this is bullshit

[skilbeck]

I dont think relocation is on the agenda. But I see the mariners trying to expand their fanbase out from the coast to include the areas around North Sydney (meaning all the way down to the parramatta river) since the collapse of the bears has left most of that area, except manly-warringah with a drugby league team. But this still wouldnt explain the use of ANZ stadium. north sydney stadium or brookvale might be trialled but not ANZ. But I reckon of equal importance to the mariners would be the expansion to redefine the border with the Jets further North and possibly expand into the hunter, especially if Con does f**k them over next year and they end up last so essentially Gosford would remain the geographical and population mean centre if that were the case, and this would make the 40k size stadium that people on here are proposing actually work instead of looking bare. There should definitely be an attempt to build a nationwide fanbase but that would ultimately vary with the success of the club. This could be helped by a lot more TV advertising in our favor.

 

[Jesus]

The club want to become a big brand. Maybe what Aloisi said about big games got to the board.
Maybe they feel that they need to play some matches in front of bigger crowds to keep the coast an attractive place for quality players.

 

[Kareem]

i hope the club doesnt take anything Aloi$i says to heart!
He thinks 80k people showed up to watch Sydney (against galaxy)...rofl

 

[skilbeck]

The club want to become a big brand. Maybe what Aloi$i said about big games got to the board.
Maybe they feel that they need to play some matches in front of bigger crowds to keep the coast an attractive place for quality players.

and i honestly want them to become a big brand. i just want them to do it and stay put and i dont believe its impossible for that to be the case.

 

[Jesus]

Indeed. If they need to play in front of bigger crowds, be aggressive in getting new fans, and plans for a bigger stadium.
Keep the club as one of the top in the league, and away crowds will also be around away from home.

 

[skilbeck]

i agree Jesus, its useless getting the 40k stadium that is pencilled in for the world cup bid unless we get the crowds to fill it. The best we can hope from Gosford and Wyong is about 20k attendance so the rest is going to have to come from somewhere else. a normal away crowd in the a league is pretty poor, except for derby matches and perhaps melbourne fans so thats less than about 100 for a normal away crowd (Perth, Adelaide, Wellington, QLD) about 500-1k for Melbourne and a good 5-10k for Sydney and Newcastle games so the best there is about 30k attendances in the regular season which is about 10k short of a WC min venue. hence we should set up a "sphere of influence" that extends from Lake Macquarie and the Hunter consisting of the Southern and Western ends of the lake as well as perhaps Cessnock to Parramatta River, which would include massive areas of Hornsby, Chatswood, Manly, Hills district and Ryde. With marketing in this sphere as well as countrywide, we could build a base of 40-60k This might mean the mariners have to become involved in these communities as well as ours. However, the ANZ crowd isnt this part of Sydney so its pointless.

 

[Omni]

Does anyone mind if I be edgy and say that John Singleton's comments are actually quite offensive, we're all being very touchy but missed that John Singleton has basically called Mariners fans rubbish.

 

[Jesus]

i agree Jesus, its useless getting the 40k stadium that is pencilled in for the world cup bid unless we get the crowds to fill it. The best we can hope from Gosford and Wyong is about 20k attendance so the rest is going to have to come from somewhere else. a normal away crowd in the a league is pretty poor, except for derby matches and perhaps melbourne fans so thats less than about 100 for a normal away crowd (Perth, Adelaide, Wellington, QLD) about 500-1k for Melbourne and a good 5-10k for Sydney and Newcastle games so the best there is about 30k attendances in the regular season which is about 10k short of a WC min venue. hence we should set up a "sphere of influence" that extends from Lake Macquarie and the Hunter consisting of the Southern and Western ends of the lake as well as perhaps Cessnock to Parramatta River, which would include massive areas of Hornsby, Chatswood, Manly, Hills district and Ryde. With marketing in this sphere as well as countrywide, we could build a base of 40-60k This might mean the mariners have to become involved in these communities as well as ours. However, the ANZ crowd isnt this part of Sydney so its pointless.

