Western Bulldogs hope Ballarat clash persuades state government to boost Eureka Stadium’s capacity

[comrade]

I'm not quite as anti Cairns as others - happy to get rid of it once the next stage of Eureka is completed. But $500k plus for one game is still critically important for our bottom line, and this game would be a massive loss if played at Etihad in front of 17-18k.

If we play 4 games at Eureka in front of 20k (GC, GWS, Port and Freo as examples) and 7 home games at Etihad against all the higher drawing clubs that is a fantastic mix IMO.

My anti-Cairns position stems from the fact we never win after playing there.

[bulldogtragic]

My anti-Cairns position stems from the fact we never win after playing there.

Yep, we've signed Asics, Mercedes, PowerCor, PCCU and re-signed Mission. Coteries & Social Club sold out. The Premiership cheque. 8,000 new members up on last year. More exposure to Friday & Saturday nights. And Ballarat hopefully bringing in some cash.

Agree, I get Cairns makes good money too, but it's not helping on field performance and we've got a chance to remodel our finances to leave Cairns out among these new revenue sources (especially if we can improve WO to make more cash). If it means taking Ballarat to 3 games so be it.

But Ballarat right now seems a little shaky to me. If the club was confident in Ballrat then surely Cairns would go. The inference I draw is we are not prepared to let Cairns because we are not as confident in Ballarat.

[comrade]

Sacrificing on field performance for a cash injection is a small club behaviour that we need to get away from. I'd hope we're very close to being in a position to forgo Cairns, given all the off field goals we've kicked in the last 6 months (as BT detailed).

[GVGjr]

The club wants the capacity to double, is that what you're referring to as half done? I agree that dealing with governments and councils is slow going, and by publicly stating our desire for capacity to increase, it seems like we are trying to force this through.

I doubt the club ever thought an 11,000 capacity stadium was going to be sufficient, hence the multiple phases in the initial planning brief. So no one here predicted it per se, increased capacity was always the plan.

All what you've said is a given. My point is phase two can't take 3 years plus because there is a strong chance our members will just write off going there if it's too hard to get a seat and then vastly more expensive to acquire. Has Phase 2 even been funded yet?
For Gary Kent to come out before we have even played our first game and say it needs to be closer to 20K to me is a sign he's reading the play and hoping he can up the ante.

Having worked on a couple of high priced projects over the years there are always compromises that can be reached and settling for a venue that holds 11K was always far from ideal but now possibly made worse by our expanding membership base.
We have also discussed this on other threads but Phase one needed to be closer to 15K especially if we are drawing teams from SA to the venue because we are anticipating they will travel there.

We have some challenges ahead to make this work.

[GVGjr]

Yep, we've signed Asics, Mercedes, PowerCor, PCCU and re-signed Mission. Coteries & Social Club sold out. The Premiership cheque. 8,000 new members up on last year. More exposure to Friday & Saturday nights. And Ballarat hopefully bringing in some cash.

Agree, I get Cairns makes good money too, but it's not helping on field performance and we've got a chance to remodel our finances to leave Cairns out among these new revenue sources (especially if we can improve WO to make more cash). If it means taking Ballarat to 3 games so be it.

But Ballarat right now seems a little shaky to me. If the club was confident in Ballrat then surely Cairns would go. The inference I draw is we are not prepared to let Cairns because we are not as confident in Ballarat.

Don't we also need to push for a more favorable draw when we play at Cairns? Could we play there before the bye?

I agree with your inference, we need to keep Cairns for the short term.

[bornadog]

Yes it's not like 11000 is a big crowd . Would like to know the Last time we played a game with less in Victoria.
Even if it was 20,000 it would still be full.
I don't like the way this could end up being so small, member revolt, complaints etc. we could end up losing members.

There is no benefit in playing a game at WO. The reason for Ballarat is to increase our membership into regional areas.

[bornadog]

I'm not quite as anti Cairns as others - happy to get rid of it once the next stage of Eureka is completed. But $500k plus for one game is still critically important for our bottom line, and this game would be a massive loss if played at Etihad in front of 17-18k.

If we play 4 games at Eureka in front of 20k (GC, GWS, Port and Freo as examples) and 7 home games at Etihad against all the higher drawing clubs that is a fantastic mix IMO.

I think that would be ideal.

[Remi Moses]

More money required and if local/state government was to tip in, you'd expect they'd want more than 1 or 2 AFL games a year. Would you be happy with 4 games in Ballarat a year?

I'd imagine you're right, and more money would be tipped in if we play more games up there.
I'd say 4 would do it and Cairns getting the Tijuana

[bulldogtragic]

Don't we also need to push for a more favorable draw when we play at Cairns? Could we play there before the bye?

