As a Saints fan I would rather see us relocate to Cairns. I think it will be more desirable for players due to the fact they will be living in Paradise. North Queensland also has a way bigger population of 700,000 if you include down to Mackay, that will grow to 1mil plus. A lot of people from Melbourne already holiday there mid year. I would rather relocate to Cairns prior to North Melbourne, than be left with relocating to Ballarat as Cairns has already been taken. I would love to see a video on a relocation to Cairns.
Firstly, as a Melbournian born and bred and going to the football since the early 90's, i think building the Docklands was a mistake. The stadium didn't cost all that much to build. The whole point of building it was to replace Waverley park which was a perfectly suitable ground out in the Sth Eastern suburbs. Yeh it was cold and no public transport, big deal? Ever been to docklands in the middle of winter? It's just as cold or colder than Waverley because of the wind that comes in from the docks/ water. The Sth Eastern suburbs has grown in population exponentially so keeping Waverley would have made sense at a capacity of 70,000. On another note, Docklands is a ghost town. I'm not sure why, but the area has never grown in popularity even though it is 5 minutes from the CBD. They thought it would be similar to Sydney harbour but it hasn't happened and businesses as well as building owners are fuming as they're losing money in the area. Even today it is relatively cheap to live there as it's just not popular. Why the narrator of this video says that the Docklands will be demolished doesn't make any sense. He has no evidence of this and i haven't heard anything of the sort. It would make far more sense to expand on what is already built rather than demolish it and start again given the location. Then you have the issue around the roof of the stadium. Total farce and an ongoing debate. That roof was and still is the main topic about every game played there. Firstly they had a rule a decade ago where if it didn't rain, the roof would remain open. But the problem was that with it open in the middle of winter, it could get as cold as 9 degrees inside (isn't that one of the reasons why they bulldozed Waverley? It was too cold right? 🤔) So then they came out with an even stupider idea that it was to remain closed for all games. Period. Has anyone been there in the summer? Its an oven. I remember a Geelong - North pre-season game played there in February years ago where it was 32 degrees outside and hotter inside. There's no breeze and was immensely uncomfortable for the spectators, let alone the players. That makes even less sense to close it every game regardless of the ambient temperature outside. And in September when the weather starts becoming nicer and the sun comes out, you guessed it - they shut the roof. 🙄 Overall it's not a bad stadium. Walking distance from Southern Cross station and close to the CBD but it just hasn't lived up to everyone's expectations and to bulldoz Weverley Park was IMHO a huge mistake.
Time to build/renovate boutique stadiums for all clubs. Clubs already have training grounds that are fit for purpose and crowd sizes can be controlled with ticket prices. There has to be genuine home ground advantage for each club without the bias of some clubs getting maximum exposure to the MCG. I would also look towards removing the strangle hold the MCG has on finals, they are a cricket ground that is reliant on football, time to make them acknowledge that. If Covid proved anything, it is that other grounds are capable of hosting grand finals. For people to complain that MCG ensures a large crowd, the fact that each participating club is only allocated 15K tickets each to members suggests that it isn’t geared at the loyal fan but rather the corporate interests, so any of the boutique clubs could facilitate 15K per club within their stadiums, membership packages that guarantee attendance and perhaps even look toward a best of 3 scenario with the higher finishing club rewarded with hosting 2 games or game 1 at a ground pre determined at the start of the season and the higher placed given the option to host game 2 or 3. Sooner this and the fixture being normalized without the stupid thematic rounds that ruin the fairness of the competition the better for the game to be recognized as the best sport in the world.
