AMI Stadium - Away 'Home' Games

Is our financial state such that playing two games a season out of Wellington is necessary to keep us alive?

You forgot what he said about how Nix games need to be taken around the country. That's a pretty substantial quote.

Cooks Gardens ?

Would you honestly want a night out in Whanganui after a match ? Ridiculous call.

Not sure it would be *that* much worse than Palmy or Christchurch.

Point is, the Wellington Phoenix should be playing all the home A League game sin Wellington.

I had a great night out in Palmy and those that went out in Chch had big nights as well.

i had a great night,but am still against home games being played away

This

actually yes, multi million bucks gets a lot of say

travel and accom costs would be 7-10k max total per game (19 travelling, $150 accom per head $250 travel per head is just $7,600), so if you could get 20k to attend two away games you are still near enough to $600k ahead
mjp22010-02-07 23:41:12

Hmmm, save the club / Terry 500k a year and spread professional football around New Zealand, which can only surely help the game nationally.... or play every game in Wellington because a few fans in Wellington are one-minded and think every game should be played in Wellington.

It's not quite as simple as that Colvinator.  It does ignore the record and fortress nature of the ROF.

the nix aren't a national side colvinator :)

1. Spread professional football around New Zealand? By taking two games to two cities? Hardly spreading it, is it? What about Hamilton, Dunedin, Napier, etc, etc...

2. Help the game nationally? How, exactly? By allowing some apparently "passionate, fanatical" fans to roll up to a game on their doorstep once a season?

I really, really do not understand this "Help the Game Nationally" campaign.Jag2010-02-07 23:52:57

They are not a national side, but if they want to sign a national business as a sponsor maybe they  need to engage with the nation.

National product doesn't equal a national side.

I agree Hard News. Having our fortress is important. We saw in Palmy how that sucked... Ruining our home record for that stinky city. But then, we got a good crowd in Christchurch and a win. Losing points for the sake of going away is probably the best reason I see against us doing it. Though if that money can be used to improve the team / get a great marquee player that would counteract it. Not saying that this is what would happen with the money gained though.

500k? No way. Games in Wellington have no travel costs, no accomodation. Plus you have to minus off the 2 crowds those respective matches would have got in wellington. Can't be bothered now, but assuming 2 20k crowds is a huge call. Who knows what Auckland will get... but i'm not that confident.

I think the nix and Terry can safely say they have done more than is expected for an NZ-based team in the A-League for the national sport already.  WITHOUT having to go on a home and away tour around the country.

Yes, but he still needs to make money and if someone else promises him a profit for a game which he won't get in Wellington then he has to consider it.

If we don't want them to travel then they need to make a profit out of here which meand we need 15k and a win on Friday night.

It's up to us to make that happen.

You'll have to forgive me as I am trying to sort this via my mobile phone (annoying) so it might look/spell funny.
I totally understand what you are getting at news. But that does sound like management taking the 'easy Way out'. Rather than try and work and turn a profit at home, someone calls to offer them money? How often does this happen in this league?
I don't want to go on about this to be honest as it has become an excuse for some people to slag others off. But I would question the value of me paying for 14 games next season and only being able to see 11 or 12 ...or less.
I don't know. Early days to be talking about this really. I'm sure nix management are putting the interests of ALL their fans first. So i'll wait until the draw for next season is released to comment.

P.s. I would absolutely LOVE christchurch to have a team. That would be amazing and I would make an attempt, as a nix fan, to watch some of tiger home games there that didn't involve the nix :)

Stupid mobile phone predictive text. Tiger =thier

Tiger = Cheetah!

It really is very, very simple. The club cannot survive with average crowds of 8000 a game in Wellington. Pure and simple. Exposure must go beyond Wellington. What's preferable? A couple of games outside of Wellington or no games - because the club won't exist anymore - at all? Or how about season memberships at twice the price? For all the feelgood the Phoenix has brought, it eventually comes down to simple economics.

So instead of trying to work on improving that figure, lets just farm out the nix home games to the highest bidder.

Why are we suddenly in such financial trouble that if we dont play 2 games away we wont exist anymore? First ive heard...Itd be a bit of extra cash in Terrys pockets if anything.

Three seasons, a solid supporter base that has, for all intents and purposes topped out. It's about a softly-softly approach - grow the support elsewhere without losing sight of where the core base is. The club will always be Wellington but it's naive in the extreme to deny that more people supporting the club nationwide is a bad thing. Think, too, about the commercial implications - exposure in other centres also appeals to more sponsors, which means more revenue, which means a more financially viable club, which keeps Terry and the FFA happy, which means we all have a club with long-term prospects.

hardly say we've topped out with the base we have....there's plenty of potential fans just waiting to be motivated to get to the games....marketing them could be done a little more effectively - Im no expert but if I didn't love the football and wasn't looking for thing I doubt I'd notice the odd poster or even hear the occassional add on Radio sport.

I understand what you are saying. But what I am having to get my head around is why all of the sudden these 'financial' situations warrant road trips for home games. I am also trying to think of any other A League club that "thinks nationally" for their sponsorship to the extent that they have to travel to another island to play a "home" game.

From season 1, those who needed to know surely must have known about the costs involved in running this club. If this sort of stuff wasn't foreseen then wow, what on earth were they thinking in trying to run a Wellington club, rather than a national one.

If we are going on the road for home games every season then why bother hanging onto the "Wellington" tag at all. Like the Warriors and the Breakers - I guess if a NZ based team wants to survive in an Australian competition it has to be all of NZ vs. an Australian city. I was hoping that the A League would be different.

I would like to say that I do hope that NZ gets another A League franchise. I think the P. North and the CHCH games have shown that there is enough support out there (note: Gold Coast and NQL support bases). Just this silly ACL rubbish needs to be sorted out. But I have already said in this thread that I will follow another NZ based A League team, even go to a few of their games as I would imagine that their supporters would have supported the Nix during these times.

Bums on seats in ROF games is what is required to keep games there, then lets do it. Stop blaming economics and sponsors for making fans who have been with the club since the very beginning pay hundreds of extra dollars to travel to 'home' games. Bums on seats. Starting with Friday. I have a 15k+ feeling.

Man, one good turnout in Chch and now, all of a sudden, us Wellington fans following a club based in OUR F*CKING CITY are being branded as selfish and naive for daring to suggest that home games actually be played in the city that we were founded in, are based in and named after.

Can't say I agree with this. Terry has invested a lot into this club for little financial gain. He has always said that he was expecting not to make much, if any money from the Phoenix. I can only assume that still applies, therefore this talk of money driving these moves around the country is a little strange to me.

Anyone here without a decent memory able to tell us how much extra the clubs are expected to get with the new TV deal being signed?

From what I can see, the A-League clubs are set to benefit already from the TV exposure the league gets. Sony came back to sponsor the Phoenix, and the Phoenix have made the play-offs.

We had crowds of 10,000 to start this season, until the run of very boring draws played out. That killed a good number of the casual fans.

I can't see how this club is suddenly so far in the red they need to go crawling around the country to keep afloat. Sounds like a lot of hot air to me.

And I do agree, the marketing effort could still be better. Mainstream TV ads on NZ channels anyone?

For crying out loud it's not a circus and wont become one. Just be f**ken grateful you have an A-League side in your city at all. One game a season home/away wont hurt anyone, two games is too much we all know that, and hopefully Tony and Terry will realize that too.

If only the preseason cup was still around, that could solve a lot.