I think if we are averaging 16k, with max's of 30 then a 40k stadium is no worry. Could fill it for important games, egs derby semis, and leaves room for growth to 2018. But will have to see the crowd figures this season. Sending people away from 4 games again this season, with a crowd averaging closer to 15k and i think that the time to start the planning, assuming the capacity would not be completed for another few years, as well as the reduction of capacity in the mean time.

I dont see our crowds dropping on average this season. Given the steady growth, if we want to continue it in the future, we need a bigger venue.

 

[dibo]

Does anyone mind if I be edgy and say that John Singleton's comments are actually quite offensive, we're all being very touchy but missed that John Singleton has basically called Mariners fans rubbish.

how do you figure?

 

[Jesus]

Does anyone mind if I be edgy and say that John Singleton's comments are actually quite offensive, we're all being very touchy but missed that John Singleton has basically called Mariners fans rubbish.

I dont think it is too offensive. I dont think they will get the 15k mariners fans who would have gone to bluey down to homebush. I think that is what he is refering to

 

[dibo]

i agree Jesus, its useless getting the 40k stadium that is pencilled in for the world cup bid unless we get the crowds to fill it. The best we can hope from Gosford and Wyong is about 20k attendance so the rest is going to have to come from somewhere else. a normal away crowd in the a league is pretty poor, except for derby matches and perhaps melbourne fans so thats less than about 100 for a normal away crowd (Perth, Adelaide, Wellington, QLD) about 500-1k for Melbourne and a good 5-10k for Sydney and Newcastle games so the best there is about 30k attendances in the regular season which is about 10k short of a WC min venue. hence we should set up a "sphere of influence" that extends from Lake Macquarie and the Hunter consisting of the Southern and Western ends of the lake as well as perhaps Cessnock to Parramatta River, which would include massive areas of Hornsby, Chatswood, Manly, Hills district and Ryde. With marketing in this sphere as well as countrywide, we could build a base of 40-60k This might mean the mariners have to become involved in these communities as well as ours. However, the ANZ crowd isnt this part of Sydney so its pointless.

I think if we are averaging 16k, with max's of 30 then a 40k stadium is no worry. Could fill it for important games, egs derby semis, and leaves room for growth to 2018. But will have to see the crowd figures this season. Sending people away from 4 games again this season, with a crowd averaging closer to 15k and i think that the time to start the planning, assuming the capacity would not be completed for another few years, as well as the reduction of capacity in the mean time.

I dont see our crowds dropping on average this season. Given the steady growth, if we want to continue it in the future, we need a bigger venue.

the NRL will come calling too, and they'll need us to be strong because the two clubs will be operating symbiotically. if the NRL put a team in, looking ahead you'd be have at least 22 (10 min HAL and 12 NRL - that's before HAL expansion) matchdays a year (or almost one a fortnight) with crowds of ~15k being the norm. that's not far off what the SFS gets. do concerts there as well (set up the southern end as a concert stage) and the whole project starts looking like a moneyspinner.

however, the costs of upgrading may mean that a ground-up job elsewhere is cheaper, especially if the present grahame park site can be put to good use. something like a good standard (manuka standard) oval ground has been lacking on the central coast and could attract first class fixtures and even sydney swans preseason cup matches.

 

[~Floss~]

Yeah, I noticed that the Chicago Fire MLS team plays out of a similar size stadium which is dual purpose ("soccer" and concerts)

 

[skilbeck]

i agree Jesus, its useless getting the 40k stadium that is pencilled in for the world cup bid unless we get the crowds to fill it. The best we can hope from Gosford and Wyong is about 20k attendance so the rest is going to have to come from somewhere else. a normal away crowd in the a league is pretty poor, except for derby matches and perhaps melbourne fans so thats less than about 100 for a normal away crowd (Perth, Adelaide, Wellington, QLD) about 500-1k for Melbourne and a good 5-10k for Sydney and Newcastle games so the best there is about 30k attendances in the regular season which is about 10k short of a WC min venue. hence we should set up a "sphere of influence" that extends from Lake Macquarie and the Hunter consisting of the Southern and Western ends of the lake as well as perhaps Cessnock to Parramatta River, which would include massive areas of Hornsby, Chatswood, Manly, Hills district and Ryde. With marketing in this sphere as well as countrywide, we could build a base of 40-60k This might mean the mariners have to become involved in these communities as well as ours. However, the ANZ crowd isnt this part of Sydney so its pointless.

