Can you see Ballarat ever having a AFL side?

[Mitchell Madness]

warrnambool would be more likely

it is a reasonable drive from geelong

and not the furthest from the outer suburbs of sa

has a huge footballing history

great playing surface in central

dont think it should happen at all, dont want to become the nrl, plus, hawthorn has a heap of members down there

 

[RoyalBlue]

Have I managed to get in before #norftorelocatez

 

[ziad]

They are the only NFL team in Wisconsin (which has over 5 million people) and have massive support across the state. I suppose if Ballarat was the only AFL team in Victoria...

now we are talking, otherwise......

 

[Richo83]

but that's GWS territory

True. I suppose Canberra being a metropolitan center helps. I definitely think that the afl have tapped most of the markets. It's just that if the afl were desperate to have 20 teams, Canberra is probably one of the best options out of a list of four or so.

 

[00Stinger]

With a city of 2 million just down the road (Milwaukee).

I can guarantee that most of the people at Packers games are not from Green Bay.

A Ballarat team will never happen, and why would it?

Ballarat's population is not much smaller than Geelongs.

Add in the fact that they would work out their own stadium deal and would probably only need 20-25k people to make money.

Add the fact that many people from the Ballarat region drive to Geelong for matches. If they had their own team this would not happen.

People from surrounding towns would come to Ballarat for games. People from Ararat would come (45 mins), Stawell (1&1/2 hrs) & Horsham (2hrs) as they would be starved of AFL football. Shit even Bendigo as its an hour away and you've got Melton & Bacchus Marsh within 45 mins. Plus its only just under an hour from the western suburbs of Melbourne (so you would have travelling fans coming to matches).

If they played Adelaide/Port Adelaide you could expect a fair few SA fans to come across aswell.


That being said I don't think they would ever team and probably shouldn't either.

warrnambool would be more likely

it is a reasonable drive from geelong

and not the furthest from the outer suburbs of sa

has a huge footballing history

great playing surface in central

dont think it should happen at all, dont want to become the nrl, plus, hawthorn has a heap of members down there

No, thats a worse idea than Ballarat

 

[Andrew Mc]

warrnambool would be more likely

and not the furthest from the outer suburbs of sa

What "suburbs" would they be? Unless you consider Mt Gambier an outer suburb, it's a long way (500kms+).

 

[Tex_21]

Ballarat's population is not much smaller than Geelongs.

Add in the fact that they would work out their own stadium deal and would probably only need 20-25k people to make money.

Add the fact that many people from the Ballarat region drive to Geelong for matches. If they had their own team this would not happen.

People from surrounding towns would come to Ballarat for games. People from Ararat would come (45 mins), Stawell (1&1/2 hrs) & Horsham (2hrs) as they would be starved of AFL football. Shit even Bendigo as its an hour away and you've got Melton & Bacchus Marsh within 45 mins. Plus its only just under an hour from the western suburbs of Melbourne (so you would have travelling fans coming to matches).

The entire catchment you've just listed, except for Bendigo does not have the population of Geelong. Horsham has about 20k, Stawell about 5.5k (and slowly shrinking), Ararat about 8k. Relying on that to support a team would be moronic on a scale not seen since the latest NRL/AFL hyrbid game idea was floated.

Truth is, if the league was started from scratch now, Geelong would not have a team. But because its an existing club its here, and very trong financially now. Much higher hurdle needs to be cleared to start a new team.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

ahahahahahaha ballarat getting a side, i'll up the ante and say karratha should also get one because its somewhat growing and booming.

never in a million years. jakarta would get one before ballarat

 

[jd1991]

The entire catchment you've just listed, except for Bendigo does not have the population of Geelong. Horsham has about 20k, Stawell about 5.5k (and slowly shrinking), Ararat about 8k. Relying on that to support a team would be moronic on a scale not seen since the latest NRL/AFL hyrbid game idea was floated.

Truth is, if the league was started from scratch now, Geelong would not have a team. But because its an existing club its here, and very trong financially now. Much higher hurdle needs to be cleared to start a new team.

The above about Geelong would be true. Starting from scratch Geelong would not have a team. But because of what Geelong has done, it is one of the more financial clubs in the AFL.

I could see Melbourne based team playing its games against non vic teams in Ballarat (2 games), Bendigo (2 games) and possibly even Albury/Wadongs (1 game). What this would do is over a period of time that Vic team would higher rates of support from those areas, and as a number of the young adluts move to melbourne for oppurtuities they would increase that sides support above the norm.

But unless a region has minimum 500k people, plus a strong population growth projection it will have no chance of a team. (And as Australia's population increases, that 500k will get bigger as a minimum as well.)

 

[00Stinger]

The entire catchment you've just listed, except for Bendigo does not have the population of Geelong. Horsham has about 20k, Stawell about 5.5k (and slowly shrinking), Ararat about 8k. Relying on that to support a team would be moronic on a scale not seen since the latest NRL/AFL hyrbid game idea was floated.

