no bid
Auckland - decent population, one basket case club needing to rebuild, no bid
take your pick!
Probably a Christchurch/south island team... I think a 2nd NZ side would be tough going though. I'm surprised the NRL even wants another NZ team with the way they treat the Warriors...
Auckland is covered
Wellington isn't a sports city really, its an Arts/foodie place from my experience. I just can't see them caring about an NRL side.
The notion of a team that represents the whole South Island is fanciful. South Island AND Wellington even more so. Warriors have tried it as nz team and it has t worked looking at their membership base (pre covid of course). Rl fans won’t travel 20kms across a couple of suburbs to support their team, yet somehow this team is going to connect with a land mass of 150k sqkm?
West coast is better, pirates are already that..North Queensland seem to manage it OK. Aren’t you a big advocate for a Perth based team not being called Perth because it excludes the rest of the state?
Im enjoying these posts flippikat, its a great local insightWELLINGTON
Disclaimer: I'm a proud, born & bred product of the Wellington region, born in the Hutt Valley, raised on the Kapiti Coast, settled with wife & son in Lower Hutt. I hope my assessment is balanced!
Pros:
Good stadium. Not *perfect*, being an oval & exposed to our unforgiving wind and rain - but located by the Wellington Railway Station, the nexus of our rail & bus networks.
Decent population, serviced by regular bus (Wellington City) and train (Porirua, Kapiti Coast, Hutt Valley) services, so no trouble getting to and from games.
We're also not Auckland or Christchurch. Funny as it sounds, but out of the three biggest cities here, Wellington is the one that's the lovable losers/underdogs, because we don't usually have spells of domination like Auckland or Christchurch based teams, which could appeal to people outside our region, if we want a wider fan catchment.
Biggest Pasifika population outside of Auckland - a big factor for fanbase AND junior talent, and something Christchurch just can't match. https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-ethnic-group-summaries//pacific-peoples
Cons:
Culture. Remember how I described Wellington as the "Lovable losers" out of our big 3 cities? Yeaaaah.. that's also a bit of a hurdle. Put bluntly, we're more of an arts & culture city than a sports city that you'd find in more rural or rural-adjacent centres like Hamilton or Christchurch.
Focus. By nature of it's central location, the risk is that a Wellington based team may try to spread itself around a little too much - there are other nearby cities in the North Island that games could be taken to, which risks diluting the brand and the team's focus. Christchurch, by it's distance from other big centres, probably wouldn't be as tempted to take games elsewhere, but a Wellington team could be fairly easily swayed to take a game to Palmerston North, a game to Napier etc etc in an attempt to match the Super Rugby Hurricanes.
Cannibalism of Warriors fanbase - now, the closer geographically NZ2 is to the Warriors, the bigger the risk of this is, as far as pulling fans to games, but (and this is personal opinion weighing in here) I THINK there's a risk that a lot of Wellington team fans would be ex-Warriors fans switching allegiance - I know I would. I can't speak for the situation in Christchurch, but I think it's a real factor here in the capital.
Thanks!Im enjoying these posts flippikat, its a great local insight
Ok, here's my assessment of those options - trying to be holistic, looking across as many factors as I can, from my Kiwi perspective.
Note: I wanna stay out of the "we can't have NZ until ..." or "maybe we should have ... before another NZ team" as that's a totally different topic.
My assumption in this analysis is the scenario where NRL have decided on a 2nd NZ team, regardless of all that, and looking at the options for THAT team's base.
For ease of quoting, I'll go over these in a series of posts, so let's look at the first mentioned.
CHRISTCHURCH
Pros:
When you look at Christchurch city and the next-door Waimakariri & Selwyn districts to the west, the population is more than Wellington's "group of cities" together,and second only to Auckland. The soon to be built indoor stadium is a big plus (especially for night games in cold NZ winters), especially being right downtown too. Christchurch & the Canterbury province have a proud history of sporting success, and a huge rivalry with all things Auckland.
Cons:
The shadow of the Crusaders looms large. Is there an appetite for a pro league team when the union team is so damn successful? Public transport less developed in Christchurch than Auckland & Wellington - especially to and from those neighboring districts, so getting to games would be bus or car, with no commuter rail network like Wellington or Auckland.
Branding is a conundrum too - does the team skew towards a traditional Christchurch/Canterbury feel (red and black) or something wider to make outreach to the whole South Island or wider? The sheer sporting success of teams in red and black over here can rankle fans in other locations. Lots of places love to hate Canterbury (NZ) teams, because they're so damn relentless.
In my opinion, branding is key here - a Christchurch based team in "Canterbury" (province) red & black may be a hard sell to other centres.I won’t pretend to have a great deal of knowledge on this so I’m interested to know do you think people from across the South Island could get behind a mainly Christchurch based team? even if they were branded South Island and played some games in other centres?
In a different sport (not Union) for a new team could it be navigated or does the Canterbury “hate” run too deep? Is there any sort of parochialism in being a “South Islander”?
Thanks.In my opinion, branding is key here - a Christchurch based team in "Canterbury" (province) red & black may be a hard sell to other centres.
I can only speak for myself, but as a Wellingtonian I CERTAINLY wouldn't switch my support from Warriors to them if they're in red & black - even if they take games to Wellington (I might go as an occasion, but probably not cheer for them).
With a more out-reaching brand, yeah, I'd consider a switch.
Cant compare RL to A-league that's just cra craAuckland 2 is a huge no for me
look at a league in Melbourne how it cannibalised crowds
Like "the BEARS"Thanks.
I agree that if they go with Red & black that will alienate most people outside of Canterbury. To be honest even if they do go with a Christchurch base and brand Red & Black would be a mistake IMO, something to set themselves apart from Crusaders would make sense. Something distinct and unique, build their own brand.
That's the thing that the Warriors did quite well with their green & red trim, added to Auckland's traditional blue and white strip.. as if to say "Hey, our home is Auckland but we're New Zealand's team too"Thanks.
I agree that if they go with Red & black that will alienate most people outside of Canterbury. To be honest even if they do go with a Christchurch base and brand Red & Black would be a mistake IMO, something to set themselves apart from Crusaders would make sense. Something distinct and unique, build their own brand.
In my opinion, branding is key here - a Christchurch based team in "Canterbury" (province) red & black may be a hard sell to other centres.
I can only speak for myself, but as a Wellingtonian I CERTAINLY wouldn't switch my support from Warriors to them if they're in red & black - even if they take games to Wellington (I might go as an occasion, but probably not cheer for them).
With a more out-reaching brand, yeah, I'd consider a switch.
That's the thing that the Warriors did quite well with their green & red trim, added to Auckland's traditional blue and white strip.. as if to say "Hey, our home is Auckland but we're New Zealand's team too"
Now I realise that the original sponsor DB Bitter probably played a part in that too, matching the colours, but the point stands - that made the brand more than the Auckland rep team.
I don't know if simply adding a couple of colours to the red & black will do likewise for a Christchurch based team, though. They may need to be bolder in their outreach if they wanna appeal in other centres.
Would a combination of colours from South Island teams work or would that be too difficult?
That's the thing that the Warriors did quite well with their green & red trim, added to Auckland's traditional blue and white strip.. as if to say "Hey, our home is Auckland but we're New Zealand's team too"
Now I realise that the original sponsor DB Bitter probably played a part in that too, matching the colours, but the point stands - that made the brand more than the Auckland rep team.
I don't know if simply adding a couple of colours to the red & black will do likewise for a Christchurch based team, though. They may need to be bolder in their outreach if they wanna appeal in other centres.