Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SonofScray
Geelong is a terrific Stadium, but it wouldn't be something I'd be pleased to see the Club pursue. Reeks of Fitzroy playing out of WO. The aspect I thin people are missing with the "low drawing" games are that very fact, they are low drawing games, add an extra barrier, like a 1hr trip to Sleepy Hollow and it becomes a very low drawing game. A 15k crowd v Port at ES could easily be a 10k crowd at SS which wouldn't be worthwhile, would look horrible. Thats my concern anyway.
So it's just that it's Geelong's home ground?
I don't know about you but if I had the choice of going to Geelong to watch the Bulldogs play or Canberra to watch the Bulldogs play I know what I'd choose, particularly if we got a good return on it. Playing out of Geelong is the same as playing out of Canberra or Darwin if you ask me and at least at Geelong I would get to see my team play. We are definitely not going to win new members playing out of Geelong but did we win a lot of new members playing out of Darwin or Canberra? We need to think of the long term viability of the club in a cut throat industry rather than whether it is a good look or a back look at the ground on match day. To me, 10,000 spectators at SS looks like 15,000 at ES anyway.
The bigger picture is that if we get 5,000 less people to Geelong but we make an extra $200k per game at SS then it's a win for the club. There are a lot of people who like footy in Geelong who are not Geelong supporters and because they are often squeezed out of Geelong games due to pre-paids and members they would go along just to watch an AFL level match. When I lived in South Geelong when Geelong were crap I used to always go over and watch matches all the time.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Just a totally daft idea ! For some who live on Melbourne's extreme western edge ok perhaps. But for the rest of the membership and fans it could be an unmitigated disaster. Docklands is a 270km round trip. Add another round trip to G'long. and back, and although a life long fan, that would render membership pointless. When I go to a match at docklands by train it is full of supporters, many coming from further away than me. How many of them are going to still go if another 2+ hours are added to their trip ? Not many would be my guess.For what they might gain in stadium deal, I am sure they would lose as much or more in paying supporters/members. The AFL needs to either buyout the docklands license asap, or look at a centrally located boutique stadium, no bl**dy G'long, Ballarat or interstate, but something within a 10km radius of the Melb. CBD. where it is equally central for every one.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
paulv
For what they might gain in stadium deal, I am sure they would lose as much or more in paying supporters/members.
This is false, we need 25k+ attendance at Docklands to break even with the stadium rental, at Geelong it could be as simple as we keep all the gate takings as pure profit if Geelong gets the bar/food
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Not the Bulldog way to just throw in the towel. Let's get the existing deal changed with the help of the AFL. Let's fight, not run away with our tail between our legs, and replace one less than acceptable situation with another that is just as bad, but in a slightly different way.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
I just think it's lovely that we can dream of a life where the constraints of Docklands aren't upon us and we can talk about the difference between drawing a slightly smaller crowd at Kardinia and the members we'd keep or lose if we moved there.
The most pointed thing about the article is what's not included in it. The AFL is not going to let a club that is heavily subsidising the purchase of Docklands move down the road to play home games within an already established football market. The only reason it lets us play games in Darwin, Cairns, Canberra or wherever is because they are not established AFL hunting grounds (aside from Darwin, of course).
I'll be extremely pissed off if we put resources towards lobbying for games at Kardinia. It's futile doing so considering any extra money we would earn in playing games there would have to be offset by the reduction in assistance we receive from the AFL each year.
The assistance we receive from the AFL is given to us due to the inequities in stadium deals and the draw. You take away half that equation and we'll still be singing for our supper, though instead of doing so 10 minutes from our traditional heartland we'll doing it from 40 minutes down a highway.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
paulv
Just a totally daft idea ! For some who live on Melbourne's extreme western edge ok perhaps. But for the rest of the membership and fans it could be an unmitigated disaster. Docklands is a 270km round trip. Add another round trip to G'long. and back, and although a life long fan, that would render membership pointless. When I go to a match at docklands by train it is full of supporters, many coming from further away than me. How many of them are going to still go if another 2+ hours are added to their trip ? Not many would be my guess.For what they might gain in stadium deal, I am sure they would lose as much or more in paying supporters/members. The AFL needs to either buyout the docklands license asap, or look at a centrally located boutique stadium, no bl**dy G'long, Ballarat or interstate, but something within a 10km radius of the Melb. CBD. where it is equally central for every one.
Canberra and Darwin are further.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
As Jeemac pointed out those games were AFL promotions, that poor clubs could easily be pressured into. That was not moving our home ground to another city altogether. This would be another Visy Park type move, but not central to our membership or supporter base. Too many negatives, and far too few positives with this proposal. A few extra dollars in one pocket, and lots less in the other. Simply makes no sense at all.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
I would be very interested to know what we would lose re. AFL handouts if we chose to play two home games in Geelong each season. This aside Geelong have obviously offered up the stadium and we haven't taken it so without knowing I assume we are locked into the ES contract anyway.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
1eyedog
I would be very interested to know what we would lose re. AFL handouts if we chose to play two home games in Geelong each season. This aside Geelong have obviously offered up the stadium and we haven't taken it so without knowing I assume we are locked into the ES contract anyway.
I would be surprised if we lost anything at all. We are supposed to be improving our bottom line after all and that's why we are doing it.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Since when are we doing it?
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Twodogs
I would be surprised if we lost anything at all. We are supposed to be improving our bottom line after all and that's why we are doing it.
We are compensated by the AFL because we have an unfair stadium deal to me infers that if we improve our stadium deal (e.g. play two home games in Geelong) our AFL compensation will suffer -as per Jeemak's post above. If we keep our current compensation and get a boost by playing two home games a year at Geelong then it's a no brainer.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
I've brought this up somewhere before but maybe we should look at playing 1 or 2 games at the MCG. I remember quite a number of years ago we used to play there quite a bit. I know we are a smaller club with not the biggest supporter base but it's not very good particularly for Victorian club like us to only play once there this coming season.
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eastdog
I've brought this up somewhere before but maybe we should look at playing 1 or 2 games at the MCG. I remember quite a number of years ago we used to play there quite a bit. I know we are a smaller club with not the biggest supporter base but it's not very good particularly for Victorian club like us to only play once there this coming season.
If you think interstate team games at Etihad have no crowd feeling... I think Sheffield Shield crowds could be higher than say GWS or Freo and I'm not sure how we would make anything from it. No criticism ED, I'm interested in why you think as a club we should be playing more at the MCG?
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bulldogtragic
If you think interstate team games at Etihad have no crowd feeling... I think Sheffield Shield crowds could be higher than say GWS or Freo and I'm not sure how we would make anything from it. No criticism ED, I'm interested in why you think as a club we should be playing more at the MCG?
2 main reasons BT
- To get more exposure on that ground which will be important when playing finals
- Possible better stadium deal than at Etihad currently until the AFL buy it out
Re: Lonergan says Bulldogs should play in Geelong
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eastdog
2 main reasons BT
- To get more exposure on that ground which will be important when playing finals
- Possible better stadium deal than at Etihad currently until the AFL buy it out
Cool,
But I thought if we had crowds under 25,000 at the MCG we lose money. Isn't Etihad capped?
How many games a year would we need for the required amount of exposure?