I'm loving the new sport channel OneHD. As someone who has never had Foxtel but always wanted it for the 24 hour sport channels, One HD is right down my alley. Yesterday made me laugh though, I was watching the Cubs take on Arizona in the MLB and kinda getting into it as a closet Cubs fan even though I knew it was a replay. Knowing that it was a replay I'd avoided looking up the score, when during the 5th inning an ad for Sports Tonight came on. Needless to say they immediately gave away the final score. It reminded me of the old Channel 7 footy broadcasts when they'd remind you that if you didn't want to know the final score to look away, while the commentator proceded to read the score out.
I was actually surprised the score got a mention at all. With baseball being such a minor sport in Australia I'm sure they could have found something else to mention. One thing I have noticed though is the scoreboard tickers running along the bottom of the screen during the US sports broadcasts. Surely that would be a great idea for the TV stations in Australia. Over the weekend there's games from 3 football codes being played. Why can't we have a ticker rolling along the bottom giving us updates from all those games. If they can manage it on Sunrise in the morning then surely they could manage it during the footy broadcast.
An increase in co-operation between codes rather than competition is better for all sports fans because we have more choices, which in turn leads to increased and better coverage of sport in general.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
AFL expansion into west Sydney. (Part 2)
In Part 1 of the discussion I posed a couple of questions. Will the west Sydney market embrace an AFL team? Will the dilution of talent decrease the performance of the expansion team and if not how does it affect the other teams in the competition?
I'll leave the attendance figures and economic data to the AFL and instead look at other competitions around the world for examples of expansion and its success rate. Firstly as I said in Part 1, while the VFL maybe one of the oldest sporting competitions in the world, the AFL has only been truly national since 1991. In contrast most other professional sports leagues from other parts of the world have been national since their inception or became national after periods of expansion 40 - 50 years ago.
North American sport in particular has seen rapid expansion since the 1960's. In fact in 1960 there were just 43 teams across the 4 major sports, MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL. Today there are 122 teams, almost triple the amount. Every league has experienced growth, attendance totals and averages, merchandise, media deals and sport followers have risen across the board. Of course a bigger population can account for this, however tapping into profitable markets and promoting the sport across a wider range of markets has lead to huge growth.
Why have the North American leagues expanded as they have? Partly because rival leagues threatened their existence. In the AFL's case both Rugby league and Soccer can be considered rival leagues. Rival leagues reduce profit so expanding rather than contracting the AFL makes little sense until you consider that expanding tips the balance of power to the AFL by creating a presence in a market that is currently underdeveloped. Individual income increases has been the other major reason for expansion. As individuals earn more, they have more to spend on the entertainment sport provides. Interestingly during periods of economic downturn the leagues have chosen to stay put rather than contract. Extra costs are involved with contraction so it has been profitable for the leagues to ride out the down periods and wait for upswings to continue with expansion.
The AFL though is trying to expand during the current Global Financial Crises. This is in fact a delayed response to a period of huge economic growth for the league. There is money in the coffers to expand, hopefully enough to see out the current downturn.
Considering the Global Financial situation what are the other options available to the league? Delaying expansion until a renewed period of growth is an option, however that allows the rival codes to gain a foothold in the profitable markets. Relocation of teams from the Victorian heartland is another possibility, one that has been used before and discussed and attempted recently. North Melbourne to the Gold Coast wasn't received favourably so the AFL has continued with it's expansion plans. Will the economic climate force the AFL's hand this time?
Relocation is an option that has been taken many times in the North American leagues but is rarely seen in Australian sport. This is mostly due to private ownership in North America, the owners are looking to maximise profit so moving to a more profitable market makes sense. The AFL clubs however are membership based, making relocation much harder. Not that relocation in the US isn't devastating for the fans of the team. Look at the recent case of the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA being relocated to Oklahoma City. Seattle fans having had an NBA team for 40 years are now without one and also without palatable alternatives.
