How Many teams will there be in the AFL in 2020? Who will they be?

[Ben the Gooner]

AFL League One:
Essendon
Carlton
Collingwood
Adelaide
Port Adelaide
West Coast
Fremantle
Richmond
Hawthorn
Sydney
Brisbane
Geelong

AFL League Two:
Southport Kangaroos
Western Bulldogs (still in Vic)
Melbourne
St Kilda
West Sydney somethingoranothers
Tassie Devils/Mariners
Far North Queensland somethings
NT somethings
Murray Bushrangers
Perth
South Adelaide (or some other Adelaide-based team)
VFL Premiers

Bottom two of League One relegated
Back to the Final Four system, with the winner of League One the overall winner

Winner of League Two promoted
Play off with the next four (a la Coca-Cola Championship) for promotion
Bottom team relegated to VFL/Local League, the top team of which is promoted.

Perth and Adelaide can easily support a third team.
The Murray would be a huge untapped market with Wagga Wagga, Albury/Wodonga and many Vic country towns
I'm not sure if the FNQ and NT teams should be replaced with the SANFL and the WAFL premiers, as they make travel a bit difficult (FNQ v West Coast or something)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that each team plays the others in their league twice giving a 22 game season with more parity. Also possibly an FA cup sort of competition between both sets of teams to replace the NAB cup. Three big finals (the GF, the Playoff final (which, incidently is the richest game in club soccer), and the AFL cup final) makes for better TV.

Not sure how the draft would work though...

 

[BLUEBOY1]

There will 22 teams, YES 22 teams

The current teams plus:

Southport Sharks
Tasmania Devils
West Sydney Spiders
Cairns CaneToads
Darwin All-Stars
Perth Panthers

Each side will be play each other once and their will be no whinging about the fixture.

 

[Betfair Punter]

Adelaide Crows
Brisbane Lions
Carlton Blues
Collingwood magpies
Essendon Bombers
Freo Dockers
Geelong Cats
Gold Coast Kangaroos
Hawthorn Hawks
melbourne demons
Richmond Tigers
St.Kilda saints
west coast eagles
western bulldogs


NEW TEAMS:
Japan Red Wings
NZ Bulls
Darwin Detroits
Hobart Hurricanes
Perth Platypus
Tassie Mariners
West Sydney Magic

 

[Betfair Punter]

23 teams , 11 games at home and 11 games away. no whinging about fixtures, 1 off games

10 x vic teams
3 x wa teams
2 x nsw teams
2 x qld teams
1 x tassie team
2 x sa teams
1 x japanese team
1 x nz team
1 x nt team

 

[Ben the Gooner]

As good as the Japanese idea is, the travel is too much. The ten hour flight needs too much recovery, which detracts from training.

 

[Betfair Punter]

ive said it before and ill say it again, travel should be scheduled alas Super 14 style. Play it in blocks of games, i.e 4 home, 4 away. Also creating a bye helps get over the travel factor.

 

[Sir_Adrian84]

nah by 2020

A-League, NRL and AFL have all died and most people are happy that we no longer have to put up with the c.rap from these three leagues.

 

[piesflag07]

Why do people whinge so much about travel? It's not like they have to change too many time zones. Traveling by plane doesn't take that much out of you.

 

[Sir_Adrian84]

ive said it before and ill say it again, travel should be scheduled alas Super 14 style. Play it in blocks of games, i.e 4 home, 4 away. Also creating a bye helps get over the travel factor.

i know the Sharks from Durban played 6/7 at home at the start of the season then 4 away then 1 at home

I wonder if they go back and forth every week
http://www.sharksrugby.co.za/default.asp?Id=13556&des=content

 

[btdg]

Victorian teams seem to be dropping at the rate of about 1 every 10-15 years at present - South Melbourne in the mid-80s, Fitzroy in the mid/late 90s, North apparently on their way in the late 00s. I'd say we'll probably lose one more around about 2020. The North move to Southport will determine whether that ends up being a relocation or a takeover/merger.

So we'll most likely have 16 teams in 2020 IMO - 8 based in Victoria, 2 in Queensland, 2 WA, 2 SA, 1 Sydney. The second relocation you would imagine right now would be Tassie, but NSW is a possibility, or even another WA/SA team.

You would also think that the relocated team would be one of St Kilda, Bulldogs, Melbourne or Hawthorn - the 'smaller' vic teams. Hawthorn are front-runners now with their Tassie deal, but they've already fought off one crisis, and by 2015 all those 80s kiddies will be family men with mortgages and buying up enough memberships to keep the team here in its own right. Bulldogs will always get the Western suburbs sympathy vote - the pollies will do enough to keep them here. And I just can't see Melbourne going - any serious problems and a quick whip-around at the Mount Buller chalet would probably see them through.