Truth is, if the league was started from scratch now, Geelong would not have a team. But because its an existing club its here, and very trong financially now. Much higher hurdle needs to be cleared to start a new team.

Ballarat 100k
Horsham 20k
Stawell 8k
Ararat 10k
Bendigo 95k
Bacchus Marsh 15k
Melton 115k

that totals around 350k, more than enough to get 20k to the footy 8-10 times a year.

 

[Underarm]

True. I suppose Canberra being a metropolitan center helps. I definitely think that the afl have tapped most of the markets. It's just that if the afl were desperate to have 20 teams, Canberra is probably one of the best options out of a list of four or so.

No. Canberra is one of the worst places for a new side. theres barely enough AFL support above the border for 2 afl clubs, let alone adding a third up there.

Truth is, if the league was started from scratch now, Geelong would not have a team. But because its an existing club its here, and very trong financially now. Much higher hurdle needs to be cleared to start a new team.

Likewise if Ballarat joined the VFL in 1897 they would have a chance of being around now. They didnt, and so don't and wont get one

 

[Prem87]

Would be great for Country Vic is Ballarat had their own team. The Kanagroos should seriously consider relocating.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I reckon we’re about done with expansion for a very, very long time.

A Melbourne side will eventually move to Tassie and we’ll have two conferences of nine each (Vic and Aus), you’ll play your own conference twice and the other once for a total of 25 games.

Will be interested to see how North’s games in Ballarat go. Should be ok. I reckon there’s already quite a few people from regional Vic who come into Melbourne for games, always seems to be plenty of trains after games at Etihad.

Ballarat really isn’t that far from Melbourne anyway.

 

[Tex_21]

Ballarat 100k
Horsham 20k
Stawell 8k
Ararat 10k
Bendigo 95k
Bacchus Marsh 15k
Melton 115k

that totals around 350k, more than enough to get 20k to the footy 8-10 times a year.

I think your figures are backwards for Ballarat and Bendigo - Bendigo overtook Ballarat recently as the most populous inland city in Victoria. Your number for Stawell is straight up false though - at the peak population Stawell only hit 7k, and has been declining considerably over the past decade.

You're expecting to get a draw of almost 6% of the total population from the outset? That's a high bar to set. The AFL would be happy to acerage 20k to GWS this year, thats in a catchment of 2 million. Not to mention the fact allegiances already exist, so at minimum you'd have to have a generation go past before they may be self-sustaining. Not worth it, moronic idea.

 

[Sprout]

Living in Canberra I can safely say it's a long way away from supporting an AFL team in its own right when competing for sponsorship and fanbase with the Brumbies and Raiders, both well established. There's also talk of being next in line for an A League side.

GWS are kind of kidding themselves as it is, as the AFL loving community are diehards so already have a team and are unlikely to start following another. It also doesn't help that promotion has been pretty much non-existent since Sheeds was hustling up people in the city centre to sign up for memberships. They will achieve passing interest but anything beyond that will take a much larger ongoing effort.

All that being said, I still think Canberra would get one before Ballarat, although I understand there are alot of Melbourne supporters there..

Uh oh.

 

[Tas]

I reckon we’re about done with expansion for a very, very long time.

A Melbourne side will eventually move to Tassie and we’ll have two conferences of nine each (Vic and Aus), you’ll play your own conference twice and the other once for a total of 25 games.

Will be interested to see how North’s games in Ballarat go. Should be ok. I reckon there’s already quite a few people from regional Vic who come into Melbourne for games, always seems to be plenty of trains after games at Etihad.

Ballarat really isn’t that far from Melbourne anyway.

The practice match vs the Bulldogs there was pretty much filled out, and by filled out the stadium doesn't hold that many people, was about 8k or so. Would like to see a non Bulldogs/Geelong game there to gauge support.

I just think it is mind boggling to spend $100m on a stadium with 10k seats, are the seats gold plated? They should build for 20-25k seats minimum otherwise they will be looking for another massive wad of cash to extend it again later.

 

[AngelEyes]

Ballarat's population is not much smaller than Geelongs.

Add in the fact that they would work out their own stadium deal and would probably only need 20-25k people to make money.

Add the fact that many people from the Ballarat region drive to Geelong for matches. If they had their own team this would not happen.

People from surrounding towns would come to Ballarat for games. People from Ararat would come (45 mins), Stawell (1&1/2 hrs) & Horsham (2hrs) as they would be starved of AFL football. Shit even Bendigo as its an hour away and you've got Melton & Bacchus Marsh within 45 mins. Plus its only just under an hour from the western suburbs of Melbourne (so you would have travelling fans coming to matches).

If they played Adelaide/Port Adelaide you could expect a fair few SA fans to come across aswell.


That being said I don't think they would ever team and probably shouldn't either.



