Sydney $$$$ tempt Pies

[Jimmy C]

Let 'em come. Although, I think they should play against the Bulldogs-love to see how strong the attendance at the game would be then.

[omnipotent]

Reggi I agree that Collingwood is selfish in its motives in coming here but you are off the mark with the crowds. There were tons of Magpies who made the trek over to Adelaide for the final. If I recall it was lack of Port supporters which was the problem. I think unquestionably they attract the biggest crowds and that is backed up by the figures. Personally I think our crowds are disappointing, we are only averaging in the twenties in such a big city and this drops dramatically when our form is down.

[SWANSBEST]

It will happen . Patrick is regarded as being close to the AFL decision makers. The Swans should fight hard to protect the interests of their Victorian based supporters . The big winner will be Collingwood ie. in money , in avoiding Perth games and in self promotion. Development and expansion of football itself has always been a low priority for the Pies who in previous years used every trick available to stymie Northern Development. Even last week on the Footy Show Eddie made a few snide comments about such development and the money spent.




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PATRICK SMITH
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Sydney blockbuster a winner

July 02, 2003
THE AFL's gamble in having a week off in the middle of the season appears to have paid rich dividends.

The footballers and their coaches have been rested and so have the crowds.

Everybody bounced back on the weekend. Everybody has a second wind.

The footy was passionate, the crowds returned in good numbers despite appalling weather across the nation and the TV ratings continued their upward trend, 14 per cent up on the same round last year.

It has given the AFL heart to go ahead with the bye again next season, but with one major and exciting adjustment. The league is studying a proposal to stage one match on the weekend of the bye. It would be played in Sydney and feature the Swans and Collingwood. The AFL would develop the game as the competition's next blockbuster.

AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said yesterday: "We are seriously giving consideration to one game somewhere."

However, Collingwood confirmed to The Australian that they had submitted a plan to develop the Sydney game as part of their wish list for next season's fixture.

Jackson said the bye had been a success, with increased interest in country and regional football.

"We don't believe the bye gives other sports an opportunity to increase their influence, but we are studying a plan to play one match. The two teams involved would have their bye the following week. Any more than two games and it won't work because it makes it too difficult to get the fixture back into kilter."

Indeed, one match, as the highlight of the weekend, seems the perfect fit. Two or more and the full bye would be in danger of turning into a split round, something the AFL, broadcasters and supporters found unsatisfactory last year because there simply wasn't enough product to go around.

The league is expected to seek input from the NSW government and Sydney Council because of the potential the game has to boost tourist dollars.

It is not clear what day of the weekend or what time slot the match would be played or just how the AFL and broadcasters would decide who got to televise the match. One thing is for certain. It would rate its pants off. Collingwood are consistently the highest rating team nationally.

Naturally, Collingwood are excited by the idea. The club is keen to develop its brand in NSW. They have their eyes on Blacktown where they have conducted clinics and plan to cultivate a team in the Sydney league based in that area.

Magpies president Eddie McGuire said the game had the potential to draw 75,000 people. The AFL is a little more conservative and guess at 60,000. McGuire said: "This year rugby took over in Melbourne during the bye. Next year we have given the league a plan that would see AFL football take over Sydney."

McGuire said the club knew its supporters travelled.

"When we played our final in Adelaide last year as many as 10,000 supporters went across," McGuire said. "We would get a lot more to Sydney. The club will put together packages that would suit all our members and supporters.

"They could stay the weekend, go to the zoo, go to the races, explore Sydney and see a great game of footy as well. We could package all that up for them."

Sydney and Collingwood would also run clinics and exhibitions in the lead-up to the match.

While the crowd and ratings figures show AFL football has sustained the momentum driven this year by a close competition and extraordinary story lines ? Jason McCartney and Wayne Carey to name two ? there was concern within the football industry that the code went off the radar screen in the weeks into and out of the bye.

The media exhausted story ideas, finally doing more mid-term reports than a teacher. A match on the weekend of the bye would allow the media and the AFL to hype the game.

AFL general manager, football operations, Andrew Demetriou sees many positives in the Sydney game. "It is an opportunity to create an event like Anzac Day or Easter Monday. The ratings would be massive," Demetriou said.

He stressed the game was under consideration only. "We won't do our first draft for next year's fixture until after round 15. We'll know for certain by then," he said.

Back this one in. It's got more ticks than a cattle dog.http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...E12270,00.html

[robbieando]

I very much doubt us members in Melbourne would even be thought of in making this decision afterall, they have broken every promise made and we are treated like ****.

[Reggi]

Originally posted by Jon


It's true Collingood are currently the best touring team - 10 000 made the march to Adelaide for a game last year. This gives them a lot of leverage with the AFL

I seriously doubt this actually - Collingwood draw big in their home state - but I don't recall them drawing big interstate.

