Analysis Should we be pursuing a secondary market post-Hobart? If yes, then where?

[mightymouse75]

You seem keen on it. Great. Buy a 3 game membership and turn up to watch us play GWS, gold Coast and Tassie.

Why wouldn't I. We only ever get 1 game a week

 

[Lomas]

Sorry if I intrude, and I haven't heard anything official, but I honestly don't think it's going to be Perth, I honestly think it'll be Busselton. It makes too much sense.

• You can avoid perceptions of competition unfairness by the other team having a true 12th home game. While WCE/Freo would have a HGA in Busselton, it won't be as strong as Optus, and more palatable. It's arguably no different than North and Dogs playing in Canberra vs. Sydney back in the day when a lot of AFL fans in Canberra at the time were Sydney supporters.
• There's an airport there, you can charter a flight.
• Lets just assume with local government money or something North would be making the same money either way.
• It's still accessible for North and Perth fans who want to drive down. You could still give priority ticketing to WA based North fans ahead of locals, and still have enough tickets for locals.
• There's a model to temporarily upgrade a stadium for not that expensive an amount with what they've done with Mt Barker in Gather Round. They're looking to do it for the Barossa for future Gather Round events. This doesn't have to be a large infrastructure investment
• It is the fastest growing area of WA and the AFL will want to have a presence there strategically. Counting the Bunbury and wider Margaret River region, it's going to be far more critical that, if one or the other, this region (population 200,000 and growing faster in % terms than Perth) gets 1 AFL game as opposed to the 2.2 million population of Perth gets a 23rd game from the 22 it already hosts.
• I would assume that Busselton as a city council would actually want this game, as it justifies their spend in "activating" the region such as investing in the airport in the first place.
• WA government may actually prefer it to simply buying a Perth game, it encourages WA residents to spend their toursim dollars within WA by giving them a reason do drive down or stick around rather than flying off to Bali or whatever.
• If not in Busselton (though this is the more relevant tourism region) a lot of the arguments hold true for flying into Busselton, then driving 45 mins north to Bunbury to play the game there (with a bigger local population).

Although it sounds nice in theory, the WA government won’t invest in the same way SA has for gather rounds. In SA they have the advantage of attracting visitors to drive from Victoria, and maybe fall in love enough to make the drive again without the footy. People don’t make the trek to Margaret river for a mixture of wine and sport.

 

[WesternRoo]

Sorry if I intrude, and I haven't heard anything official, but I honestly don't think it's going to be Perth, I honestly think it'll be Busselton. It makes too much sense.

• You can avoid perceptions of competition unfairness by the other team having a true 12th home game. While WCE/Freo would have a HGA in Busselton, it won't be as strong as Optus, and more palatable. It's arguably no different than North and Dogs playing in Canberra vs. Sydney back in the day when a lot of AFL fans in Canberra at the time were Sydney supporters.
• There's an airport there, you can charter a flight.
• Lets just assume with local government money or something North would be making the same money either way.
• It's still accessible for North and Perth fans who want to drive down. You could still give priority ticketing to WA based North fans ahead of locals, and still have enough tickets for locals.
• There's a model to temporarily upgrade a stadium for not that expensive an amount with what they've done with Mt Barker in Gather Round. They're looking to do it for the Barossa for future Gather Round events. This doesn't have to be a large infrastructure investment
• It is the fastest growing area of WA and the AFL will want to have a presence there strategically. Counting the Bunbury and wider Margaret River region, it's going to be far more critical that, if one or the other, this region (population 200,000 and growing faster in % terms than Perth) gets 1 AFL game as opposed to the 2.2 million population of Perth gets a 23rd game from the 22 it already hosts.
• I would assume that Busselton as a city council would actually want this game, as it justifies their spend in "activating" the region such as investing in the airport in the first place.
• WA government may actually prefer it to simply buying a Perth game, it encourages WA residents to spend their toursim dollars within WA by giving them a reason do drive down or stick around rather than flying off to Bali or whatever.
• If not in Busselton (though this is the more relevant tourism region) a lot of the arguments hold true for flying into Busselton, then driving 45 mins north to Bunbury to play the game there (with a bigger local population).

This is well written, but I’m not sure you are actually being serious?

Busselton is a great part of the state, but cannot see any team flying 4 hours then a 3 hour bus trip each way to play there.

Where would they play there also? There would be faster growing metro regions in Perth than Busselton and I would suggest regional also.

Not to mention Optus is a great facility just south of the river which is 15 mins from the airport and 5 mins from the team hotel.