Diamond_Jim

Almost posted a two hours back that this session could well determine the Ashes but thought it a little trite. Had England scored a 100 for the loss of none or one wicket it might have been hard for Australia. Now for one of those pesky small run chases. Unfortunately for us older people we will still remember the difficulties some Australian teams have had in knocking off such totals. Some interesting views on the Ali stumping: http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/21560783/twitter-reacts-moeen-close-stumping It is being suggested that the crease line was not straight !

Interesting.... had not thought of that angle USA and Italy not making it must be a huge disappointment for the TV rights owners not to mention FIFA itself. Have now got my accomodation in Kazan. A one bedroom unit with a pull out couch for the son in the living room. Apparently a 15 minute walk to the stadium which has the largest outside screen in Europe which I assume will make a good fan site for the non Kazan matches. In the scheme of things the accomodation while basic was not expensive but it was still 3-4 times what they usually charge. Looking forward to the draw next week.

Negatives: Our year is full of Hogan back to Perth talk. The Tom Mc experiment is increasingly recognised as not working. The call goes out for the Weed and memories of Juice come flooding back. On the positives: Petracca has a solid season We beat North at last Sixth on the ladder at end of home and away

could not agree more Dr G. The EPL is a league for the power clubs with the rest in the role of paid extras. Not sure but I am getting the feeling that increasingly the Champions League is now where it's at. Out of interest who controls those media rights? Will be interesting to see if there is any impact from the drop in oil prices given the ownership of some of the larger clubs.

Fritsch probably would have gone to WCE otherwise .... Interesting pick by MFC ... can take a mark but not sure about the ground skills

Hard to compare apples to apples in the AFL. Pies made an operating profit of $1.65M before writing down the Glasshouse and renovations at the Holden Centre. Turnover is king in AFL in the sense that a non profit has little interest in generating large reporting profits. Even turnover is skewed in the sense that turnover which includes pokies delivers a lot lower return on revenue albeit a guaranteed revenue. Would love the numbers people to pull apart club finances like some pull apart playing lists etc. As a student of balance sheets the fun is always in the notes to the accounts. Then of course there are assets like Collingwood have in the form of the Glasshouse that are great football centres but don't produce much revenue as compared to say the Bentleigh Club owned by the MFC. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-11-24/black-and-white-in-the-red-as-pies-lose-27m

didn't work for GWS or Adelaide and they are way better sides overall and have way better talls. Will be interesting to see what game plan Crows and Giants adopt in 2018

wouldn't read anything into that .... he will be gone by pick 50 if not 40

Good points and another way of putting that Dr G is that NFL has reached saturation point such that growing the media revenue pie in these days of media diversity is a challenge. In 5 years time or whenever the AFL rights are renewed who would be surprised if the internet rights (assuming they are unrestricted) are worth as much as the FTA/pay TV rights. In fact that will be where the battle is... ie between the pay TV dinosaurs and the emerging internet streaming behemoths

you can either stand in front of the train or plan how you are going to move. As the man said... "The times they are a changing"

Just putting it out there but the continued reliance upon pokies could have an adverse impact upon memberships in the future. It troubles me as I am sure it troubles others. I would like to see a long term strategy (5-10 years) for their removal. They may be legal but that does not mean that I have to support their insidious impact upon vulnerable members of the community. In reality this is only moving with community opinion. Twenty years ago concepts of ethical investment were laughed at and now they are mainstream.

Would love to know the basis for the inclusion of Weideman. Let's be honest he has shown little at VFL level and the jury is firmly out as to whether he will make it. What worries me is that a so called "expert" is so ignorant of our players strengths and weaknesses. Suggests that we are very low profile.

The dream draw ... better still easy to get tickets

Like to hear more on how it would work at AFL level and how it works in other sports I have an open mind on the subject at present.

Peter Gordon of Footscray was asked about pokies during his regular spot on 774. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with them but said it's all about money. Sounds like motor sports and cricket during the tobacco sponsorship debate. While I am not sure how you get pokies out of the NRL or the local bowls club etc there is no excuse for the AFL in not at least having a declared say 10 year strategy to rid themselves of pokies plus the gambling ad revenue. It will only get worse.

Unfortunately we all know the answer to that one. On the other hand I do not see the match day supporter as being a vital target for sponsors. It is more about getting the brand onto national television. Imagine the difference in the sell to sponsors between us and Carlton with all their Friday night games. (Just emphasizes that winning by itself will not answer our long term concerns.)

So Ange has gone..... love him or hate him his tenure must be rated a success if for no other reason than his willingness to utilise A League players. Left field .... what about the coach of either the Italians or the Dutch Not sure what to expect at this WC but even though I like the attacking style of Ange's game plan we just don't have the players to pull it off at the WC level.

To be honest it's the NRL who are absolutely dependent upon pokies. AFL has a opening to ditch them if it has the stomach for it. Can't see it happening

only one of the Collingwood games was a home game... so that makes three games. 50k at the MCG is bare minimum ... it's not a great payday when the break even factor is around 25k You need to regularly punch into the near sell out numbers so you can sell the reserved seats (not sure why "[censored]" was censored. It refers to the punishment commonly inflicted on sailors and others in the 18/19th century)

Great to watch We really should have won the flag in 1990 but we fluffed it.

Here's another site that has the same figures but an easier and bigger break out. Adelaide tops or near tops many areas. For example its revenue from games played is 22M against ours of 7M. It's 4th in the sponsorship stakes and doubles us in that area. http://www.footyindustry.com/?page_id=2946 The revenue from pokies has the affect of skewing the figures in the sense that the profit margin relative to turn over on pokies is low. It doesn't need to be high as the real measure is return on investment not turnover. The writing is on the wall about AFL and pokies. Only takes some pressure from the big sponsors and clubs will be forced to give up that little earner. Port Adelaide only gets a small pokie revenue (probably goes to the local Magpies) but other than them no interstate club is on the pokies spiral.

how many home games do we get that attract more than 50k. Collingwood and Richmond (recently) To make money you need to create a rarity factor ... we will not get it at the MCG Love the MCG myself but financially it is not a good fit for MFC

It's dramatic for many on this Forum who consider the MCG tenancy sacrosanct. Unfortunately it's no longer a discriminator and we very rarely get crowds (50k plus) that make it buzz financially. It's worthwhile remembering that even Essendon have a shared ground concept with the their army of supporters

Move to a boutique stadium at which we make significant money with 35k attendees and go to the MCG for a few blockbusters. Dramatic but if you think for a moment it's our only chance. Hopefully it could be a new stadium built in the Olympic area.

LDC .. your idea has merit but as our numbers increase so too will those of the power clubs. The laws of mathematics says that in raw terms membership of the power clubs will increase far more than ours. To have any real impact we would need to emulate the success of Hawthorn and go through a period of success of around 40 years. Unlikely but nice to dream about.