Collingwood appear 0 times in the top 10 crowds at Subiaco

Once in the top ten attendances at AAMI (1993)

Twice in top ten crowds at SCG - one was Lockett's 1300 goals

Once in the top ten at the Gabba - this year GF replay

Carlton Hawthorn and particularly S&Don (and surprisingly Geelong) have all drwan well interstate.

Don't care to much but sounds like a dud idea to me - can't see what is in it for us so who cares. Their drawing power away from home is over-rated.

[NMWBloods]

I can't see the relevance that C'Wood gets a lot of fans travelling interstate. All the matters is how many locals will be drawn, in excess of those that would have been drawn if the game was still in Melbourne. I can't imagine this number would be significant.

[DST]

Firstly I would like to state that 5 games in Melbourne is not enough and it should be at least 6 and possibly 7.

But,

By playing this game in Sydney next year it is not going to mean we drop below 5 games. The Bulldogs have finished their 3 year SCG contract and have already stated that they wish to play a game against Port Adelaide in Darwin next year.

This leaves us still at 5 games in Melbourne with Collingwood replacing the Bulldogs and we play either them or another Vic team in Melbourne.

Hopefully the AFL when completing the draw cuts one of our road trips to either Perth, Adelaide or Brisbane and restores us back to 6 games in Melbourne. I can't see us going back to 7 games in the near future due to the trade off with the AFL over the granting us the ANZAC night fixture against the Demons this year and hopefully in future years.

As for Colles supporting the idea why wouldn't he, just look at the facts:

We now get an extra game (13) in Sydney that we don't pay for (as is the case the Bulldogs game)

We get massive exposure in NSW and Australia as the only game on that weekend at no cost to us (just think of what we spent on the Telstra Stadium games promotion last year)

The game offsets the quota of games we need to play at TS and thus lowers the cost of break even point for our 3 home games at TS

We are guaranteed a big drawing home rematch at either the SCG or TS against a genuine team we can loathe and build a rivalry with (think of the $$$corporates falling over themselves to come to a game that is as close to a home town derby we are going to get in a long time)

Finally we get to spank Collingwood by 10 goals on national televison twice a year

Need to think through the positives before we write it off as a loser for the club and it's supporters in Sydney and Melbourne.

DST

[Damien]

Originally posted by DST
Firstly I would like to state that 5 games in Melbourne is not enough and it should be at least 6 and possibly 7.

But,

By playing this game in Sydney next year it is not going to mean we drop below 5 games. The Bulldogs have finished their 3 year SCG contract and have already stated that they wish to play a game against Port Adelaide in Darwin next year.

This leaves us still at 5 games in Melbourne with Collingwood replacing the Bulldogs and we play either them or another Vic team in Melbourne.

Hopefully the AFL when completing the draw cuts one of our road trips to either Perth, Adelaide or Brisbane and restores us back to 6 games in Melbourne. I can't see us going back to 7 games in the near future due to the trade off with the AFL over the granting us the ANZAC night fixture against the Demons this year and hopefully in future years.

As for Colles supporting the idea why wouldn't he, just look at the facts:

We now get an extra game (13) in Sydney that we don't pay for (as is the case the Bulldogs game)

We get massive exposure in NSW and Australia as the only game on that weekend at no cost to us (just think of what we spent on the Telstra Stadium games promotion last year)

The game offsets the quota of games we need to play at TS and thus lowers the cost of break even point for our 3 home games at TS

We are guaranteed a big drawing home rematch at either the SCG or TS against a genuine team we can loathe and build a rivalry with (think of the $$$corporates falling over themselves to come to a game that is as close to a home town derby we are going to get in a long time)

Finally we get to spank Collingwood by 10 goals on national televison twice a year

Need to think through the positives before we write it off as a loser for the club and it's supporters in Sydney and Melbourne.

DST

Just on the costs - we do pay for the rights to the bulldogs match as I understand it. $200,000 was the figure I heard, could be wrong though.

The Bulldogs have said they are keen to cotinue to Swans Deal in addition to the possible Darwin match (nothing unusal, Saints and Hawks play two games in Launceston).

Maybe seeing the AFL really want this game, we could all win out, 11 Home Syd games - 2 Away Syd Games - 2 Non Vic Games and 7 Melb games??? hehe we can dream I guess.

[robbieando]

Look ask most Melbourne Swans fans how many games they want down here and I bet each would say - 22

However thats not possible so we have to look at things.

We have 5 this season, with 2 possible games taken away from us(North game and Dogs game). Now if the club was serious about us down here (which they aren't) they would ask for at least 6 H&A matches and at least 1 Pre Season match.

If I was the club I would tell the Bulldogs that your welcome to play your home game here, but we aren't paying you for the honor. I very much doubt the Bulldogs would be willing to then keep it because of huge risk the game won't make them money and certainly not the $250,000 we were paying them.

Thus our draw would be a little something like this =

11 Home matches - 1 Away Sydney Match - 6 Melbourne matches - 4 in WA/SA/QLD/ACT

We aren't asking much but it was our club and we have the right to see them play in Melbourne as offen as possible.