I agree with your inference, we need to keep Cairns for the short term.

I think that would be ideal.

Cairns before the bye should be our first request, I wonder if our club has asked for that?

If we needed to play 3 at Ballarat, then I think we need to push for more Etihad games to be the venue for at least 3 away games. That is we will play other tenants there no matter what (home or away team), but some away teams like Geelong & Collingwood occasionally play home games there. So we should be asking for 3 replacement games for our members all at Etihad and for support for us growing into regional Victoria. With the AFEL now owning Etihad, more games at their ground suits them too.

So I'd say a mix like (dependant on ladder position, and grouping):

(Based on this year, indicative only)

3 Ballarat (Port, GWS, Brisbane)
8 Etihad - Home (North, St Kilda, WCE, Adelaide, GCS, Richmond, Melbourne, Sydney)
4 Etihad - Away/Replacememt (minimum 3) (North, Essendon, Carlton, Geelong)
5 Interstate - Away (No Cairns) (WCE, Freo, Sydney, GWS, Brisbane)
2 MCG - Away (Collingwood, Hawthorn)

[Sedat]

Yep, we've signed Asics, Mercedes, PowerCor, PCCU and re-signed Mission. Coteries & Social Club sold out. The Premiership cheque. 8,000 new members up on last year. More exposure to Friday & Saturday nights. And Ballarat hopefully bringing in some cash.

Agree, I get Cairns makes good money too, but it's not helping on field performance and we've got a chance to remodel our finances to leave Cairns out among these new revenue sources (especially if we can improve WO to make more cash). If it means taking Ballarat to 3 games so be it.

But Ballarat right now seems a little shaky to me. If the club was confident in Ballrat then surely Cairns would go. The inference I draw is we are not prepared to let Cairns because we are not as confident in Ballarat.

My takeout from the article is that Cairns will go as soon as the next phase of construction for Eureka is confirmed, and Gary Kent is doing the right thing to keep this issue in the public domain. I'd be very happy to give Cairns the 'lemonade and sars' as soon as Eureka is at 20k capacity, but the reality is that we still need Cairns and the cash injection until such a time as an alternative arrangement presents itself - hopefully this is Ballarat. Playing GC at Etihad would be a disaster - the net loss would be closer to 750k (loss of Cairns revenue plus loss of gate receipts for hosting the match at Etihad) and we'd be scheduled an extra interstate away match in any event.

[Twodogs]

That whole article was written to deliver one message to the new management of Etihad stadium:

That would drop the Dogs to only eight home matches at Etihad Stadium

Don't dick us around any more. We will take our club and our support elsewhere. Things have changed, get used to it.

[Twodogs]

My takeout from the article is that Cairns will go as soon as the next phase of construction for Eureka is confirmed, and Gary Kent is doing the right thing to keep this issue in the public domain. I'd be very happy to give Cairns the 'lemonade and sars' as soon as Eureka is at 20k capacity, but the reality is that we still need Cairns and the cash injection until such a time as an alternative arrangement presents itself - hopefully this is Ballarat. Playing GC at Etihad would be a disaster - the net loss would be closer to 750k (loss of Cairns revenue plus loss of gate receipts for hosting the match at Etihad) and we'd be scheduled an extra interstate away match in any event.

And frankly who wants to see Gold Coast play footy live. At least on TV you only have to pretend to be interested.

[AndrewP6]

I love the Cairns games. The prospect of travelling to Ballarat in the middle of winter does absolutely nothing for me. If they go there, I'll be watching from home.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Cairns is an aberration. No home crowd, climate, membership or home ground advantage.
Ballarat given the chance and with the right promotion, can cover all of these bases.
I live in Brisbane, love the Dogs.. and I will NEVER travel there. What's the attraction, apart from giving a potential boost to Gold Coast for a parochial, and tiny Qld audience. Yay for the 100 Bulldog supporters that ultimately choose to seek a bit of sun up north.
I'd rather the noise of 5000 parochial Dogs supporters who make the journey to Ballarat, and perhaps the 8000 locals and near locals who appreciate the Dogs for getting an AFL game to Ballarat.

[Twodogs]

Cairns is an aberration. No home crowd, climate, membership or home ground advantage.
Ballarat given the chance and with the right promotion, can cover all of these bases.
I live in Brisbane, love the Dogs.. and I will NEVER travel there.

Cairns do you mean YHF? Cairns is lovely but footy is the last thing I associate with it. Great Barrier Reeef, the Daintree and Kuranda and the sugar train are what I remember about Cairns. And the Hard Ons happened to play two shows while we were there-they were as surprised to see us as we were to see them " I thought you guys never left St Kilda" Keish said.