We Are The Reds

Talk is that they'll have a new owner by the end of the financial year.
Great news. Hopefully then the FFA can finally put the resources they've been spending on owning a club into expansion.

Expansion would be stupid.

Expansion would be stupid.

If its sustainable how is it stupid. No one is say lets do something the game can't afford.

Talk is that they'll have a new owner by the end of the financial year.
Great news. Hopefully then the FFA can finally put the resources they've been spending on owning a club into expansion.

I wont be surprised if ffa have 2 new teams just in time for the new broadcast deal. More content equals more money.

Wsw announcement caught everyone off guard, literally everyone thought expansion was off the table for years. So who knows what the ffa are up to.

Expansion would be stupid.

If its sustainable how is it stupid. No one is say lets do something the game can't afford.

The history of attempts at expansion is very bad. Current clubs are not making profits, getting into financial difficulty, having problems with owners. A ten team competition is struggling to hold together. Putting more teams into the mix to compete for the limited sponsorship money and spread the pool of players thinner is just asking for more trouble. A competition with more, but weaker teams is not going to get more people to watch it either live or on the TV.

Talk is that they'll have a new owner by the end of the financial year.
Great news. Hopefully then the FFA can finally put the resources they've been spending on owning a club into expansion.

On the Daily Football Show last week, they said it could happen the next day, that hasn't happened, but I assume it could all be resolved within this week. Its in the final stages, its just the FFA are trying to get another million out of the sale. The sale will go to a Chinese buyer called Martin Lee/Ledman Group. There have been several bidders for the Jets, so I'm hoping that this process that eventually picked Mr Lee will be good for the Jets.

Also, apparently Lawrie McKinna will be appointed as their new CEO.

Expansion would be stupid.

If its sustainable how is it stupid. No one is say lets do something the game can't afford.

The history of attempts at expansion is very bad. Current clubs are not making profits, getting into financial difficulty, having problems with owners. A ten team competition is struggling to hold together. Putting more teams into the mix to compete for the limited sponsorship money and spread the pool of players thinner is just asking for more trouble. A competition with more, but weaker teams is not going to get more people to watch it either live or on the TV.

I get what you're saying.
Yes, the history of attempts has been, lets be honest, horrid. Gold Coast and NQF happened way before the regions were ready to have a team, both with community engagement problems and management/ownership structures, and the league at the time with the TV deal we had back then, weren't ready to support such teams. Melbourne Heart was put in with the only point of difference being that they wore red and weren't the Victory. I feel the league has learn't from these mistakes with the Wanderers in a way with strong community engagement, settling the organisational structure before selling them, and a strong geographical difference.

The biggest costs to clubs atm, is stadium costs. With more teams, the FFA can negotiate a bigger TV deal, with more money going to clubs to offset such costs.

I think the FFA have now learn't you can't just find a sugar daddy and let them start a club. Boxes need to be checked before entering the league.

The two front runners are Wollongong and Canberra. Wollongong Wolves have said they have the financial backing to enter the A-League as soon as next year, but are happy to wait a few more years and build towards getting a youth and womens teams first before entering the A-League. The city is good for it, the stadium is good, give them a year to promote themselves and they're good.
Canberra a little less so as they don't have a NPL team yet. But they've got the want from the people, the money has been raised before, and they have the facilities.
These two, when compared to all other expansion bids, are probably the most advanced and developed bids we've ever had.

In the short term, I agree, it might dilute the quality of the talent pool. But in the long term, it should be benefit to have more players getting first team football in the first tier of Australian Football. Especially all the youth players who can't get a start because established and experienced first teams.

I would like to see a Geelong side. I think they would get around it. Not sure they have much to follow in the AFL off season.

the talent pool is just fine. Guys like devante clut and stefan mauk struggled for game time. Look what regular football did for mauk.

there are so many talented players sitting on the bench or worse in the npl working fulltime jobs.

Expansion would be stupid.

If its sustainable how is it stupid. No one is say lets do something the game can't afford.

