Western Bulldogs sniff around for home ground as Ethihad isn't viable

[Eastdog]

They are not a charity.

Here is a list of homes games last season at Eithad

Collingwood... 38155
Geelong... 29118
St Kilda... 28971
West Coast... 24977
Hawthorn... 24754
Carlton... 24615
North Melbourne... 21599
Brisbane Lions... 20146
Sydney... 19396
Port Adelaide... 16036

10 home games and only three above 25k - piss poor.

We donot have any bargaining power.

Those crowd attendances have to improve even if we aren't doing well but that is easier said than done.

[Pickenitup]

I reckon we should play those Games against GWS GC and Port and Freo at skilled.
We play the ground well not far at all to travel and we would make cash lets do it!

[Eastdog]

I reckon we should play those Games against GWS GC and Port and Freo at skilled.
We play the ground well not far at all to travel and we would make cash lets do it!

Maybe we could play those games in the future against those teams if they build a new stadium at the showgrounds.

[Ozza]

Its the duty of the Directors of that company to maximise and sustain profits.

...maximising profits for their investors...who are primarily superannuation companies that many many WOOF members quite probably have their super tied up in!

[jeemak]

I tend to agree with BAD.

We are in an incredibly weak position. We know it, Stadium Management know it and the AFL knows it.

I just hope that when the stadium is handed over for $1.00 in 2025, and it is eventually sold the clubs whose supporters subsidised its purchase extremely heavily since it was built enjoy the profits.

That ain't gonna happen though.

[bulldogtragic]

First bit of negative preseason news. Hopefully the club can sort something out and continue to turn us around financially.

[Eastdog]

Is there like a crowd figure threshold we have to reach in order to make a profit? Even if we are below that threshold why don't we still make a bit of profit still.

[Remi Moses]

Whatever way you look it stinks that a team in the same comp can get less attendees at their venue and make more money.
Good luck to them but really it stinks to high heaven.

[Hotdog60]

Its the duty of the Directors of that company to maximise and sustain profits.

But yep this is simply us crying Wolf.

And I hope something better comes out of it for the Dogs.

Silly question, but if we were playing Gold Coast, Power etc how much fixing up would Whitten Oval need?

And would we make more $$ from 10,000 there then 15,000 at Etihad?


Would we make more $$$ playing at WO vs Nallarat?

This might be a option for low attendance games, might be worth taking out the calculator and having a look.

[bulldogtragic]

Its the duty of the Directors of that company to maximise and sustain profits.

But yep this is simply us crying Wolf.

And I hope something better comes out of it for the Dogs.

Silly question, but if we were playing Gold Coast, Power etc how much fixing up would Whitten Oval need?

And would we make more $$ from 10,000 there then 15,000 at Etihad?


Would we make more $$$ playing at WO vs Nallarat?

I emailed Cam Rose a Few years back with a proposal of playing games at WO. He said each venue has to be approved by the league and thy o that by assessing the facilities etc. he said even with the development we were not close to meeting the standards and that it was cost prohibitive to go down this path.

I doubt things have changed, so i Can assume this will never happen. Pity really, although we get to see Footscray at the WO next year. Yeh!

[Eastdog]

Whatever way you look it stinks that a team in the same comp can get less attendees at their venue and make more money.
Good luck to them but really it stinks to high heaven.

As I said in my post yeah you make a very good point Remi in that certain teams who don't get many supporters to the game make a profit and we lose out. These must be teams who don't play home games at Etihad. Why is Etihad so bad for clubs?

[Hotdog60]

As I said in my post yeah you make a very good point Remi in that certain teams who don't get many supporters to the game make a profit and we lose out. These must be teams who don't play home games at Etihad. Why is Etihad so bad for clubs?

I don't think it's bad for clubs, just ones with a low supporter base.

[GVGjr]

Eureka isn't an AFL standard venue in fact it's just an average VFL stadium.

My understanding is that you can only sell home games to emerging football areas so even Geelong doesn't fit the requirements.

[Eastdog]

I don't think it's bad for clubs, just ones with a low supporter base.

Pretty much clubs with healthy supporter bases at Etihad get a profit and club like us with a low supporter base have to increase it to get revenue. But Remi made point that some clubs with home games at their venue with low supporter bases still make profit. Why is Etihad different to other venues.

[jeemak]

Whatever way you look it stinks that a team in the same comp can get less attendees at their venue and make more money.
Good luck to them but really it stinks to high heaven.

This is the elephant in the room, and I suspect, the reason why most clubs are for equalisation to some extent.

It would be completely foolish for any club administration to argue that this inequity is how things should be, and how they should remain.


Eastdog - Docklands was constructed as a means to rationalise (strip back, or reduce) the number of teams within Melbourne on a long term basis, and take football from a suburban game to a more commercial venture.

The AFL decided it could have marquee clubs play at Docklands, and make a profit, while clubs with lesser support could subsidise its fixed costs and help pay the bills. It was never the intention of the AFL to create a level playing field (revenue generation and profit) among the clubs that were selected and or forced into tennancy at Docklands. Which is why they mandated that each club should strike its own deal with the stadium.

The result was marquee clubs receiving a beneficial deal from the stadium, and clubs along for the ride (like the Bulldogs and North) received poor deals. I think perhaps you could question the negotiation tactics of our club during this process, but ultimately it's hard to negotiate a deal when you have a gun to your head, which we effectively had because we wouldn't have been able to play at the MCG, and there were no other grounds available.