If the AFL is to continue to grow, expanding the number of teams is necessary. The negatives of expansion and the financial climate make it more risky however the overall risk is that without expansion the AFL will lose it's Number 1 ranking amongst sports in Australia. I think that will make the risk worth taking for the AFL.
Please post your thoughts and comments.
I'll leave the attendance figures and economic data to the AFL and instead look at other competitions around the world for examples of expansion and its success rate. Firstly as I said in Part 1, while the VFL maybe one of the oldest sporting competitions in the world, the AFL has only been truly national since 1991. In contrast most other professional sports leagues from other parts of the world have been national since their inception or became national after periods of expansion 40 - 50 years ago.
North American sport in particular has seen rapid expansion since the 1960's. In fact in 1960 there were just 43 teams across the 4 major sports, MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL. Today there are 122 teams, almost triple the amount. Every league has experienced growth, attendance totals and averages, merchandise, media deals and sport followers have risen across the board. Of course a bigger population can account for this, however tapping into profitable markets and promoting the sport across a wider range of markets has lead to huge growth.
Why have the North American leagues expanded as they have? Partly because rival leagues threatened their existence. In the AFL's case both Rugby league and Soccer can be considered rival leagues. Rival leagues reduce profit so expanding rather than contracting the AFL makes little sense until you consider that expanding tips the balance of power to the AFL by creating a presence in a market that is currently underdeveloped. Individual income increases has been the other major reason for expansion. As individuals earn more, they have more to spend on the entertainment sport provides. Interestingly during periods of economic downturn the leagues have chosen to stay put rather than contract. Extra costs are involved with contraction so it has been profitable for the leagues to ride out the down periods and wait for upswings to continue with expansion.
The AFL though is trying to expand during the current Global Financial Crises. This is in fact a delayed response to a period of huge economic growth for the league. There is money in the coffers to expand, hopefully enough to see out the current downturn.
Considering the Global Financial situation what are the other options available to the league? Delaying expansion until a renewed period of growth is an option, however that allows the rival codes to gain a foothold in the profitable markets. Relocation of teams from the Victorian heartland is another possibility, one that has been used before and discussed and attempted recently. North Melbourne to the Gold Coast wasn't received favourably so the AFL has continued with it's expansion plans. Will the economic climate force the AFL's hand this time?
Relocation is an option that has been taken many times in the North American leagues but is rarely seen in Australian sport. This is mostly due to private ownership in North America, the owners are looking to maximise profit so moving to a more profitable market makes sense. The AFL clubs however are membership based, making relocation much harder. Not that relocation in the US isn't devastating for the fans of the team. Look at the recent case of the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA being relocated to Oklahoma City. Seattle fans having had an NBA team for 40 years are now without one and also without palatable alternatives.
If the AFL is to continue to grow, expanding the number of teams is necessary. The negatives of expansion and the financial climate make it more risky however the overall risk is that without expansion the AFL will lose it's Number 1 ranking amongst sports in Australia. I think that will make the risk worth taking for the AFL.
Please post your thoughts and comments.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
AFL expansion into west Sydney. (Part 1)
In light of the news that the NSW State Government is withdrawing funding for the $100 million redevelopment of the Sydney Showground at Homebush, where a second AFL side was set to be based from 2012 will the expansion continue as planned? The Gold Coast expansion was only recently given the green light after the Queensland government agreed to a $60 million grant for the Carrara stadium redevelopment. There are many questions the AFL must answer before it's commitment to a second team in Sydney can be realized.
First and foremost, will the west Sydney market embrace an AFL team? Opinion varies greatly with many Sydney experts warning the AFL that it won't succeed. Admittedly most of these Sydney experts have a Rugby league background and bias against anything AFL. Their opinions must therefore be taken with a grain of salt as they push the Rugby league agenda and look to reduce the threat of AFL competition. At the other end of equation is the question of whether the AFL can continue to allow the west Sydney sports market to develop without it's presence. The increasing popularity of Soccer and growing attendance of rugby league could force the AFL's hand in establishing a team in west Sydney.