My money is on the Saints. Like the Kangaroos in the mid-90s, their successful now, perennial finals contenders and doing some exciting things off-field. But they don't really have the brand, support base or any of the things that guarantee long-term success. And inevitably there will be a down-turn in fortunes on-field, and the push to move will begin. Not for a while though - they're probably safe until 2018 at the latest, and so much could change before then it may not be worth thinking about now anyway.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I think the AFL is will be very reluctant to move teams other than Kangaroos on to other states. St Kilda has a big fan base down Brighton, Frankston way. Hawthorn is a big club, and it is highly unlikely that the team that dominated the 80s in a way we haven't seen since (Brisbane, Essendon and North were all 4-5 year teams). If the Bulldogs move that leaves Essendon and Geeling as the only teams even close to the western suburbs, and neither are the true western suburbs. That leaves a gaping hole in Melbourne. There is absolutel no chance that Richmond is moving. There absolutely must, MUST be a team called Melbourne. It's that simple. If they were called anything else, they'd be my bet for one of the next moves. Geelong aren't going anywhere, especially with the money poured into Skilled Stadium.

Therefore, the two tiered system comes into play. It kills many birds with one stone:
1. Expansion into other markets
2. Uneven fixtures
3. Lack of meaning of some games: draft picks are nothing to play for, avoiding relegation is. Makes some bottom-of-the-table clashes (Spoon Saturdays) a lot more interesting.

 

[JoondalupJ]

Adelaide Crows
Port Power
West Coast
Freo
Sydney Swans
Western Sydney Bulldogs
Brisbane Lions
Southport Kangaroos
Geelong
Carlton
Collingwood
Richmond Hawks
StKilda Demons
Essendon

Enough of these rubbish Vic teams tha cant get their sh1t together on the field or off it. richmond are a shamozzle. Hawks the same. Bogus membership numbers for years. They only posted a profit last year because Dicker made a secret donation of a Mill... Kangaroos are as bad as Fitzroy were both on and off the field, and the saints are an inbred team of mediocrity accepting freaks. countless top 10 draft picks late and the window has closed again. Moorabin is worse lloking than Coburg oval. Lets have an elite comp. Not a community festival which with those teams it currently is!

Hawthorn will be very financial don't doubt that. Richmond Hawks give me a break. Hawthorn may swallow up whats left of Richmond and even Melbourne
I've said before its about the money in 10 or 20 years you'll have to be billionaires to have a club running,The Gold Coast will not support a team financially. Brisbane is already successful another team in a rugby state? RUBBISH!!!!!! 12 clubs is a realists look at successful national comp. As much as I hate to say it some clubs will die in Melbourne in the next 20 yrs.Hawthorn are also building a big bussiness as well as another mighty team.

 

[nooB]

Adelaide Crows
Brisbane Lions
Carlton Blues
Collingwood magpies
Essendon Bombers
Freo Dockers
Geelong Cats
Gold Coast Kangaroos
Hawthorn Hawks
melbourne demons
Richmond Tigers
St.Kilda saints
west coast eagles
western bulldogs


NEW TEAMS:
Japan Red Wings
NZ Bulls
Darwin Detroits
Hobart Hurricanes
Perth Platypus
Tassie Mariners
West Sydney Magic

You cant b serious about the japanese team - not being racist or anything while they have the speed i dont think they would have the height or strength - might bring in Sumos or something.

Why dont we send the roos to japan or something

 

[JoondalupJ]

Adelaide Crows
Port Power
West Coast
Freo
Sydney Swans
Western Sydney Bulldogs
Brisbane Lions
Southport Kangaroos
Geelong
Carlton
Collingwood
Richmond Hawks
StKilda Demons
Essendon

Enough of these rubbish Vic teams tha cant get their sh1t together on the field or off it. richmond are a shamozzle. Hawks the same. Bogus membership numbers for years. They only posted a profit last year because Dicker made a secret donation of a Mill... Kangaroos are as bad as Fitzroy were both on and off the field, and the saints are an inbred team of mediocrity accepting freaks. countless top 10 draft picks late and the window has closed again. Moorabin is worse lloking than Coburg oval. Lets have an elite comp. Not a community festival which with those teams it currently is!

PS. I actually have your pussy cats as one of the survivors

 

[mebevan]

I dont know about this Gold Coast kangas relocation talk.

Set up a team in cairns or townsville. Need to put a bit of cash into a 30k plus ground but you would sell out every home game easy. Probably get a lot of NT players in there. would be a hit.

They are desperate for sport up there.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

All current 16, plus:
Southport (perhaps playing under the name Queensland and playing a couple of games in Cairns - will struggle financially even more than weaker Vic teams)
Perth (or some other name for a 3rd WA team - the only one completely viable within 20 years of start-up)
and two more Sydney teams (one of which plays some games in Canberra and perhaps the other in Newcastle if Newc No1 Oval was brought up to scratch - it would probably take until 2070 for 3 teams to be viable in Sydney, but it can happen eventually so why not start both teams at once)

Tasmania, NT, Newcastle, ACT, North Queensland simply don't (and won't) have the
money (Tas)
population (NT, ACT - and by then Tas population may well be under 2% of national pop as well), or
interest (ACT, Newcastle, North Qld) to ever have a side.

That's what I think it should be anyway.


More likely:
Current 16, plus
Western Sydney
Gold Coast
less two of Kangas, Dogs, Demons and Hawks

It won't go under 16 because 8 games is good TV money.