The Bears should be based in the Central Coast by building a supporter base to challenge the Knights region and also retaining the Manly rivalry by also playing a few games at North Sydney Oval a year. I don’t mind if the Newtown Jets become the Perth Jets aswell, they can play games at the Perth Rectangular Stadium and Optus Stadium while bringing games to Adelaide aswell. For the 20th team I’m level headed with a PNG team or a 2nd NZ based team based in Wellington and the South island
These numbers the afl has is not looking The Moreton Bay Local Government Area is one of the fastest growing in the country with a population of more than 480,000. This is forecast to grow to close to 700,000 by 2041, a larger population than the state of Tasmania. As it also borders Brisbane so if your not a lions fan it a win win just saying the bulldogs be very welcome
As a Brisbane Lions member a lot of members go to games for lions and where their team turns up to play the put on there colours.. so supporting another team is no detriment against audience numbers.
Relocate North to Canberra (Canberra Kangaroos: Blue, White, Yellow), expansion team based in the Northern Australian market region (NT & Nth Queensland: Northern Crocodiles), Bulldogs to play more games in Ballarat with the expanded stadium
There is nowhere near the population or industry in Country Victoria (Excluding Geelong) to support an AFL team. Add to that, people choose teams based of tribal connection and in Victoria everyone has already chosen their teams.
Sydney might be the only city in Australia that is suitable to host. We have Accor Stadium, Allianz Stadium, the SCG, Commbank Stadium, and if we need them Leichhardt Oval, Jubilee Stadium, and Campbelltown stadium! 🇦🇺
Should be 3 games, but its hard for Bulldogs. The AFL will want clubs like Bulldogs playing home and away matches in Canberra Darwin etc. If Bulldogs have 7 home games in Melbourne and 6 away games then its not so good for their continued success in Melbourne. I know Eagles play 12 games in Perth but expectations different for Vic clubs.
@@BDub2024 I think 3 games in Ballarat. Too small for an 11 home game team. But as the “Western” Bulldogs it kinda makes sense. Especially if they are games attracting lower attendances. Nobody wants to see 10K fans at Marvel.
@@richardwood9177 Ballarat should really be getting close to 20k fans (if the ground fitted it). Its pretty disappointing to only get 10k there (I know the capacity is low). Western Bulldogs can extend through to Werribee, Bachus Marsh and onto Ballarat... Have all the preseason camps there and practice matches too. Embrace the area.
No protection from the weather in Ballarat in winter. Only hard core fans. If Hobart needs a roof then Ballarat would definitely need one and where’s the return on investment. Won’t happen.
7 degrees in Ballarat today at the max. Perth was cold at 17 degrees and barely anyone was outside. So any footy at Ballarat needs to have protection for the fans from cold and rain.
@@BDub2024 Agreed. And some of the proposals I’ve seen are crazy. And they’re making Hobart put on a roof. I think we’re on the same page but some people saying put a team full time in Ballarat or Bendigo just don’t get it. You need a population of 500K to support a team. But it would be a great marketing opportunity for the Bulldogs like Hawthorn in Tassie.
@@richardwood9177 I read that Ballarat is set to increase by 25k in the next 25 years. Perth is talking about another 1.5 million people. Melbourne will keep expanding big time. I'm concerned how the new generations just have no knowledge of AFL and they'll never take it on and soccer will start to dominate over time. People don't watch tv or read papers. All they know is soccer. Clubs like North and Bulldogs need to really work hard into those outer suburbs. North need to move their training base and identify definitely. But I reckon Hobart will find it really hard to win the fans consistently. So many people there will still barrack for their former AFL side. Evidence is what has happened in WA and SA who are really parochial. A lot of people stuck with their previous AFL team. Younger generation are following their parents. Or just watch it on tv and choose a club
@@BDub2024 wasn’t much better in Sydney. Ballarat’s a great city, I grew up in Vic country, but it can’t support a team by itself. I never got the whole Western Bulldogs thing when they stuck to Footscray. Collingwood & Eddie tried to help them out in the Footscray & Fitzroy merger days but the said they’d rather go under. Some clubs have no vision.