No, thats a worse idea than Ballarat

Geelong's population is heaps bigger than Ballarat's population. It's a bit like saying Adelaide isn't much smaller than Melbourne.

Geelong's population in the City of Geelong is 211k according to the city's website where Ballarat's is slightly less than 100k. Geelong also has more large towns around it in comparison to Ballarat. When I say close I mean within 30 minutes drive. Horsham at a couple of hours and Ararat at 1 hour 15 minutes are not "close". Geelong's "regional" population closes in on 300k in comparison to Ballarat's being just over 120k. Thats significant. Geelong is in the middle of constructing a suburb the size of Ballarat. Geelong is slowly becoming a city in it's own right where Ballarat is destined to stay a country town.

Chuck in that Geelong has an established support base and is closer to Melbourne and you have a far bigger population. The other thing to consider is the wealth of that population. Geelong salaries are far higher than Ballarat and hence, have more to spend on football items. Geelong isn't wealthy but it's a step up from Ballarat. Have a look at salaries in the paper and the property guides.

Basically, there are far more people who earn far more money. That being said Geelong wouldn't get a team if they started now so you have got to be joking to think there is any chance of Ballarat getting one. It would be the biggest white elephant in history, can you imagine any government forking out $200m for a stadium to host a team. Geelong at least semi justifies it because Cricket Australia seems destined to put a team there as well which means it will be for more than just football. If they can get the AFL to chuck a team there, it's one thing but I can't see them conning more than one national league.

 

[bradrowe#32]

It will never happen.

 

[00Stinger]

I think your figures are backwards for Ballarat and Bendigo - Bendigo overtook Ballarat recently as the most populous inland city in Victoria. Your number for Stawell is straight up false though - at the peak population Stawell only hit 7k, and has been declining considerably over the past decade.

You're expecting to get a draw of almost 6% of the total population from the outset? That's a high bar to set. The AFL would be happy to acerage 20k to GWS this year, thats in a catchment of 2 million. Not to mention the fact allegiances already exist, so at minimum you'd have to have a generation go past before they may be self-sustaining. Not worth it, moronic idea.

I stand corrected Stawell has a population of 6k, not 8k. Hardly makes a difference to the discussion. However I believe Ballarat still has a higher population than Bendigo, fractionally.

Comparing the % of population to attend for a Ballarat and a GWS team is stupid. Of course a higher % will attend in Victoria as is a football state, GWS is not.

However once again I will say that I don't think they will get a team, nor should they. I was merely pointing out that it could be done on a population and interest basis.

 

[Yabba]

An AFL team would be great for a town like Ballarat or Bendigo. It would take a lot more than the AFL putting a team there to make it happen or be sustainable. The current and previous state governments are very Melbourne central, in regards to planning for the population.

If the state government were to invest in somewhere like Ballarat with job creation to entice people to move there and lift the population over 20-30 years to 500k then a team would work but in the current environment it won't.

 

[Aussie Assault]

This is what Ballarat and North are working towards and the best result for both imo. Sounds like Ballarat are looking for up to $100m for multi sport complex with a 10,000k seated stadium, with the standing room it'll be enough for the lower drawing games. Such a marginal seat, they'd have to be some sort chance of getting it.

Correct. They need funding of $80+ million to get it off the ground, and that is only for a 10k seat stadium.

http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/l...sortium-for-eureka-precinct-push/2501686.aspx

Brumby had promised $50 million for a redevelopment of Eureka Stadium pre-election (he lost), but I cannot see this ever eventuating. The stadium may have other sporting complexes pop up around it over the coming years (I think a basketball grant has recently been announced), and small developments continue to grow in drips & drabs on the stadium as they have for many years now, but as for a huge amount of funding to be given in one fell swoop... It wont happen.

 

[Masto]

Living in Canberra I can safely say it's a long way away from supporting an AFL team in its own right when competing for sponsorship and fanbase with the Brumbies and Raiders, both well established. There's also talk of being next in line for an A League side.

GWS are kind of kidding themselves as it is, as the AFL loving community are diehards so already have a team and are unlikely to start following another. It also doesn't help that promotion has been pretty much non-existent since Sheeds was hustling up people in the city centre to sign up for memberships. They will achieve passing interest but anything beyond that will take a much larger ongoing effort.

All that being said, I still think Canberra would get one before Ballarat, although I understand there are alot of Melbourne supporters there..

Uh oh.

I don't believe Canberra has ever been given a fair go. If the AFL had committed to it from the beginning I believe it would be an AFL town by now. Instead they sent the Roos there for 4 days a year and wondered why the community didn't embrace them

 

[cos789]

A team like NM could follow the model.
Play a few low drawing games there.
As the region and relationship grew then the number of games could be increased.

 

[Higgs Boson]

Ballarat? Phwoar! That'd be awesome, cool and grouse!

100,000 of which 25,000 are on the pension.

And have large phone bills, etc.

 

[finders]

NO WAY Not ever!