North want to sell a home game to the Dockers or Eagles

[Canberra Pear]

What?

60k increased to 70k = 16.6% across 22 home games. 220k extra seats.

Extra 11 games per year = 50% capacity increase compared to 22 games for the whole season. 660k extra seats.

Plus two North games. 220k + 140k equals 27.3% across the season. 360k extra seats.

Freo averaged 23k year one in a 40k stadium with 1.3m in Perth. I recon WA3 gets conservatively 30k home attendance year 1.

I personally think you're being optimistic. It may reach 30k with the Year 1 shine, then drop back to 20-25k from season two.

History has shown in Australian leagues that a second team is usually pretty popular from the get-go. A third team not so much. Freo is not an accurate indicator of what to expect for WA3.

It’s not just about the attendance. Its about having capacity for walk ups which we have bugger all compared to every other state.

As somebody in a city with only three games a year, all three of which were sell outs, I'm not overly sympathetic here.

But 360k extra seats a year undoubtedly helps with that.

 

[Purple Suit]

Plus two North games. 220k + 140k equals 27.3% across the season. 360k extra seats.



I personally think you're being optimistic. It may reach 30k with the Year 1 shine, then drop back to 20-25k from season two.

History has shown in Australian leagues that a second team is usually pretty popular from the get-go. A third team not so much. Freo is not an accurate indicator of what to expect for WA3.



As somebody in a city with only three games a year, all three of which were sell outs, I'm not overly sympathetic here.

But 360k extra seats a year undoubtedly helps with that.

The North game is 1 in Perth only so 60k.

 

[Canberra Pear]

The North game is 1 in Perth only so 60k.

Yeah, I know. Make it two long-term.

If the end goal is more available seats, getting North to shift a game from Bunbury to Optus (or even play an extra game) is a much easier option than setting up an entire team.

 

[Billy ray]

Make every seat $25 and you’ll get 30,000 per game

 

[GC2015]

Didn’t Gold Coast do the same thing?

Yup and we finished 17th on the ladder when it was at its worst in 2018 because our stadium was unavailable for half the season due to the Commonwealth Games. It's a bad idea when you're a young team trying to climb up the ladder.

 

[Purple Suit]

Plus two North games. 220k + 140k equals 27.3% across the season. 360k extra seats.



I personally think you're being optimistic. It may reach 30k with the Year 1 shine, then drop back to 20-25k from season two.

History has shown in Australian leagues that a second team is usually pretty popular from the get-go. A third team not so much. Freo is not an accurate indicator of what to expect for WA3.



As somebody in a city with only three games a year, all three of which were sell outs, I'm not overly sympathetic here.

But 360k extra seats a year undoubtedly helps with that.

An AFL team in Canberra will be the third side too, except it’s a different code. It’ll have more challenges than WA3, only thing it has over us is an AFL executive who would probably love a fortnightly chin wag with the feds rather than every two months.

 

[Canberra Pear]

An AFL team in Canberra will be the third side too, except it’s a different code.

We're talking about AFL support. But if we're shifting the goal posts, WA3 would be Perth's fifth side (there'll be an NRL team by then, too).

It’ll have more challenges than WA3,

Will it? Canberra will definitely have it's challenges, but I wouldn't necessarily say more than WA3.

only thing it has over us is an AFL executive who would probably love a fortnightly chin wag with the feds rather than every two months.

This is just one aspect, but a very important one nonetheless.

Canberra also adds to a new market. It grows the league, and solidifies support in a hotly contested area. It will unite AFL fans across Canberra and Southern NSW, and grow the game amongst non-AFL fans.

What is the purpose of WA3? Anything other than more content and less travel? Both can be addressed with the above. WA3 doesn't add anything to the league. It just reshuffles pre-existing fans, and dilutes the western rivalry.

 

[Purple Suit]

We're talking about AFL support. But if we're shifting the goal posts, WA3 would be Perth's fifth side (there'll be an NRL team by then, too).



Will it? Canberra will definitely have it's challenges, but I wouldn't necessarily say more than WA3.



This is just one aspect, but a very important one nonetheless.

Canberra also adds to a new market. It grows the league, and solidifies support in a hotly contested area. It will unite AFL fans across Canberra and Southern NSW, and grow the game amongst non-AFL fans.

What is the purpose of WA3? Anything other than more content and less travel? Both can be addressed with the above. WA3 doesn't add anything to the league. It just reshuffles pre-existing fans, and dilutes the western rivalry.

It adds money, not another mouth to feed. Services the fastest growing & most under-catered market in Australia. Prevents the WA clubs becoming even more powerful and spreads the talent between 3 sides. Keeps the prices down in WA and helps pays for our 1.5B stadium.

Once you have zero capacity in a market this size, you invite other codes like the NRL to take all the new fans away. The media will prevent this, if you have a seat for them.

GWS have a Canberra deal to 2032. By that stage Perth is predicted to have 2.9m people and will grow by more than Canberra’s entire population.

North can start moving games to Canberra once WA3 comes in so you get 5 games a year. Win - win.

 

[Canberra Pear]

It adds money, not another mouth to feed.

You're assuming Canberra will be another mouth to feed?

Millions in ACT Goverment funding; wealthier population; lower stadium costs; no royalties to the WAFC.

Canberra will likely be just as, if not more, financially viable as WA3.

Services the fastest growing & most under-catered market in Australia.

Canberra? The ACT has been the fastest growing state/territory for the past two censuses.

Optus had 295k empty seats this year. Manuka had all sell outs. Canberra is clearly more under-catered, too.

Prevents the WA clubs becoming even more powerful and spreads the talent between 3 sides.

Freo isn't particularly a powerful club now. Personally I'd prefer two big WA clubs to counter the big Victorian clubs.

As opposed to a large West Coast, middling Freo, and a minnow WA3.

Once you have zero capacity in a market this size, you invite other codes like the NRL to take all the new fans away. The media will prevent this, if you have a seat for them.

Luckily an upgrade and North playing can give you an extra 360k seats.

GWS have a Canberra deal to 2032. By that stage Perth is predicted to have 2.9m people and will grow by more than Canberra’s entire population.

Where did you get that number? The ABS' middle range for Perth is 2.5-2.6m for 2032.

North can start moving games to Canberra once WA3 comes in so you get 5 games a year. Win - win.

Why should we get the scraps of two different teams? That's not how you grow a sport in a contested area.

Perth already has two teams to follow. Just need to increase capacity to support them.