@@richardwood9177 North is the club that messed up. You only have to compare Hawks in Launceston (successful) with North in Hobart (unsuccessful). Half hearted. North then bunker down at Arden St despite it being bleeding obvious that their fan base will continue to plummet. They need to work harder to win new fans and members. If they moved into new Australian areas, then they may actually receive extra support from the AFL. At the same time the councils would pump in a lot of money and link it to community centre and rec centres pools. Freo moved to Cockburn and got the council to throw in signficant money and got a whole new facility built for them.
GWS should have been called Western Sydney ACT Giants. Greater and GWS is so stupid and stops it being recognised as a Western Sydney football club. People just see GWS and wouldn't even know what it stands for.
Canberoos, but its GWS territory isn't it. GWS can play home and away matches against Hawks North and Melb each year. That's six games straight away at a neutral venue for both clubs. Sydney could even host a home and away match there... lead to 8 games in Canberra. They don't need a team. GWS needs help and more fans. So they need to own that part of NSW and ACT.
I've always wondered about those ex-Fitzroy supporters. Do they still follow AFL? Do they still support the Lions when they come to Melb? Do they support another team? I'm not aware of any actual studies.
Fitzroy messed up by not relocating earlier, so it was a forced merger and they lost more of their club Whereas Sydney left on their own accord and so still have South Melb fans in Melb. A North relocation to Perth would work. Joondalup Wanneroo Roos.
I am one of those Fitzroy supporters who support the Brisbane Lions. Most did follow with the merger but some supported North Melbourne because they preferred the Fitzroy/North merger more at the time
They should just rebuild the gabba. But 50K seems a little low for such a big venue. I say put your eggs into building a new state of the art stadium thats futureproof
North Melbourne played VFL for North Ballarat and stitched up by Ballarat when the government give them a football grant they chose Western bulldogs to play games in Ballarat. Julia Gillard was number 1 ticket holders for bulldogs
North Melb just haven't committed generally to the locations, be it Canberra, Sydney, Hobart and Gold Coast (though the latter one was because they didn't want to relocate so fair enough). Maybe Ballarat just felt North would be half hearted. Western Bulldogs taking control of all the west is a perfect match really and they can make it work long term. Whereas I suspect North just wouldn't be as good a match and may have been more temporary. North has a chance to move into the outer fringes of Melbourne and win the immigrants and new Australians to the game and to North Melbourne. They can also consider Bendigo for the future.
A Victorian country team is a great idea but like Tassie share the home ground between Ballarat and Bendigo. Train lines are direct to both locations. It supports the roll out of renewable energy transition in regional areas just northeast of these areas.
I don't reckon it will ever eventuate. Any relocated team would go to Perth or Canberra. Certainly Ballarat could hot 3 matches per year by the Bulldogs. But I think the pressure will mount for the smaller clubs to play in Canberra, Darwin or Cairns. E.g. GWS play Bulldogs home and away in Canberra... The neutral venue for home and away. That ensures Canberra gets more footy but Bulldogs loses a home game. So it then gets tricky for them to lose more games out of MElbourne to Ballarat. So a difficult thing to navigate. Certainly all preseason matches and pre season training camps need to be in Ballarat to forge stronger links.
Well last weekend we went to a engagement there in the champagne room and it was very nice .Well set up for corporate enevents there. Well done marvel stadium.
Western Bulldogs is enough. They can just play the 3 games there each year. Against the Adelaide teams. If the capacity can increase then Melbourne clubs could be hosted. Its close enough that Bulldogs fans can easily drive or train there. Is three games enough though? Could Geelong vs Bulldogs also play there?
Ballarat might have 130k, but there would be a lot more people in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Western bulldogs pretty much have only Essendon as a local competitor in the western suburbs, and the bombers are more of a north west side, being based at Tullamarine. I can't see any good reason why the bulldogs would give up the growing western suburbs to relocate to Ballarat. They would be better off focusing on the west and south-west of Melbourne, where there is a growing population and a lot of opportunity, not to mention already having a pretty significant size fan base in the western suburbs already. Actually, that is really the clincher, you don't turn your back on a substantial number of supporters, with the opportunity to increase it, for an uncertain future elsewhere. A better option would be to connect with the wider western suburbs, outside Footscray, by holding training sessions, practice matches, etc. in the wider western suburbs - which now stretch out as far as Wyndham Value and Melton.
