Post by clueless1 on May 2, 2016 12:37:05 GMT
www.watoday.com.au/sport/soccer/ffa-boss-david-gallop-says-at-least-10000-needed-at-central-coast-marinerswellinton-phoenix-aleague-game-20160502-gojqp3.html
if Canberra gets 10,000 to the mariners and phoenix of all teams (i.e. the two teams with the worst crowds in the entire league, and by a distance) then they should get a team easily
In terms of expansion, it should be obvious:
2017-18:
1. Canberra
2. Wollongong Wolves (no joint bid, would basically be the only actual team apart from the basketball team in a region with over 400k)
then down the line, lets say 2020-21:
3. Ipswich(Being from Brisbane, if you're going to do a 2nd Brisbane team you better do it right, Ipswich has enough of an identity as a city to be different from Brisbane, with talk of North Ipswich Oval, this makes sense)
4. Auckland City(if NZF still isn't in Asia by now i give up, seriously this is the last million plus market untapped that is reasonable, also would give the phoenix a kick up the ass)
that brings the comp to 14 teams. At some stage between now and this time, their should be a 2nd division in the works to start post 2022 world cup, start it with 8 teams
I'd say keep it mostly east coast for now just to reduce costs
1. South Melbourne (should be the next cab of the rank for an a-league team after these 4, Lakeside Stadium is perfect and they have it for the next 40 years)
2. Geelong (makes sense, they've had interest for a while now, Kardania park would host games i'd imagine)
3. Gold Coast (just please build a stadium closer to the coastline, i beg of you, Robina is garbage to get to, literally impossible from the rest of the coast, its easier me coming from Brisbane honestly).
4. South West Sydney (McAurther Rams perhaps, if not a new start up somewhat makes sense)
5. Sutherland Shire(They do have a lot of Juniors and this seems to be some kind of money ticket by the FFA for some reason, would much rather have the wolves due to history, distance + population of the gong)
6. Melbourne Knights (if we put in South Melbourne, surely their rivals deserve a mention, stadium upgrade would be needed but would have a hold of the north of the city)
7. Hobart (Whilst not neccesarily in line for a top team in the near future, Tasmania has no sporting teams outside the big bash and cricket, they deserve some representation, and Hobart as a city deserves some, if the football clubs in Hobart banded together, they may need a stadium, bellarive won't do)
8. Penrith (Would just beat North Sydney due to the Mariners who may end up in Sydney anyway in the next 2-3 years, they're far enough from Parramatta where they wouldn't infringe on that fanbase as such, well at least by the time this league starts).
Other potential teams:
Heidelburg United (They have been pretty solid in recent years, would do a good job, May need to upgrade Olympic park though)
Bentleigh Greens (South-east of the city, its far enough from the center of Melbourne to actually get some support)
2nd Adelaide (in the long term yes, but to keep the costs of the 2nd division down, it would be a east coast league to start off with, though hobart is in purely because its an expansion chance, anyway Adelaide City would be the most likely candidate, but they'd need to differentiate themselves from United so maybe playing in the Suburbs would be the best idea)
2nd Perth (North of Perth is growing fast as is the south, I'd probably go for a team in the Joondalup area if they wanted a 2nd division, a totally different way is directly being the alternative to Perth and having a team in Fremantle, not sure how likely that is to work, could be another Melbourne Heart/City case)
Darwin (long shot, but they have no sports team, as an a-league team, hell no right now, but as a 2nd division team the only problem is that its far from anywhere else, the only thing preventing it is travel really, still though maybe after the 2nd division is established this should be an option)
Townsville Fury(they should be brought back in some capacity, they never should have been kicked out really, they weren't any worse than the mariners in a lot of ways, if they're building that new stadium in Townsville the Fury would be a must to add, biggest problem is travel but Townsville would be one of the biggest non a-league markets along with geelong and hobart)
Cairns (with Aquis looking to build a stadium up there and investing in North Queensland, as a second division team this could be an easy choice)
if Canberra gets 10,000 to the mariners and phoenix of all teams (i.e. the two teams with the worst crowds in the entire league, and by a distance) then they should get a team easily
In terms of expansion, it should be obvious:
2017-18:
1. Canberra
2. Wollongong Wolves (no joint bid, would basically be the only actual team apart from the basketball team in a region with over 400k)
then down the line, lets say 2020-21:
3. Ipswich(Being from Brisbane, if you're going to do a 2nd Brisbane team you better do it right, Ipswich has enough of an identity as a city to be different from Brisbane, with talk of North Ipswich Oval, this makes sense)
4. Auckland City(if NZF still isn't in Asia by now i give up, seriously this is the last million plus market untapped that is reasonable, also would give the phoenix a kick up the ass)
that brings the comp to 14 teams. At some stage between now and this time, their should be a 2nd division in the works to start post 2022 world cup, start it with 8 teams
I'd say keep it mostly east coast for now just to reduce costs
1. South Melbourne (should be the next cab of the rank for an a-league team after these 4, Lakeside Stadium is perfect and they have it for the next 40 years)
2. Geelong (makes sense, they've had interest for a while now, Kardania park would host games i'd imagine)
3. Gold Coast (just please build a stadium closer to the coastline, i beg of you, Robina is garbage to get to, literally impossible from the rest of the coast, its easier me coming from Brisbane honestly).
4. South West Sydney (McAurther Rams perhaps, if not a new start up somewhat makes sense)
5. Sutherland Shire(They do have a lot of Juniors and this seems to be some kind of money ticket by the FFA for some reason, would much rather have the wolves due to history, distance + population of the gong)
6. Melbourne Knights (if we put in South Melbourne, surely their rivals deserve a mention, stadium upgrade would be needed but would have a hold of the north of the city)
7. Hobart (Whilst not neccesarily in line for a top team in the near future, Tasmania has no sporting teams outside the big bash and cricket, they deserve some representation, and Hobart as a city deserves some, if the football clubs in Hobart banded together, they may need a stadium, bellarive won't do)
8. Penrith (Would just beat North Sydney due to the Mariners who may end up in Sydney anyway in the next 2-3 years, they're far enough from Parramatta where they wouldn't infringe on that fanbase as such, well at least by the time this league starts).
Other potential teams:
Heidelburg United (They have been pretty solid in recent years, would do a good job, May need to upgrade Olympic park though)
Bentleigh Greens (South-east of the city, its far enough from the center of Melbourne to actually get some support)
2nd Adelaide (in the long term yes, but to keep the costs of the 2nd division down, it would be a east coast league to start off with, though hobart is in purely because its an expansion chance, anyway Adelaide City would be the most likely candidate, but they'd need to differentiate themselves from United so maybe playing in the Suburbs would be the best idea)
2nd Perth (North of Perth is growing fast as is the south, I'd probably go for a team in the Joondalup area if they wanted a 2nd division, a totally different way is directly being the alternative to Perth and having a team in Fremantle, not sure how likely that is to work, could be another Melbourne Heart/City case)
Darwin (long shot, but they have no sports team, as an a-league team, hell no right now, but as a 2nd division team the only problem is that its far from anywhere else, the only thing preventing it is travel really, still though maybe after the 2nd division is established this should be an option)
Townsville Fury(they should be brought back in some capacity, they never should have been kicked out really, they weren't any worse than the mariners in a lot of ways, if they're building that new stadium in Townsville the Fury would be a must to add, biggest problem is travel but Townsville would be one of the biggest non a-league markets along with geelong and hobart)
Cairns (with Aquis looking to build a stadium up there and investing in North Queensland, as a second division team this could be an easy choice)