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.