Let's assume Tassie comes in the next five years as team 19. This is the perfect opportunity to maximise the benefits to the comp and the code of teams playing games in smaller markets.
Currently
Launceston - Hawks x 4 (year by year contract)
Hobart - North x 4 (year by year)
GWS - Canberra x 3 (year by year)
GC - Darwin x 1 (contract ends next year)
Saints - Cairns x 1 (year by year @ $650K) -
Dogs - Ballarat x 2 (part of Vic Govt funding of Marvel upgrades deal)
Dees - 1 x Alice Springs
North and Hawks = eight games to be played elsewhere. Saints are unhappy with on field - weather/results, and it makes no sense for a Vic club to be playing in Queensland while the Suns play in NT. All contract end this year or next.
Possible new venues
Albury - Stadium just upgraded - only 1500 grandstand but decent facilities and total capacity for around 15K. AFL heartland crowds would be string, hopefully council comes to the party with incentives
Newcastle - Currently being upgraded, only 800 grandstand but similar sized hills to Albury.
Townsville - has hosted one AFL game, capacity is 9k
Wellington - has hosted two Saints games capacity is 25K. There is talk of Western Springs in Auckland being expanded to suit AFL, but that could be a decade away.
Based on what we saw during 2020/21 is that clubs playing one off games in new markets will draw a big crowd (Vioc club games in Pert, Tassie, GC, etc), so rather than continue with the current model of clubs adopting regions (until fans get sick of that club), I am suggesting rotating clubs through these markets, rather than one club wearing out their welcome like North in Hobart. The one exception to this would be to send GC back to Queensland, and North take over NT. Now that their on field woes are fixed, GC can hand over the NT Academy to North who need it now. Also it is time for GWS to fully embrace Western Sydney with a name change and more games in Western Sydney, but they can maintain their memberships in Canberra via away games. IF they are not going to have a 100% crack at Western Sydney, you might as well move them to Canberra (that is a discussion for another time).
New structure once Tassie come in:-
Darwin - North x 1.
Albury - North x 1
Ballarat - Dogs x 1, Saints x 1
Newcastle - Dees x 1 (same colours as Knights, or could put Giants here and Dees in Canberra). It is crazy to have no games in a city of 550K (Newcastle/Maitland), with another 350K between Newcastle and Sydney on the Central Coast.
Canberra - Hawks, Saints, Dogs, North, GWS x 1 (over Easter show). GWS also away team x 2, so maintaining their three games and fan base. Five games, the AFL can really test their appetite for footy.
Cairns - GC x 1
This spread will ensure better crowds at games which is what the AFL and broadcaster want. Clubs get a set fee play a major share of the gate to ensure games are promoted properly. These should be promotional games, not just designed to fill the pockets of struggling clubs.
I have no games at Alice Springs - tiny town, with a substandard venue, crowds of 5k - 7k are more suited to preseason or AFLW.
This discussion is predicated upon Tassie entering the comp as team 19 in the next five years, and also assumes no 20th team in the next decade, so no discussion of that please.
What are your suggestions?
Currently
Launceston - Hawks x 4 (year by year contract)
Hobart - North x 4 (year by year)
GWS - Canberra x 3 (year by year)
GC - Darwin x 1 (contract ends next year)
Saints - Cairns x 1 (year by year @ $650K) -
Dogs - Ballarat x 2 (part of Vic Govt funding of Marvel upgrades deal)
Dees - 1 x Alice Springs
North and Hawks = eight games to be played elsewhere. Saints are unhappy with on field - weather/results, and it makes no sense for a Vic club to be playing in Queensland while the Suns play in NT. All contract end this year or next.
Possible new venues
Albury - Stadium just upgraded - only 1500 grandstand but decent facilities and total capacity for around 15K. AFL heartland crowds would be string, hopefully council comes to the party with incentives
Newcastle - Currently being upgraded, only 800 grandstand but similar sized hills to Albury.
Townsville - has hosted one AFL game, capacity is 9k
Wellington - has hosted two Saints games capacity is 25K. There is talk of Western Springs in Auckland being expanded to suit AFL, but that could be a decade away.
Based on what we saw during 2020/21 is that clubs playing one off games in new markets will draw a big crowd (Vioc club games in Pert, Tassie, GC, etc), so rather than continue with the current model of clubs adopting regions (until fans get sick of that club), I am suggesting rotating clubs through these markets, rather than one club wearing out their welcome like North in Hobart. The one exception to this would be to send GC back to Queensland, and North take over NT. Now that their on field woes are fixed, GC can hand over the NT Academy to North who need it now. Also it is time for GWS to fully embrace Western Sydney with a name change and more games in Western Sydney, but they can maintain their memberships in Canberra via away games. IF they are not going to have a 100% crack at Western Sydney, you might as well move them to Canberra (that is a discussion for another time).
New structure once Tassie come in:-
Darwin - North x 1.
Albury - North x 1
Ballarat - Dogs x 1, Saints x 1
Newcastle - Dees x 1 (same colours as Knights, or could put Giants here and Dees in Canberra). It is crazy to have no games in a city of 550K (Newcastle/Maitland), with another 350K between Newcastle and Sydney on the Central Coast.
Canberra - Hawks, Saints, Dogs, North, GWS x 1 (over Easter show). GWS also away team x 2, so maintaining their three games and fan base. Five games, the AFL can really test their appetite for footy.
Cairns - GC x 1
This spread will ensure better crowds at games which is what the AFL and broadcaster want. Clubs get a set fee play a major share of the gate to ensure games are promoted properly. These should be promotional games, not just designed to fill the pockets of struggling clubs.
I have no games at Alice Springs - tiny town, with a substandard venue, crowds of 5k - 7k are more suited to preseason or AFLW.
This discussion is predicated upon Tassie entering the comp as team 19 in the next five years, and also assumes no 20th team in the next decade, so no discussion of that please.
What are your suggestions?