Promotion/ Relegation in 5 years!

[ganas]

i think this concept with the play-offs at the end of the season works best.
it eliminates the need for airfares for the whole season. FFA could pay for airline tickets for the play-offs to help the clubs.
and each a-league club should have a reserve team in their respective state. just like they do in germany, spain etc.
Adelaide United II
Melb Victory II
Melb Heart II

these teams will not be able to get promoted. but instead of having a NYL, they play in the National Premier League.

[Hammerzeit]

I think the NPL competition has a real chance to succeed and provide the base for promotion/relegation in future, but the conference promotion/relegation ideas being bandied about (not so much here) are completely unworkable.

Personally, I think the best option would be to have the NPL model run with an incentive that the best clubs across Australia will be installed as the members of a A2 League in 5-8 years (with promotion/relegation installed several years later after clubs have again proven that they are around to stay). In my mind the clubs would have to fulfil standard criteria in order to be eligible - things such as relative sporting success in their state/regional conference, sound player development structure, stable finances and administrative culture, and reasonable facilities.

Who knows what sort of clubs would emerge with such a carrot? The big boys such as South Melbourne, Sydney United, Marconi, Brisbane Strikers et al would have their chance to prove their history in a new structure, but there would be opportunity for newer broad-based clubs to also prove their worth in smaller markets. The danger of this approach lies in the potential for the bigger clubs of the bigger cities having a significant competitive advantage (in a sporting sense) over regional areas - but the FFA has proven that they are not above cherry picking. Key regions such as Canberra, Wollongong, North-West and South-West Sydney, Tassie and the Gold Coast could be granted exemptions on other grounds, providing they meet the growth criteria. Early access to the NYL and W-League might be another option for clubs that prove themselves across all categories early.

We might see a stable and viable second-tier, while we only see a few clubs that are truly able to make the jump either way, working to a long term growth plan tied to a vehicle such as NPL seems to be a no-brainer to me.

[Stuckey]

I agree whole heartedly. The key is how the national championship part of the comp pans out. If its a success then A2 is a possiblity. Obviously as you said they FFA would have to put in place spots for each state to make it national.
My hope is that the FFA will open promotion first increasing the HAL to 16 clubs. Basically allowing the clubs who are in the best position to be promoted. Then rest then can play for the 16 spots for the A2 league which should have the carrot of promotion in the future dangled in front of them and hopefully a tv deal of some kind to aid.
I'd love to see:
ACT Football Federation - 1 spot
Football Federation Northern Territory - 0.5 spots
Football Federation South Australia - 2 spots
Football Federation Tasmania - 0.5 spots
Football Federation Victoria - 3 spots
Football New South Wales - 4 spots
Football Queensland - 2 spots
Football West - 2 spots
Northern New South Wales Football - 1 spot

Otherwise maybe every season for a while incase many clubs won't be able to deal with the financial pressures of playing nationally the A2 league could be more of a champions league that the top clubs from each top NPL qualify for?

[Max Power]

Stupid idea.

The A League is barely surviving at the moment. Crowds of 5000 in Perth, 6000 in Central Coast (WHO ARE TOP!?) and the odd big crowd of 20k when Victory play a decent team.

This is not Europe. Football is the poor cousin of AFL, Cricket and Rugby.

Build it up with a few more teams and be done with it. Australia is a big country, it costs a shitload to travel around, its not like England where you jump on a train and your across the country in half a day.

This is such a dumb idea I am rambling. It is so not possible in Australia for another 10 years let alone 5! If they are stupid enough to do this and lick the balls of the AFC so we can get more spots in the Mickey Mouse ACL that no one cares about then whatever, enjoy your death A League.

[Interloper]

The NPL national championship system is a good idea, but after that they need to fix the A-league proper. I wouldn't even think of talking promotion/relegation until those interstate playoffs start selling out and there are at least 14 successful, solvent and self-sustaining *Australian* teams in the A-league.

[Stuckey]

Stupid idea.

The A League is barely surviving at the moment. Crowds of 5000 in Perth, 6000 in Central Coast (WHO ARE TOP!?) and the odd big crowd of 20k when Victory play a decent team.

This is not Europe. Football is the poor cousin of AFL, Cricket and Rugby.

Build it up with a few more teams and be done with it. Australia is a big country, it costs a shitload to travel around, its not like England where you jump on a train and your across the country in half a day.

This is such a dumb idea I am rambling. It is so not possible in Australia for another 10 years let alone 5! If they are stupid enough to do this and lick the balls of the AFC so we can get more spots in the Mickey Mouse ACL that no one cares about then whatever, enjoy your death A League.

5k at Perth is disappointing but 6k at CCM isn#'t terrible. They only have a population of 300k as is so its actually a larger percentage of the poplulation attending the Adelaide getting 10k.
I think when most people say this is never going to happen they are looking at it as if the promotion/relegation would happen under today's situation. Obviously if we were in the exact same position 5 years from now it wouldn't be viable but hopefully in 5-10 years we will be in a better position financially. This TV deal is far better then the last one and who's to say the one after won't be better then that?
AUFC have just posted a profit and MV have done the same in the past. Hopefully clubs are getting to the point that they can start growing on their own using their own profits to re-invest into growing as well as being helped by a better TV deal.
Also the promise of WSW being a attractive investment option for the FFA to sell off means maybe they can look forward to re-investing that money maybe in another expansion city like Canberra or maybe the money will go towards setting the start of the comp up and get the FFA cup off the ground as well.