The history of attempts at expansion is very bad. Current clubs are not making profits, getting into financial difficulty, having problems with owners. A ten team competition is struggling to hold together. Putting more teams into the mix to compete for the limited sponsorship money and spread the pool of players thinner is just asking for more trouble. A competition with more, but weaker teams is not going to get more people to watch it either live or on the TV.

What's been bad about the West Sydney expansion? Besides a little bit of crowd behavior issues I think that club is evidence expansion done right can work.

Expansion would be stupid.

If its sustainable how is it stupid. No one is say lets do something the game can't afford.

The history of attempts at expansion is very bad. Current clubs are not making profits, getting into financial difficulty, having problems with owners. A ten team competition is struggling to hold together. Putting more teams into the mix to compete for the limited sponsorship money and spread the pool of players thinner is just asking for more trouble. A competition with more, but weaker teams is not going to get more people to watch it either live or on the TV.

I get what you're saying.
Yes, the history of attempts has been, lets be honest, horrid. Gold Coast and NQF happened way before the regions were ready to have a team, both with community engagement problems and management/ownership structures, and the league at the time with the TV deal we had back then, weren't ready to support such teams. Melbourne Heart was put in with the only point of difference being that they wore red and weren't the Victory. I feel the league has learn't from these mistakes with the Wanderers in a way with strong community engagement, settling the organisational structure before selling them, and a strong geographical difference.

The biggest costs to clubs atm, is stadium costs. With more teams, the FFA can negotiate a bigger TV deal, with more money going to clubs to offset such costs.

I think the FFA have now learn't you can't just find a sugar daddy and let them start a club. Boxes need to be checked before entering the league.

The two front runners are Wollongong and Canberra. Wollongong Wolves have said they have the financial backing to enter the A-League as soon as next year, but are happy to wait a few more years and build towards getting a youth and womens teams first before entering the A-League. The city is good for it, the stadium is good, give them a year to promote themselves and they're good.
Canberra a little less so as they don't have a NPL team yet. But they've got the want from the people, the money has been raised before, and they have the facilities.
These two, when compared to all other expansion bids, are probably the most advanced and developed bids we've ever had.

In the short term, I agree, it might dilute the quality of the talent pool. But in the long term, it should be benefit to have more players getting first team football in the first tier of Australian Football. Especially all the youth players who can't get a start because established and experienced first teams.

Wollongong and Canberra are smaller than Newcastle and Newcastle has not been a huge success. Perhaps they can do better than Newcastle but they are going to be a tough places to make it work.

Expansion would be stupid.

If its sustainable how is it stupid. No one is say lets do something the game can't afford.

The history of attempts at expansion is very bad. Current clubs are not making profits, getting into financial difficulty, having problems with owners. A ten team competition is struggling to hold together. Putting more teams into the mix to compete for the limited sponsorship money and spread the pool of players thinner is just asking for more trouble. A competition with more, but weaker teams is not going to get more people to watch it either live or on the TV.

What's been bad about the West Sydney expansion? Besides a little bit of crowd behavior issues I think that club is evidence expansion done right can work.

WSW is definitely an exception. Heart/City might be at last finding it feet but it has taken a long time. NQF and GC were disasters. On average the record is very bad.

the talent pool is just fine. Guys like devante clut and stefan mauk struggled for game time. Look what regular football did for mauk.

there are so many talented players sitting on the bench or worse in the npl working fulltime jobs.

Not to mention all the players abroad. Just look at the (on paper) quality Perth have lured home in the last 6 months.

the talent pool is just fine. Guys like devante clut and stefan mauk struggled for game time. Look what regular football did for mauk.

there are so many talented players sitting on the bench or worse in the npl working fulltime jobs.

The talent is not spread equally, it never is, so your argument makes zero sense. The new teams are more likely to be like CCM, full of players not up to standard, than anything else.

the talent pool is just fine. Guys like devante clut and stefan mauk struggled for game time. Look what regular football did for mauk.

there are so many talented players sitting on the bench or worse in the npl working fulltime jobs.

The talent is not spread equally, it never is, so your argument makes zero sense. The new teams are more likely to be like CCM, full of players not up to standard, than anything else.

How do you know this hypothetical club won't be financially strong?