Time to scrap all Vic clubs and create 3-4 mega Vic franchises

[My_Username]

I doubt Australia could sustain a relegation system. Any team relegated to a 2nd division would be stripped of any decent players and staff and will probably never recover financially. It works in the UK because of population.

The only viable option IMO, if we were to go down the path, would be to run 2 Conferences of 10 teams, a la American football & baseball. Each Conference has its own finals system, and the premiers of each Conference play off for the Champions trophy. You could also have best-of teams from each Conference play a carnival match.

You would ensure even distribution of teams in each Conference, i.e., Eagles and Dockers are in different Conferences, as are Power and Crows, Giants and Swans etc

2 conferences.

Vic and 'the rest'.

10 teams in each. So 18 round H&A season.

Top 4 from each make the final 8, with all games having both home and away (so 8 weeks). Teams that don't make finals can play in a knockout cup or something so their season isn't over quite so quickly.

26 weeks, makes for a full season.

Add 1 representative game between the conferences...Big V Vs the Allies. (but don't call it SOO).

 

[Fire]

Where are you putting the other Victorian team if not in Melbourne or Geelong ?.

There's probably about a quarter of a million people within 90 minutes of both Ballarat and Albury/Woodonga, so those would be the closest thing to 'options.'

Ballarat also has Melbourne just beyond that, but of course that just means the market is already served. If you live in or near Ballarat and want to go to the footy then you already do.

Not that A/W has any untapped potential either. It's already AFL heartland so no new watchers, and no one is gonna switch allegiances for it.

A rural Victoria team would be a generational prospect for no real benefit. Just dots on maps.

Both are half the size of Tasmania and the ACT, which are actually unserviced markets with more room to grow.

 

[citizen-erased]

I'm sure your club wouldn't be missed.

(you were volunteering your own club for the chopping block, right?)

Too big....soz

 

[JPetro83]

pretty bad idea haha but hey, at the end of 1989 the AFL once it had the rebrand from VFL to AFL should have merged clubs.. they tried but got beaten by people shaking tins on the street. clubs like Footscray, Fitzroy, St Kilda and North Melbourne should have become 2 teams. There are too many Vic clubs but mergers and relocations will never happen again in the AFL.

 

[RUNVS]

Where are you putting the other Victorian team if not in Melbourne or Geelong ?.

One in Geelong, the other in Ballarat.

 

[Dazzler9]

I think the time is right for the AFL to scrap all 10 existing Vic clubs and create 3-4 mega franchised Vic clubs. The existing Vic clubs are a massive drain on the system - several only survive by selling home games (Haw, NM, Rich and Melb). Cricket benefited enormously from abolishing the state T20 teams and franchising, and I think the AFL could benefit in the same way.

I think the following works:

• a Central/North Melbourne team.
• a South/East Melbourne team.
• a West Melbourne team

Maybe split Central and North to make four Vic teams?

The league should've initially been set up that way, or similar. It's too late now though, we are stuck with the Frankenstein's monster of a league that we have now, part legacy Vic comp, part national comp.

If covid didn't result in the culling of one or two mendicant clubs I'm not sure what will.

 

[Saltiga]

No doubt there's too many teams in Melbourne/Victoria as a legacy of the VFL. If the AFL was set-up today from scratch there wouldn't be more than 6 teams in Melbourne.

Unfortunately no one at the AFL has the balls or desire to deal with the known problem. They don't want to deal with death threats and rallies.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

I think the time is right for the AFL to scrap all 10 existing Vic clubs and create 3-4 mega franchised Vic clubs. The existing Vic clubs are a massive drain on the system - several only survive by selling home games (Haw, NM, Rich and Melb). Cricket benefited enormously from abolishing the state T20 teams and franchising, and I think the AFL could benefit in the same way.

I think the following works:

• a Central/North Melbourne team.
• a South/East Melbourne team.
• a West Melbourne team

Maybe split Central and North to make four Vic teams?

On a serious note, would anyone actually care about Aussie Rules footy if not for the tribalism and emotional connection to a club?

I mean, I'm probably a good example. I don't 'identify' with a particular club - and although I watch a few games each week and follow results, I've probably been to two game in the last decade. I've literally been to more MLB games than AFL games in the past 10 years!

Because I don't really care about a club, it becomes about entertainment purely. And there's plenty of other stuff out there that is far more entertaining to watch than AFL footy. It's very long, the rules are weird and confusing, and there's almost zero character in terms of the players. The game itself is pretty shit really.

I really think it's the boring old broke Vic clubs that keep the AFL relevant. I don't a 'franchise' concept would work. The game itself is simply not exciting enough to pull it off.

