Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

[Scraggers]

Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand



BE it an act of innovation, desperation or both, the Western Bulldogs unsuccessfully sought to sell two home games to New Zealand next year for $1 million.

The Australian has been told that Western Bulldogs chief executive Campbell Rose wrote a letter directly to the New Zealand prime minister, John Key, several months ago, pitching the idea of playing two games at Wellington's Basin Reserve in exchange for a guaranteed return of $500,000 per match.

Full Article

[LostDoggy]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

Anybody read the comments posted at the bottom of the story. Man there are some Bulldogs bashing folk out there. Cant wait until some of our other revneue streams come pouring in, particularly the development of Club edgewater etc, we shouldnt be far off amking a buck then hey?

[AndrewP6]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

Whilst some of the feedback was a bit ill-informed, the idea does have a slightly "desperate" ring to it. Cam Rose and Co. have done terrific things in the front offices, but we're looking overseas to flog games...

[Studentlib]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

Reading the last paragraph I think i detected the first shot in the latest skirmish in the ongoing war by the rich clubs and their supporters against the "Socialist" AFL and the equalisation scheme. They trot out the welfare handouts etc as soon as the poorer/smaller clubs look like becoming a threat to their inherent sense of entitlement to finals success. The club can expect more of this whining as we become more succesful. As far as being an act of 'desperation' Reilly or his sub obviously have no idea of the support the game is gaining in NZ. I suspect that we will get more bang for AFL dollars from a NZ experiment than any amount of games in China.

[GVGjr]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

This isn't a good option in my opinion and decisions like this should have been run by the members first.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

Sad thing is 29 people responded to a story that hasn't even a quote from anyone on it! Journalism is all about rumour,innuendo,smut. Another slow news day at the national broadsheet,reilly is as bad as Denham in his smug obnoxious pieces. The sad thing is our club is always the punching bag and will always be until we win a flag. Funny thing Reilly doesn't even mention that the club gets a special distribution fund because the absolute shocking returns the clubs get from Etihad.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

Anybody read the comments posted at the bottom of the story. Man there are some Bulldogs bashing folk out there. Cant wait until some of our other revneue streams come pouring in, particularly the development of Club edgewater etc, we shouldnt be far off amking a buck then hey?

As long as the club doesn't try to more money than it already does from pokies. Hate the things. Still upset the WBFC was the first location outside the Casino to pokies in the state.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

This isn't a good option in my opinion and decisions like this should have been run by the members first.

My guess would be this would have been thrown up when the whole stadium deals mexican stand off was taking place. The club was just thinking outside the square

[LostDoggy]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

This isn't a good option in my opinion and decisions like this should have been run by the members first.

Should do that before a lot of decisisions but they rarely do. Until members kick up a stink on issues they are rarely consulted. So, often it is too late after the fact in some situations and decisions.

[GVGjr]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

My guess would be this would have been thrown up when the whole stadium deals mexican stand off was taking place. The club was just thinking outside the square

You might be right but we never make anything like this stick. We keep getting told that playing games or setting up alliances in Canberra, Sydney, Sunshine Coast and Darwin will grow our membership base but we are now apparently looking at NZ.
It shouldn't be a fact of life to have us as gypsy's. The only way to really grow our membership base is here in Melbourne and these grabs for cash are often being talked up as growing the membership base and they don't.
I wish we would either pick an area and dig in for the long haul or bite the bullet and play as much as we can in Melbourne.

[GVGjr]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

Should do that before a lot of decisisions but they rarely do. Until members kick up a stink on issues they are rarely consulted. So, often it is too late after the fact in some situations and decisions.

We changed the name from Footscray to the Western Bulldogs because it would give us a stronger link to the huge Western region of Melbourne and yet we have apparently outgrown that. I don't believe the club has the right to play more games away from Melbourne without consulting the members. The fact that Rose hasn't commented on the article that he is front and centre of is disappointing.

[comrade]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

I wish we would either pick an area and dig in for the long haul or bite the bullet and play as much as we can in Melbourne.

That makes a lot of sense. The eroding of our 'brand equity' in Darwin with the introduction of two more teams (and Port Adelaide guaranteed 2 games per year) staking their claim up there is very disappointing and should be considered as a fail mark for our administration, albeit a rare one.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

You might be right but we never make anything like this stick. We keep getting told that playing games or setting up alliances in Canberra, Sydney, Sunshine Coast and Darwin will grow our membership base but we are now apparently looking at NZ.
It shouldn't be a fact of life to have us as gypsy's. The only way to really grow our membership base is here in Melbourne and these grabs for cash are often being talked up as growing the membership base and they don't.
I wish we would either pick an area and dig in for the long haul or bite the bullet and play as much as we can in Melbourne.

Just a cash grab under the illusion of ''Growing our membership base''. Don't blame the club they're in a catch 22,let's be honest.

[alwaysadog]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

The trouble is we don't have a context for this. For the point of argument let's accept that Cam has actually written, which has yet to be established, then why would he do so?

Not even his most ardent detractor would suggest that he does things without thought or some idea that he might succeed. So who put him up to this and why?

After all NZ is closer to Melb than Darwin in terms of flying time and not likely to create the same heat problems, rather the converse.

I'd need to be sure that the AFL isn't trying to put its foot into NZ waters before I would offer an opinion, and that is contingent on establishing that the supposed correspondence has actually occurred, and then knowing something about the circumstances.

Desperation doesn't seem to fit given the current and at least short term future financial position of the club.

Would I go to see games in NZ? Do ducks swim? Love the place.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Western Bulldogs tried to sell games to New Zealand

This isn't a good option in my opinion and decisions like this should have been run by the members first.

We sell 2 games interstate already. I don't see a difference if instead we sell them to New Zealand at a better price as well.