Because of the power and influence of the CMFEU in QLD building costs here are the highest in the nation. Any of the builds/rebuilds will have huge cost blow outs. And the state is grappling with huge debt. Bidding for the games will be an unmitigated long term disaster for the state.
Personally the best option would be having a team for Newcastle, Cape York Peninsula, Darwin, and Canberra with a mix of moving Melbourne teams and expansion teams need to happen first. Maybe a 3rd team in SA and WA. That said. If New Zealand going to have a team. The AFL might as well plain decades ahead by not only farming out Melbourne home games in to New Zealand, but also have a TV deal where all games are free to air, and have plains in having two teams. One on the north island, and the other South island. Maybe call one the Te Ika-a-Māui All Blacks for one of the island, and Te Waipounamu All Whites for the other. Just putting it out there.
As a north fan who lives in Melbourne, I have wanted this for the last 15 years. Change our name to “Vic Country Kangaroos” be based in Ballarat, play our biggest home games at marvel and our smallest home games at Bendigo. I don’t think it will happen, and would love to see the 20th team be a Riverina team based in Canberra but representing rural south east Australia. That would be a team for 1 million plus people.
There is nowhere near the population or industry in Country Victoria (Excluding Geelong) to support an AFL team. Add to that, people choose teams based of tribal connection and in Victoria everyone has already chosen their teams. And for 15 years you have been saying this. I know what you wee saying before that, Gold Coast. Your not a North Melbourne supporter. Stop trying to make a case for killing our club. There is already enough of those people in the "industry" A North fan knows this only too well.
@@kellyhomecentre6523 I am a north supporter, and the reason I thought my of this 15 years ago was because they were seriously thinking of turning us into the Gold Coast or killing the club because of too many Melbourne teams. Whereas a vic country kangaroos would have kept us in Victoria and saved us (luckily we were saved from extinction anyway). There are 2 million Victorians that live in the country regions, which is close 4 times larger than Tasmania’s population. I’m sure a decent proportion of that large rural population would love a team that represented them. Every expansion team has to convert people over from other clubs. And try gain new young fans.
Should North be holding home matches in Bendigo or join the Bullies in Ballarat. I think Vic country is the heartland of footy. But its in Melbourne that the AFL is losing massive ground. New immigrants are playing soccer, and have zero exposure to AFL. Youngsters watch the internet for their news and sport. They don't buy papers or read the news. No footy is being kicked around at schools. Whole generations of kids will never follow or watch AFL. That's where the AFL need to push into. Clubs like North into outer Melbourne. Think of how AFL can connect to Melbourne fringes. They won't hold home matches into outer Melbourne I doubt. But how do you connect and stop the AFL from losing Melbourne... maybe its not now but in 50 years. Needs more strategic thought. Forget about Ballarat.
Perth will still be increasing by significantly more, but how realistic are those numbers? Using the growth rate from 2011 to 2023, Ballarat's population will increase by about 48% in the next 25 years - or from 116k to 172k (more than 30k difference). Alternatively the statewide housing targets includes 46900 new homes by 2051 from 53000 currently, an 88% increase. I don't think it's a wise decision but a lot more feasible than your numbers are making out
@@dead1zed886 I don't think its feasible at all. The numbers don't stack up with other far faster growing area in Australia. There is no way that the AFL would allow a club to relocate to another part of Victoria full time. I can't see a club agreeing to it either, as if they're struggling in Melbourne they will be under even more pressure in regional Victoria. North is the only possibility and they've turned their backs on Ballarat. Bulldogs will never move there as they're developing a real presence in western Melbourne. The population growth is in Melbourne and the AFL need to critically ensure that the new immigrants are exposed to AFL. That's the investment required. If clubs disappear from Melbourne which is inevitable, it will be through mergers or relocations outside Victoria. If North made a real effort to work on bringing people to the game in the outer fringe suburbs then that would be an incentive for the AFL to give them even more help.