I think if we are averaging 16k, with max's of 30 then a 40k stadium is no worry. Could fill it for important games, egs derby semis, and leaves room for growth to 2018. But will have to see the crowd figures this season. Sending people away from 4 games again this season, with a crowd averaging closer to 15k and i think that the time to start the planning, assuming the capacity would not be completed for another few years, as well as the reduction of capacity in the mean time.

I dont see our crowds dropping on average this season. Given the steady growth, if we want to continue it in the future, we need a bigger venue.

the NRL will come calling too, and they'll need us to be strong because the two clubs will be operating symbiotically. if the NRL put a team in, looking ahead you'd be have at least 22 (10 min HAL and 12 NRL - that's before HAL expansion) matchdays a year (or almost one a fortnight) with crowds of ~15k being the norm. that's not far off what the SFS gets. do concerts there as well (set up the southern end as a concert stage) and the whole project starts looking like a moneyspinner.

however, the costs of upgrading may mean that a ground-up job elsewhere is cheaper, especially if the present grahame park site can be put to good use. something like a good standard (manuka standard) oval ground has been lacking on the central coast and could attract first class fixtures and even sydney swans preseason cup matches.

i reckon that any stadium built on the coast will probably be either a closed or another open square all-seater stadium in order to have it purpose built to coincide with fifa regulations. 1 or 2 AFL preseason matches are not worth building a giant oval ground. considering mainly what will be played will be football and rugby league

 

[dibo]

i reckon that any stadium built on the coast will probably be either a closed or another open square all-seater stadium in order to have it purpose built to coincide with fifa regulations. 1 or 2 AFL preseason matches are not worth building a giant oval ground. considering mainly what will be played will be football and rugby league

you miss my point - a new purpose built ground is unlikely to be at grahame park as it's too small. adcock park is much more likely. it would be a purpose built rectangular ground - think gold coast but a third bigger (so it's 40k). the existing CCBTS could be levelled and replaced with a cricket oval (like what was originally there except developed) I reckon, but a small one - seated capacity of 5-10k to attract first class fixtures and that's about it.

alternatively, they could sell the land for residential development and make a farking motza.

 

[skilbeck]

yeah the latter is likely for Grahame park if a larger stadium is to be built elsewhere

 

[Jesus]

Agree. Then if they move it, right next to the stadium they should build a "Mariners Football Club". For pregame drinks

 

[pjennings]

I still like the idea of a 3 sided steep Suncorp style stadium at BTS. It could be done in a staged way to get us to 40,000+. Start by redeveloping the Northern end so that we can keep the capacity reasonable why it is being done. Of course this would require serious Govt money - but if they are serious about the World Cup priority should be given to stadiums where they can be used by HAL clubs. 

Does anyone know what the capacity of the current northern bays? 

 

[skilbeck]

about 500

 

[dibo]

about 500

22 x 22 = 484

 

[SNOWMARINER]

It seem Lyall Gorman has said in the Express Advocate that " We won't be switching the game and I don't know if Sydney is the right market for us,"

Hmmm, Sydney being the right market for us? Does add weight to my suspicion that they have considered trying to add Northern Sydney support to the Mariners. I hope he fair dinkum with the comment as I'd hate to see every second or worse still every home game at ANZ. The denial is more solid than the last statment and at this stage all I can do is trust the decision will not change at a later stage.

And added  "But we will always listen to the commercial opportunities that arise to enable us to carry on building the profile of the Mariners and the Central Coast region"

He also poured water on the idea of playing Sydney in an exibition game involving Zidedine Zidane on June 1 because it clashed with the Socceroos match against Iraq in Brisbane.

If they want to raise the profile of the Mariners I have a wonderful idea,

Don't go into V4 without a marquee player. Surely this is THE best way to raise the club profile and provide commercial opportunities  leading into V4 and our Champions League debut.