Although the AFL/VFL is one of the oldest sports leagues in the world it has really only been a national league since 1991. It's expansion from 12 clubs in 1986 to the current 16 teams has largely occurred in traditional AFL strongholds of Perth and Adelaide. Only 2 clubs have been introduced into Rugby league markets, the Sydney Swans (a relocated South Melbourne) and the Brisbane Bears (now Lions after a merger with Fitzroy). In both cases the AFL has had to grant major concessions for the teams to experience success.
Dilution of talent is a major concern whenever the league expands and not just on the playing field. The only expansion team to achieve premiership success within the first 5 years is West Coast who came into being as virtual West Australian state team but still had to wait until they had an experienced coach to achieve their success. So even if their are enough superstar player to go around the 18 teams and enough quality players to fill the rest of the squads are there enough good coaches and good administrators to run the teams well? Lets look at the examples of Fremantle and Port Adelaide, the 2 most recent expansion teams and also the second team to come into a market.
First Port Adelaide has experienced on field success, however it is currently finding things difficult off field and has recently asked the SANFL who owns it's license to work out a better stadium deal to help it's financial situation. Fremantle on the other hand is a perennial basket case on field and has had a succession of coaching changes, none of which has improved it's standing for a sustained period. Will the Gold Coast and west Sydney teams be able to put the right administrators and coaches in place to give them a culture of success? And if they do what effect does that have on the current teams. With the draft in place a team can only expect to win a premiership once every 16 years and make the top 4 once every 4 years. Increasing the number of teams will make it that much harder for everyone. Some fan bases already struggle during periods of sustained mediocrity, will they survive under increased pressure?
Part 2 of this discussion will continue tomorrow.
Please leave your comments or thoughts on any of the questions posed.
First and foremost, will the west Sydney market embrace an AFL team? Opinion varies greatly with many Sydney experts warning the AFL that it won't succeed. Admittedly most of these Sydney experts have a Rugby league background and bias against anything AFL. Their opinions must therefore be taken with a grain of salt as they push the Rugby league agenda and look to reduce the threat of AFL competition. At the other end of equation is the question of whether the AFL can continue to allow the west Sydney sports market to develop without it's presence. The increasing popularity of Soccer and growing attendance of rugby league could force the AFL's hand in establishing a team in west Sydney.
Although the AFL/VFL is one of the oldest sports leagues in the world it has really only been a national league since 1991. It's expansion from 12 clubs in 1986 to the current 16 teams has largely occurred in traditional AFL strongholds of Perth and Adelaide. Only 2 clubs have been introduced into Rugby league markets, the Sydney Swans (a relocated South Melbourne) and the Brisbane Bears (now Lions after a merger with Fitzroy). In both cases the AFL has had to grant major concessions for the teams to experience success.
Dilution of talent is a major concern whenever the league expands and not just on the playing field. The only expansion team to achieve premiership success within the first 5 years is West Coast who came into being as virtual West Australian state team but still had to wait until they had an experienced coach to achieve their success. So even if their are enough superstar player to go around the 18 teams and enough quality players to fill the rest of the squads are there enough good coaches and good administrators to run the teams well? Lets look at the examples of Fremantle and Port Adelaide, the 2 most recent expansion teams and also the second team to come into a market.
First Port Adelaide has experienced on field success, however it is currently finding things difficult off field and has recently asked the SANFL who owns it's license to work out a better stadium deal to help it's financial situation. Fremantle on the other hand is a perennial basket case on field and has had a succession of coaching changes, none of which has improved it's standing for a sustained period. Will the Gold Coast and west Sydney teams be able to put the right administrators and coaches in place to give them a culture of success? And if they do what effect does that have on the current teams. With the draft in place a team can only expect to win a premiership once every 16 years and make the top 4 once every 4 years. Increasing the number of teams will make it that much harder for everyone. Some fan bases already struggle during periods of sustained mediocrity, will they survive under increased pressure?
Part 2 of this discussion will continue tomorrow.
Please leave your comments or thoughts on any of the questions posed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
