Apart from the money, I’m sure it’s much easier logistically than needing to try and place reserves on multiple stadiums, not being able to lock in the actually date and time until a week before when you know who is in it etc.
I don’t know though. Just feels wrong
This is a terrible idea. The only positives are the money and the trolling imposed on interstate fans (particularly you-know-who), which even I’m happy to admit is a childish and non-valid premise to pin this kind of move on.
Last season’s GF would have had around 5-10k in Sydney, of whom half would be local neutrals having a stickybeak, and so would add nothing to the atmosphere or event, other than covering a seat.
That’s ridiculous. Trying to be like the AFL and NRL with their fixed location GFs, where they sell tickets before the teams are even decided and poorer fans whose team makes it get left with the ridiculously expensive seats. AFL is Victoria-heavy. The NRL is Sydney-heavy. The A-league was SUPPOSED to be national.
Danny.
He’s full of shit.
Why? it works for the AFL and NRL, granted the cities that each one individually plays in have a majority of teams, so it’s more likely they’ll play there.
Im against the idea, but I definitely see what the go is. Sydney works as it’s easy travel for SFC, WSW, MAR, CCM and NJ if they were to make the grand final. From an ops point of view, it means you’re not scrabbling for stadiums in Melbourne and competing with AFL and NRL at the same time.
Which are both one-city competitions where everyone outside of that city knows full well that they’re an outsider oddity.
Because they will fill the stadium regardless. We wont if it’s two teams from outside Sydney/NSW. A Melbourne derby last season got 22,000 in Melbourne. That would have been sub 10k in Sydney. It would be a disaster.
The difference is that the AFL and NRL Grand Finals are an event in themselves. People buy tickets months in advance before anyone has any idea who is going to be in it.
Like the Super Bowl, people just want to go to the Grand Final.
The A-League GF has always been about who is in it, the home team advantage and travelling to take on the enemy in their stadium.
I don’t think this is a step forward at all.
Hey I don’t agree with the decision, just that I can see some of the reasoning. At the end of the day, it all comes down to $$$
You know what’s REALLY fun?
Being fucking furious about this AND having to convince rival fans that no, Sydney FC largely ARE NOT happy about this. Why would I want an all-Melbourne GF in my city?
When was the last time the Jets or Mariners or Bulls or the Wanderers made the AL Grand Final?
13 of the 16 total grand finals that have been played have included at least one of the teams listed…
Oh great. Two threads about the same thing!
That doesn’t answer my question.
In the last 5 years, of those clubs, only Jets and Sydney FC have made the GF and on all occasions we hosted it, we earnt that right (Even if 2020 was in Parra because of COVID). Jets also earnt the right to host in 2018. Wanderers, 2 of 3 GFs they were in were against interstate Premiers. Also, Melbourne teams have been in plenty of the GFs and won plenty of Premierships in that time.
Wouldn’t you have been livid if the Wanderers played their GFs against Brisbane and Adelaide in Sydney when those teams finished above them?
Hell yes i’d be livid. Just pointing out that the argument that there’d be no one there wouldn’t really hold as it would only apply to 3 games in 16 years. Which is probably what the APL has taken into account when making this decision.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if this comes off on the back of another few NSW/ACT teams being added into the comp
Also, that doesn’t justify it. It only highlights the disproportionate Sydney-based expansion when NSW was the only team with multiple teams to begin with. It’s supposed to be a national league. Oh, “it’s where the numbers are”. So why aren’t there solid crowds consistently across all 5 NSW teams?
It also shows the higher population of NSW vs the other states? NSW has just under 2 million more than Vic and 3 million more than QLD. The people are there, the failure in crowd numbers is a failure in the clubs to brand and market themselves. Part of that was from the FFAs need to control all marketing and aspects of the A-league in the first years, but the rest of it comes down to stupid owners that fee l that they have a product that will attract people to them with zero work.
I guess we’ll just have to earn the hosting rights for the next three years to render this whole thing moot.
All right thinking football fans should be getting behind this idea 