Darwin is too small too. That won't happen either. Even Tassie and Canberra are just going to be propped up. Ballarat won't go ahead. Even if Ballarat had a 30k stadium that was being fill, it still wouldn't happen.
If any club has to leave Melbourne then it would leave Victoria permanently. The club would probably then go to Perth Canberra, or they'd merge with Gold Coast or GWS. NZ isn't ready yet. They aren't going to go elsewhere in Victoria, just like how NRL aren't relocating former NSWRL teams like Bears and Jets into country NSW which is far more populated and expansive. Question is how Melb clubs better service immigrant areas in the fringes. Should side relocate training bases there. How can they connect with those areas, if its just training and not home grounds. Can a stadium replace Docklands and move into an outer suburb where AFL can regain a presence.
Last time I checked, Perth was an AFL town. Even Tasmanians were willing to bluff on the AFL, by telling the AFL that it's either brand new club or nothing, and they'd rather just miss out entirely once and for all, than be insulted any further. You have to be on drugs to suggest the people of Perth would accept a relocated Victorian club.
Any clubs leaving Melb would go interstate. AFL want less clubs in Victoria ultimately, so wouldn't allow it. Bulldogs would have to play 3 games there and possibly increase it over time. But they'll be in pressure to play home and away matches in Canberra, Cairns Darwin etc...
@@benjaminrowley Saints have increased over time their supporters and tried hard. but their management is no good. North's support will go backwards. No team should be going to Darwin at all.
Bendigo would be another option for a relocation of a Melbourne based team. Very similar population and population growth to Ballarat at the moment. Ballarat is currently at 130k and Bendigo is currently at 128k.
North Melbourne needs to move into the northern fringe suburbs of Melbourne. Then ultimately they will move a few home matches into Bendigo. But North's first priority must be owning the high immigrant areas in Melbourne and bringing new Australians to the game. Without people watching tv and reading newspapers they have no exposure to AFL at all.
@@rhysh2639 agreed but St kilda and North melbourne unfortunately has a smaller fan base than western bulldogs. The thing is the bulldogs has a solid supporter base in the city of maribynong. Where as people living in North melbourne or St kilda don't really care about AFL as much due to the change in demographics. But will see in 15 years or even 10 depending if the AFL stops funding those 3 clubs
@@AUSTRALIAN19953 In my opinion, North Melbourne should probably focus on playing some matches in Bendigo (which is almost the same size as Ballarat). St.Kilda should focus on all the bayside/peninsula areas of Melbourne e.g. Frankston, Mornington, Sandringham etc.
I'm thinking long term here but with the success of the Fitzroy / Brisbane merger and obviously South Melb / Sydney relocation if the AFL will look to bolster both the Suns and Giants in the future with say Gold Coast Saints and GWS Kangaroos then you could have the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat playing marquee games in Melbourne like Geelong do. This would leave Melbourne to the big clubs and like you signed off the video give these teams new markets and in the case of GC and GWS supporter bases in Melbourne as well for away games.
I'm thinking any relocated club will go to Perth Canberra or merge with suns and giants. That's it. They won't go to regional areas. The AFL is allowing the lowly supported clubs in Melbourne to gradually die. Without a zone or free to air coverage or press talk, they will continue to plummet.
Those clubs refused to go to Canberra, Sydney and Gold Coast... I think you will see GWS playing home and away matches in Canberra against North, Bullies and Saints (for example). That would be six games in Canberra for GWS on a neutral venue. That's great for growing GWS in NSW/ACT. Same concept in Darwin. Eddie Everywhere is always talking about Suns and Giants basically playing all their matches outside Victoria WA and SA... that's how it would basically be done.
