We know the AFL media love a crisis. Right now it is North. Before this we have had GC, Port, Dees, etc. Changes were made and all have come through. North have 50K members and are financially solid, so that will be an easy three to five year fix with some player concessions.
AFL media attention is starting to turn towards GWS. In particular their horrible Showgrounds crowds. They are averaging under 6K. The lowest in AFL/VFL recorded history (excluding COVID and WW2) was Brisbane who averaged 6.5K in 1992. As a comparison, GC had 18K last week v Tigers. GWS best ever non Swans home crowd is 15K.
Footy Classified this week highlighted their salary cap/contract mess with guys like Coniglio (2027) and Kelly (2029, yes, really) on million dollar long term deals, along with Greene and Whitfield on similar coin. This will stop them being able to get Dusty or any other free agents. Given that most players would be prefer to be playing in an AFL city front of bigger crowds, I guess that you have to overpay to keep players.
Now that they are a bottom six club, crowds are unlikely to rise any time soon. They are stuck halfway between Sydney and Canberra. What can the AFL do to save the GIANTS?
Move to Canberra? When you take out the Swans games Canberra (10.5K) has higher average crowds than Showgrounds (9K) over the 10 years. When you factor in that the bigger clubs like Pies/Bombers/Tigers/Blues play @ Showgrounds, this is even more impressive. Are there really many potential AFL fans in NRL mad Western Sydney? North drew bigger crowds @ SCG in the 1990s. Sure, there are lots of people in Western Sydney, but most have little to zero interest in footy.
Focus on Western Sydney? Should they revert to their original name Western Sydney and focus on their supposed core area? Are they missing a marketing opportunity by not using the word Sydney in their name (it is always GWS or GIANTS, never Western Sydney)
Merge with a struggling Vic club? Given they only play eight games in Sydney, a merged club could keep that and play three home and five/six away in Melbourne, making it more palatable. With a Tassie team likely, perhaps the AFL could dangle a carrot, like they did in 1996 when Port was granted a provisional licence.
Or do they just be patient, and hope that is 10/20/30 years they can build crowds up to 15K - 20k?
AFL media attention is starting to turn towards GWS. In particular their horrible Showgrounds crowds. They are averaging under 6K. The lowest in AFL/VFL recorded history (excluding COVID and WW2) was Brisbane who averaged 6.5K in 1992. As a comparison, GC had 18K last week v Tigers. GWS best ever non Swans home crowd is 15K.
Footy Classified this week highlighted their salary cap/contract mess with guys like Coniglio (2027) and Kelly (2029, yes, really) on million dollar long term deals, along with Greene and Whitfield on similar coin. This will stop them being able to get Dusty or any other free agents. Given that most players would be prefer to be playing in an AFL city front of bigger crowds, I guess that you have to overpay to keep players.
Now that they are a bottom six club, crowds are unlikely to rise any time soon. They are stuck halfway between Sydney and Canberra. What can the AFL do to save the GIANTS?
Move to Canberra? When you take out the Swans games Canberra (10.5K) has higher average crowds than Showgrounds (9K) over the 10 years. When you factor in that the bigger clubs like Pies/Bombers/Tigers/Blues play @ Showgrounds, this is even more impressive. Are there really many potential AFL fans in NRL mad Western Sydney? North drew bigger crowds @ SCG in the 1990s. Sure, there are lots of people in Western Sydney, but most have little to zero interest in footy.
Focus on Western Sydney? Should they revert to their original name Western Sydney and focus on their supposed core area? Are they missing a marketing opportunity by not using the word Sydney in their name (it is always GWS or GIANTS, never Western Sydney)
Merge with a struggling Vic club? Given they only play eight games in Sydney, a merged club could keep that and play three home and five/six away in Melbourne, making it more palatable. With a Tassie team likely, perhaps the AFL could dangle a carrot, like they did in 1996 when Port was granted a provisional licence.
Or do they just be patient, and hope that is 10/20/30 years they can build crowds up to 15K - 20k?