Southport Sharks

[Silkie]

Stadiums are hellishly expensive, the AFL couldn’t exactly pick and choose when they set the Suns up.

They couldn’t build their own. Getting the govt to build one for them in an awesome position on the Gold Coast would’ve been impossible. It’s an enormous project and wouldn’t be a huge vote winner given the sport’s profile in Qld. The government would’ve laughed at them.

The deal the AFL got to renovate and brand Carrara for the Suns was a very good one and the best that could be expected. Anything more is totally unrealistic.

It’s one for the next generation of the club. Another 20 years minimum, if they grow and have big support, a new stadium will be on the cards then.

Perhaps the Sharks could contribute as a way of getting some equity in the Suns, but even their contribution would be tiny in the scheme of a new stadium.

I’m no Eddie lover, far from it, but his quote on new, elite footy stadiums from earlier this year isn’t far off the truth - don’t expect much change out of $1 billion.

I understand the realities of the situation but in a perfect world it would’ve been great elsewhere.

 

[VinnieB]

Yeah good post.

I think what some people fail to understand about support for teams on the Gold Coast - there is so much to do on a weekend that people choose to enjoy other things.

Melbourne is the opposite - it's the Sports Watching Capital of Australia. They get big crowds to 6 games of football on the weekend in winter, because quite frankly - there's not much else to do.

That's rubbish. You can go to Phillip Island to see the penguins and check out art like this at a gallery:


And yes, that's a real banana. Nothing fake in Melbourne.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Yeah good post.

I think what some people fail to understand about support for teams on the Gold Coast - there is so much to do on a weekend that people choose to enjoy other things.

Melbourne is the opposite - it's the Sports Watching Capital of Australia. They get big crowds to 6 games of football on the weekend in winter, because quite frankly - there's not much else to do.

There’s more to do on the Gold Coast than Melbourne.

That’s… a take.

 

[GWT6]

If you’ve been to Melbourne before and struggled to find things to do then you’ve done it very, very wrong my friend. You can accuse that place of being many things, but boring is not one of them.

Spent my first 25 years in Melbourne - The place is a wasteland full of people that don't know any better.

"Culture" hahah

 

[VinnieB]

Spent my first 25 years in Melbourne - The place is a wasteland full of people that don't know any better.

"Culture" hahah

You must have hung out on Lygon Street….

 

[GC2015]

The AFL has done really well growing the game in SEQ. Even when I was playing junior footy only a decade ago it was still pretty niche. I was one of three guys in my grade who played footy (and no girls), compared to everyone else who played union, league or soccer. These days so many more kids are playing footy, and it's because of the Suns and their academy. Now we've got a situation where their academy is so good that people are rethinking draft rules. This is quantifiably a massive tick for the AFL.

Can back this up as well. Very much a niche sport at the junior level as recently as a decade ago and now it appears to be the most popular sport at the primary school level on the GC. The Gold Coast as a market is still fairly small (under 1 million) but is expanding quickly and the appetite for footy is growing at such a level that it's making up for the lack of population. Even the people who have moved to the Gold Coast from Sydney and regional Queensland are also jumping on board and taking an interest in Aussie rules instead of sticking to their rugby league roots. So we're seeing kids from all over Australia moving here and contributing to this groundswell of footy support.

We're seeing this spill into the top level now with the Suns academy delivering top end local talent at the national draft. Should also be pointed out that we're now seeing kids getting drafted that have grown up supporting the Suns and no other AFL club. That's a huge factor in itself because it's changing the mentality of locals who genuinely want to play for their local team as opposed to the mismatch of AFL supporters we saw throughout the city a decade ago. Things are changing quickly on the Gold Coast and the Titans are very worried about a potential market takeover. The next decade is where the AFL will see obvious return on investment on the Gold Coast.

 

[Gordon Farkas]

and hugely profitable social club (not losing money by the truckloads).

In other words, a big pokies barn with a footy team attached. That’s all Southport is.