Diamond_Jim

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)

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.

Sale perhaps but we are not developers. The problem with a sale is that it would give you a few million which is a drop in the bucket from an investment return basis. Unfortunately the answer lies in increasing the return per supporter which means creating a rarity factor ( Geelong). You cannot rely on ad hoc tin rattling anymore. There are so many problems with the MFC from a financial modelling viewpoint it is hard to know where to start. Some continued on field success will not alone fix the problem but it might make the journey a little easier.

Essendon reported a record profit of $5 million today. In a few years that will probably be $20 million as they "monetise" their membership base. The AFL will try to cap football department spending in theory but that money has to go somewhere and somehow I don't suspect it's going into the suburban leagues. Perhaps they could reduce the price of their reserved seats?

Forgot it was on but I did enjoy the NRL last night

Ah ... the old Sandown races. Do they still run the Sandown Cup? I remember some of the cup horses used to run in it so as to pay their expenses etc. I hear that the old place may be sold for housing. Perhaps they could extend the place across the road. (The crematorium). Many years ago in a job I had, the people at the Springvale cemetery asked for my advice on how to make the cemetery more family friendly. They were thinking of bike rides etc to increase the cafe patronage. Even offered me a tour out the back which I politely declined.

To be honest lists were a lot bigger in those days and you could have more spec players on your list. Perhaps the AFL needs an academy in Ireland. Pity that Ireland is not a big draw country. Imagine if say Canada or France had a Gaelic tradition and were then available for growing the game. In the future I am worried that the power clubs will be able to spend money on overseas development. In return they will demand a form of exclusivity. After all there is a limit on how many local netball teams you can fund.

Some more great news. I booked for Kazan simply because it looked like a nice relatively small city and it has direct flights to Dubai. Being reported today that the Socceroos will be based in Kazan so we are odds on to see at least one of their matches. All I need is the Dees to do well next year and 2018 could be a very good year PS On closer reading they picked Kazan before qualifying so it will be just luck if they play there. Fingers crossed.

Wow......... I now have tickets for Russia for the Group stage and the round of 16 for myself and my son. Over the moon. My tickets are venue specific and are for the city of Kazan which is the Tartar capital of Russia. Never know I may be able to get to a Australian match as well. Now for the airlines and accomodation. Airbnb apartments in Russia are a little basic by the looks of things but hell the vodka is cheap.

one could say never in doubt but of course it wasn't. At last the Aussies got the rub of the green but they deserved it as they made their own luck. Well predicted Macca. Now all I need is some tickets to Russia in tomorrow night's draw

Milan is a wonderful city and the stadium has tours and a museum. I was there in August but it was just too hot. The club websites are well used to foreign ticket enquiries so that could be a good place to start. You may find the big clubs have a local supporters club in Australia which could also be a great source of leads. Sounds like a great trip. Don't forget the Lords cricket museum. Not very big but some very special exhibits.

11 shots to one in the first half ..... sounds very familiar

Italy misses out..... wow Will be interested to read the analysis. Understand that many of the team were aged in their 30's. Perhaps the Italian League is not much better than the EPL for bringing through the local talent.

must say I agree with your assessment Redleg. Another view is that they are playing a slightly longer game and have taken players on one year contracts with the intention of going big next year either in the draft or free agency.

Coming to grips with the ticketing system for the forthcoming World Cup. Next round opens on Thursday our time. I will never complain about the complications of the AFL ticketing system again. It seems that the GWS membership twist is well alive in Russia. The equivalent is you apply to follow Saudi Arabia and thus maximise your chances of getting semi final and finals tickets. You then don't bother going to the Saudi games. The system works because individual countries are given an allocation to all games and of course the demand from Saudi is apparently low. Ends up costing an extra US$800 or so for the tickets in the foregone early matches but I suppose that for one of the hottest tickets in sport it's not a bad idea.

makes sense shallow draft... young player, now proven etc etc The only question is his bulk and ground skills. Have been saying for months he is late second or early third. Perhaps he could end up at the Eagles as one of those several mid 20 picks they have. Cannot see him at the MFC as we are once again short of outside mids. The flip side is that the VFL lists do not seem to be throwing up a large number of late bloomers. Surprising because numerically they should be there.

NZ v Peru in Wellington. No score after 24 minutes. Memories of past Australian qualifications in the Oceania Group