Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA

Do you think they watched that game on Saturday?  Fudgeing horrid.  That 6 more times a season?

You also have to wonder just how thick they are if they think adding another team in a market will increase TV audiences.  The chances are very good that people who will watch the A-League already watch the A-League.  You might get a couple of thousand more bums on seats but the rest of them they will cannibalise from WSW and Sydney FC, places where if they are losing struggle to beat our crouds in a city the size of this whole country.

The TV audience for the massively over-hyped derby was down, concerningly so on Saturday night.  Now part of that will be people not able to face dire anti-football but the other part is that 3 'zOMG Ultraz darbeeee Rivalries' is already over-saturation.

They are working hard on a two city league and just have no feel for what the clubs and the people who support the league want.  #FFAOut

Do you think they watched that game on Saturday?  Fudgeing horrid.  That 6 more times a season?

You also have to wonder just how thick they are if they think adding another team in a market will increase TV audiences.  The chances are very good that people who will watch the A-League already watch the A-League.  You might get a couple of thousand more bums on seats but the rest of them they will cannibalise from WSW and Sydney FC, places where if they are losing struggle to beat our crouds in a city the size of this whole country.

The TV audience for the massively over-hyped derby was down, concerningly so on Saturday night.  Now part of that will be people not able to face dire anti-football but the other part is that 3 'zOMG Ultraz darbeeee Rivalries' is already over-saturation.

They are working hard on a two city league and just have no feel for what the clubs and the people who support the league want.  #FFAOut

I disagree with the "honourable" idea of walking and not playing out the licence. I know it is tough to play on, but it is also the right thing to do.

Otherwise the story will be interpreted to their (FFA) liking. I can already hear Bozza and others nodding in agreement as Damian de Bohun says:  "Welnix suddenly handed in the licence, maybe they had troubles, whatever, it was their decision, we had no choice but to quickly assemble a back-up team from Cronulla; we will of course now have to prop this new lot up as there are no supporters yet but that's what we have to do as the bloody Nix decided to pull the plug on us, and we were so generous with our 4-year extension offer".

I don't think the issue is about increasing the audiences (well, not directly anyway), but maximising the value of the next TV deal.

80k Fox viewers versus 188k for the same game last year tells another story.

But surely FOX aren't stupid enough to think putting another team in Sydney will suddely bring in another 30k viewers?  The FFA may be dumb enough but surely FOX would look at it and go yeah? Nah.

If anyone spells croud with a u again I'm going to scream

If anyone spells croud with a u again I'm going to scream

I'm getting a bit sick of the misrepresentations around croud performance. How about some facts using annual average croud attendances vs catchment populations. Who is really pulling their weight with crouds?

These stats estimate the average croud members per 1000 population for the different clubs(including the defunct ones). There are also some notes which indicate where away-fan numbers would be boosting particular club's attendance levels as well. Given the lack of away fan attendance in Wellington the fact that the Phoenix pulls 22 people per 1000 population is impressive - especially when it is clear that it has the 3rd highest level of croud-pulling performance (in population-relativity terms). Or its second if we leave out what the defunct North Queensland Fury achieved.

If Sydney FC  and WSW were pulling 22 croud members/1000 population then they would have to be getting average crouds of 106,784. The Melbourne teams would need to be getting 97,077.  These clubs may have bigger gross numbers due to population geography but in relative terms they're not performing well at all in croud-pulling terms. In fact Melbourne City do worse that the NZ Knights!

So those people saying the Phoenix aren't pulling crouds should think again. We're more than pulling our weight for the league in that respect in the league. CCM is by far the most effective club, with Wellington second (since North Queensland Fury are no more....). 

So those slagging the club off on croud number performance - think again! 

If anyone spells croud with a u again I'm going to scream

But surely FOX aren't stupid enough to think putting another team in Sydney will suddely bring in another 30k viewers?  The FFA may be dumb enough but surely FOX would look at it and go yeah? Nah.

The more I think about this (which is a lot - I'm not being very productive at work today) the more I think that these Cronulla investors have approached the FFA wanting to set up a team. The FFA don't want to wait to the next TV deal to introduce them but can't afford to give them the salary cap money before then because its already being split 10 ways. Their solution is to force the Nix out so they can bring in the new guys. Presumably because they think they'll significantly increase TV ratings and consequently generate more cash from the next TV deal. Put simply, the FFA would rather have 3 Sydney teams next year than keep the Nix around.

That makes two of us

But surely FOX aren't stupid enough to think putting another team in Sydney will suddely bring in another 30k viewers?  The FFA may be dumb enough but surely FOX would look at it and go yeah? Nah.

I'm sick of the misrepresentations and ignorance around croud-pulling performance. here's some data for all clubs (including those now sadly defunct).

These stats show average annual croud attendances vs population catchments. This shows who is performing relatively better in getting bums on seats at games. Phoenix comes in 3rd with 22 per each 1000 population. Or we're 2nd if we leave out North Queensland Fury. CCM is the top performer getting almost 56 croud members for each 1000 of their catchment population. Bloody good effort that!

If Sydney Clubs were pulling at 22/1000 they'd have crouds of 106,784. The Melbourne Clubs would have crouds of 97,077. They have local derbies and the Sydney games have access to thousands of potential visiting fans from CCM and Newcastle catchments. Despite the Nix getting virtually no visiting fans (and we love you guys who do show up), look how they are doing! Who are really performing poorly? How come the Sydney and Melbourne games have such relatively small crouds? Not knocking their supporters at all - just adding up the numbers...

The upshot is that on relative terms we are more than pulling our weight on croud numbers. Let debunk that right now.

I have a feeling this is absolutely the key dynamic behind this. I think the FFA have been nervous about the commercial potential and value of the Phoenix for a wee while, but were reluctant to make a big call since a 10-team competition is better than a 9-team competition. The fact that this is happening right now suggests to me that the FFA feel confident they will have a viable replacement team for the next season.

Click the little icon with mountains on it

If anyone spells croud with a u again I'm going to scream

If anyone spells croud with a u again I'm going to scream ;)

I hope Hyundai makes a call to the FFA and say that they do not want to loose the 4.5 Million NZ market. What's is their role in the business?

Contract terminated sometime soon

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Kwabena APPIAH-KUBI

Troy DANASKOS

Tom DOYLE

Andrew DURANTE

Justin GULLEY

Lewis ITALIANO

Roy KRISHNA (f)

Vince LIA

Michael McGLINCHEY

Manny MUSCAT

Blake POWELL (+1)

Matthew RIDENTON (u21)

Alex RODRIGUEZ GORRIN (f) (+1)

Alex RUFER (u21)

Ben SIGMUND

Roly BONEVACIA (f)

Louis FENTON

Dylan FOX

Glen MOSS

Albert RIERA (f)

Oliver SAIL (u21)

Jeffrey SARPONG (f)

James McGARRY (u21)

Logan ROGERSON (u21)

NZF are paying SKY to have the ASB Prem on TV.