The suns and GWS were fostered on two areas with little interest in AFL, little wonder they have struggled (though GWS have a membership on par with most NRL clubs it seems).
Brisbane2 and Perth are chomping for a club and there will be no need for vast sums of money to back them up and make them relevant.
TV viewing figures in Brisbane are massive per pop compared to Sydney suggesting their is a very strong latent RL base of supporters there. As the AFL showed in Perth and Adelaide introducing rival clubs in a sports mad city only generates more interest.
TV audiences have grown despite rationalization of Sydney, attendances havent but as you have said stadiums have hardly been conducive and their is an apapthy to NRL in Sydney in seems, another reason dropping a couple to bring in cities with more interest long term is a good thing.
Who knows, they may drop off to around 12-13k if crap from the 18-19k when successful but lets be honest you've got Manly playing last night for a top 4 spot that could only draw 8k so its not like the bar is very high!
AFL would have loved for Nth Melbourne to move, probably St Kilda as well when they last expanded but both refused and like the NRL now they dont need to as the AFL bails them out of their losses. Not to mention AFL has the footprint it wants and needs for the next 2-3 decades so has no need to do anything in terms of expansion or relocation for years to come.
I have no doubt the NRL would lose the majority of a relocated or relegated team, but if the new club generates much greater interest and money, well thats business and long term beneficial to the game as a whole.[/QUOTE]
The Suns and GWS .GWS were foistered on a city that had an AFL team since 1982 ,thus there was some sort of AFL presence .The Suns had a prior entry on the GC with the Bears.
The point is teams in non heartland area that either do poorly or have been parachuted in ,do not make up for teams lost in heartland areas.No matter what you say, from afar.
Yes they are chomping for an NRL club, just like the Sydney NRL clubs are chomping to remain in the comp, and doing their best to stay in.
TV viewing in heartland areas, is no guarantee of bums on seats.The Broncos cannot fill their stadium as it is .Yes they get crowds that Sydney clubs would love, but 25-28,000 from 2m, compares to the Titans (if you will )average 12,000 on 600,000.Hell most Sydney clubs get a better pro rata within their home areas.
You need to check the ups and downs of TV audiences over the years.Pay Tv is doing far better ,because viewers can watch not only other clubs ,but their own Sydney clubs as well live.Many people are shat off with Nein. And Sydney viewers have shown this to be the case,Hence no doubt FTA loses to Pay.
You keep saying cities with more interest.Heartland yes.
The Storm is an example, of non heartland despite all their semis and G/Fs ,they get SFA coverage in the Melbourne media compared to the Swans.So the interest is subdued by a Vic press who is sodden with fumbleball.
And if the Storm had not been privatised, would the NRL have stepped in to financially underpin them?They did for the Titans and Knights and that ended up costing them some big bikkies.
And what happens if the Pirates get a swag of low crowds after the initial novelty wears off with poor performances, ditto Brisbane 2 .
You see mate you can get sh*t crowds in Sydney that's naturally not a good look, but you can get them outside of Sydney ,and that's also a sh*t look.You know yourself when there was sh*tty weather in Perth, an NRL match drew a poor crowd there .
The AFL would have loved for a joint venture between Hawthorn and another club, and we saw what happened.The AFL are now realists ,they don't want any more disenchantment.All clubs have all seater stadiums to help.
The AFL have been in Sydney for 37 years, with all the money they have poured in, their TV ratings in Sydney are crap.GWS and Suns drain large sums out of the purse.Lions have lost money for a number of years in a row.
You can throw all the ifs and buts around, but if you rob Peter to pay Paul, and Paul is no better than Peter, then you are p*ssing in the wind.The status quo is in play.
That's why I am for an 18 team comp.
Because it is far easier to be dispassionate about Sydney clubs from afar, than at the coalface.The coalface where many big Australian businesses are domiciled.
