2nd tier A-League

2nd tier A-League

With rumour floating around about a second tier A-League I was wondering if this is an opportunity for Auckland or Christchurch to pull finger and get a team in. Clearly they won't be as good on the pitch or as well supported off it as the Nix but I'm sure they can try and with it being a promotion relegation set-up they might even get a chance to play the mighty Nix. Eventually. Toffeeman2010-11-25 09:31:01

I'm wondering where the money will come from for this. The A-League teams are already struggling financially, so how can we expect "B"-League teams to be viable?

I too thought this idea could pave the way for additional New Zealand teams, but considering the history of teams in both New Zealand and Australia I don't see it happening.

it's gotta happen sometime

I think there is a rule that states all Asian leagues must provide promotion/relegation. Canterbury Shakers would be the way to go, somewhere other than Auckland. Hopefully this way some players like Aaron Clapham, Jack Pelter, Aaron Scott, Cole Peverley and Jacob Spoonley can mix it with some Australians.

A possibility, but a long way down. What is the ideal number of teams in the A League? 16? Reach that first (proving difficult at the moment) and have a settled competition before you start thinking about promotion and relegation.

Shouldn't we be first focusing on getting a 12th team into the league?

To much crap to be considered.

There is no way a team from outside of Australia can be financially viable in the B-League.

So true. The cost of flying across the ditch would just add to much to the competition. But I say try get the league up to 16 teams (including one more NZ side) then look at a B-League.

16? where would the other 5 come from? 1) another sydney, 2) a second NZ team, 3)Canberra? 4)?

4) Tassie, 5) Southern NSW (Woollongong)?

Dreamworld???

1. Wollongong. One less "O". But I'll forgive you because you're a Kiwi
2. We belong in the A-League, not the B-League

I'd love teams in both, even in a second tier. Naturally, Wollongong would become my second team - I still keep track on the Wolves even though they're now in the NSWPL.

I wouldn't mind seeing a second tier so long as it had no promo/relegation. Like what they have between NASL and MLS in North American. Vancouver and Portland were powerhouses in NASL and succeeded both on and off the field. That justified the provision of MLS expansion franchises that are heavily linked to the NASL franchises (MLS Whitecaps has first dibs on signing NASL Whitecaps). Puerto Rico Islanders won the NASL this year, but aren't ready for promotion to MLS (they had to fight to remain in NASL for next season). Nor are the second-placed Carolina Railhawks. Automatic promotion/relegation ignores economic states. That's fine in Europe where a team can get relegated several levels down and still maintain a fanbase (Forza Hellas Verona, per sempre gialloblu!). Many A-League teams have enough trouble surviving in first division. Relegation would kill most of the teams in the A-League (I'd guess only Victory, Sydney and maybe CCM could survive) and that'd be terrible for the sport.

Healthy A-League first. Then have a healthy B-League. Then consider promotion/relegation. Until then, ignore pressure from AFC muppets who care more about having a one-sized-fits-all template pushed on member states while ignoring what actually works in the cultural and economic contexts of those countries.

/rant

I totally agree with this. Should look at introducing an Asian league coefficient ranking like in Europe and award places based on the strength of the league.

Their ideas in developing the infrastructure and business sense of member leagues with incentives of ACL spots is all well and good, if they had a coefficient system generally the leagues that have good infrastructure and business sense will rise to the top anyway and those wanting to compete will try and keep up and improve the overall quality of the league anyway.

There could be considerable savings in the B League. Lower salary cap, smaller stadia, smaller staff, roster size etc. Some of those things might have to be managed so not to prevent go-ahead clubs from getting good enough to get promoted. If promotion was also partially tied to the clubs financial viability, structure etc - might work.

But with less money coming in, the biggest stumbling block is going to be finding the money for travel due to Australia's geography, particularly if you throw one of our teams in the mix.

Really? Source? If such a rule did exist, it would be unenforceable - there has to be a feeder league to supply a new club and the relegated club has to be able to go somewhere. This is clearly impossible for many countries.

As a couple of examples:
- S-League has none.
- K-League had promotion/relegation on paper for a while, but it was never used (promoted team always refused promotion) and has been abandoned.

The payoff is lower income from television and crowds. The question is whether the bottom line for B League clubs would in net terms become unviable, particularly given the A League clubs have less than stellar financial positions.

It's not a rule IIRC, rather a guideline.

Source? Or hearsay?

They should focus first on a 12th team in the A-League.  Even it out a bit, saves having one team with 12 games under their belt for the season and another having played only 7.  After that, though, it should be looked into (whether it happens or not being an entirely different question).

If they could somehow get an airline on board to cover all of the flights that would be fantastic and be an enormous hurdle covered.  After that to save money they could look at small stadiums (less than 10 000 seats), smaller squads (say 16 man squads), and find a way to get it some money by including it in the new TV deal the FFA are signing with Fox in a few years.  Maybe play 1 or 2 games live a week in addition to the normal A-League.