 

[LordLucifer]

I think the time is right for the AFL to scrap all 10 existing Vic clubs and create 3-4 mega franchised Vic clubs. The existing Vic clubs are a massive drain on the system - several only survive by selling home games (Haw, NM, Rich and Melb). Cricket benefited enormously from abolishing the state T20 teams and franchising, and I think the AFL could benefit in the same way.

I think the following works:

• a Central/North Melbourne team.
• a South/East Melbourne team.
• a West Melbourne team

Maybe split Central and North to make four Vic teams?

Whilst your solution is a tad savage even for my forward-thinking brain, reducing the number of Melbourne-based clubs has my full support.

 

[LordLucifer]

This idea doesnt work for all sorts of reasons, but they key one is money. The game survives off the TV rights package. 18 teams gives us 9 games a week. If you cut it to 6 games a week, a whole ton of money goes out of the system.

You could however do worse than cut or relocate a couple of teams like Kangas and Saints who people dont care about and are hopelessly in debt respectively but AFL wont want less than 18 teams.

Correct, most people should agree with you too.

I'm fully in favour of reducing the number of Melbourne-based clubs but at the same time, expanding the number of clubs overall in the competition. New entities and new locations is the way to grow the game.

 

[LordLucifer]

Don’t just get rid of them, relocation would be better Saints to Cairns and North to Canberra

Correct !!

Sunshine Coast Saints & Canberra Kangaroos

 

[maskmcgee]

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Cricket benefited enormously from abolishing the state T20 teams and franchising

Lolwot

The BBL is a joke

Imagine a short summer league between the six states with all the stars playing… Vic v NSW at the G… Cricket Aus would do anything to get back to that.

 

[JackOutback]

Lolwot

The BBL is a joke

Imagine a short summer league between the six states with all the stars playing… Vic v NSW at the G… Cricket Aus would do anything to get back to that.

Only if you're not a Scorchers fan.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

How does OP feel about merging Adelaide teams to create the Port Adelaide Crows?

Rename them West Horsham, I reckon.

West Coast and Fremantle to merge and be called Greater Western Kaniva.

 

[My_Username]

One in Geelong, the other in Ballarat.

So a 'city' of 111K gets a team?

Darwin (135K) would be pissed.

 

[RUNVS]

So a 'city' of 111K gets a team?

Darwin (135K) would be pissed.

and how many people live within an hour of Ballarat compared to how many people live within an hour of Darwin?

 

[doppleganger]

You would ensure even distribution of teams in each Conference, i.e., Eagles and Dockers are in different Conferences, as are Power and Crows, Giants and Swans etc

Why?

NBA just goes East v West, minimise travel and look to foster the geographic rivalries as much as possible.

Would make sense to do a
WA/SA division
NSW/QLD division
Vic NW division - Geel, WB, NM, Ess, Carl
Vic SE diviosn - Coll, Rich, Melb, Stk, Haw

Play your own division twice, the others once.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Big no.
That said, i do think rather than adding a 19th team for Tassie it would be better for the sake of the competition that a Vic side moves down to Tassie.

This keeps an even number of sides in the competition, avoiding the rolling bye each week. You don't need to spread the talent pool further by finding an additional 40 AFL standard players to field an extra side and you don't have 10/18 of teams coming from the same state.

Or just move Port down to Tassie. They don't have much history, only been around for 25 years.

 

[Sttew]

Why?

NBA just goes East v West, minimise travel and look to foster the geographic rivalries as much as possible.

Baseball in USA doesn’t. LA angels and LA Dodgers are in different leagues, as are the NY Mets and NY Yankees, and it works well

 

[Saab NLAW]

No doubt there's too many teams in Melbourne/Victoria as a legacy of the VFL. If the AFL was set-up today from scratch there wouldn't be more than 6 teams in Melbourne.

Unfortunately no one at the AFL has the balls or desire to deal with the known problem. They don't want to deal with death threats and rallies.

The problem lies with the clubs who were so willing to join the VFL, Port being one of them

 

[Hoops]

One in Geelong, the other in Ballarat.

Out of Ballarat and Bendigo, excluding those living closer to Geelong or Melbourne, more people would live north of the divide in Victoria which you could claim as Bendigo territory than south of the divide which would be Ballarat. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands living in the Riverinna.

 

[My_Username]

and how many people live within an hour of Ballarat compared to how many people live within an hour of Darwin?

So it's really a badly positioned Melbourne team then...

BTW...the catchment in other directions is already largely used/needed to support Geelong.

 

[Underarm]

and how many people live within an hour of Ballarat compared to how many people live within an hour of Darwin?

Considering Ballarat is a little over an hour from Docklands and the western city suburbs...

 

[pixels]

Phew, Lucky we have 8

Kangaroos can stay, but only if they move to Joondalup.