Phoenix Ownership - Rob says FTFFA

Says it all really.

http://www.3news.co.nz/sport/4-4-2-episode-45--was...

442 on tv3 is all about the Phoenix, a supposition is that NZ Football are pushing the ASB Premiership so hard because they want the Phoenix out as they view them as competition.

Pretty sure quoting Foster is a bannable offence on these forums.

Not sure if the FFA geniuses are intelligent enough to have noticed that so I'd lean towrads no.

No wonder we aren't getting a license extension - us fudgeing shark cods can't even spell croud correctly.

Actually mods, its probably a good occasion to take off the swear filter. I feel justified in my expletives.

If true it really is a battle for which side of the Tasman has the biggest bunch of morons in charge of the game.

I'm not so sure that a lot of these seemingly separate pieces aren't related. 

Sorry Gordinho, but thats an emo point only.  It is not a valid argument to the accounts department. 

All that matters is the number of people going to the game. 

We are consistently low on that and have the lowest membership.

They want the Kiwi out of the Aussie camp

Wow I just read that, I admit to having a couple of beers today.

Yeah I agree, having good crouds and membership within the confines of Wellington and New Zealand is not relevant when we are competing with the likes of Sydney for a spot.

We have to be doing better than comparible markets like Newcastle and Gosford.

The whole point is we are doing better - we're getting a much better hit rate than the big clubs are. We're clearly doing some things a lot better then they are. 

How about we look at membership numbers as a proportion of population - we'd be looking pretty good there too i reckon. Those big cities just allow the clubs there to be slack but still get the punters because of bulk. Its not a performance issue. 

If its just about numbers then they should be dumping everything outside of Melbourne and Sydney - perhaps they are.....

However we seem to be dealing with idiots here who can't see more then a few cm in front of their noses. No chance of really signiricant growth and expansion under their model.

not sure what you are on about there. Our attendance is dropping and we have a target audience of 4 million. 

I was reading something about the MLS that reported that almost all of the clubs there pay to have their games televised locally on the likes of Sky TV. I don't think that is unusual at all in all manner of sports.

Yeah, it's been disappointingly noticeable - 6k for the opening game of the season, we were getting twice that 5-6 years ago. It's not a good trend when you're trying to make a sale.

To be honest my heart sank a bit when the 6k croud was announced for the last game - it's not a good look, no matter what our population.

I'm not sure that FFA would give a rats about the percentage of population that attend/watch games.  You could have a team based in Winton and even if 100% population of the town watch the games, at the end of the day you're still only getting 500 people per game.  

What I don't understand is how come a trans tasman competition can work so well for league, rugby, netball, basketball etc and yet all of a sudden it doesn't work for football? 

I wont quote word for word but the SBS guys state that the FFA get nothing back from a NZ team. The biggest being SKY paying nothing for the TV rights.

Ah. The FFA party line from the SBS sycophants.  Color me shocked.

Honestly though, I think the license crap hasn't helped croud numbers, and 2 games (A Sunday night and a Saturday night on a long weekend) isn't a huge sample to draw on. 

Anyway, as I said earlier, if WelNix don't mind signing up for 10 more years with the current crouds why should it bother the FFA.? Plus, crouds of 6000ish are actually respectable relative to top flight football in a lot of countries where its actually the major sport, unlike here where we are operating in a crouded sports market. Yes we have lower croud numbers than other teams but that in itself doesn't mean much. You could take a sample of 10 middle class families in NZ and say one of them is poorer than the other 9, but that doesn't mean they are actually poor. Not a perfect analogy of course, but the basic point is that someone always has to be worst on a list like that, but that doesn't in itself mean that that is bad.

Got this reply to a post i placed on Hyundai's facebook page.Pretty much what i thought they would say.

Hi Steve,  The Hyundai A-League competition is an Australian organisation, sponsored by Hyundai Australia. We are in touch with both Hyundai Australia & the Phoenix over this time as our team is an asset to NZ Football. We hope our boys continue to compete in the A League well into the future.

Lucy

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/a-league/wellington-phoenixs-a-league-future-fox-football-podcast-dissects-the-games-big-issues/story-e6frf4gl-1227584240684 

Over 80% support for keeping the Nix on the poll on the Fox site.

It's funny that a lot of the FFA's problem with us seems tied to broadcast rights and their TV deal with Fox, but Fox's editorial slant on this issue seems to be pro-Nix. Maybe they'll go into bat for us?

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/nzf-statement-wellingt...

NZ Football say that they support the nix and are talking to the FFA and Welnix to see how they can help. Hopefully not too late.

Take statements from NZ football at the moment with a grain of salt as in recent times they have all been about covering asses and explaining the inexcusable.

Time for some action from them but struggling to see what clout they would have. Sure as heck they won't be coughing out their funds

At least Pixie isn't here to see this happening to her beloved Phoenix 

#silverlinings

Who?

lmao

In relation to this thread - Not Pixie...

Disappointed the Dura/Lia scene didn't make the cut for the tribute video, but oh well

I wonder if Welnix can negotiate something along the lines that we have a four year extension but it automatically extends out to ten years if they meet certain criteria. So no renogotiations, etc.

Might have to buy our way back in..Is it worth it ?

"Under the current model and application rejected by the FFA, the Phoenix are regarded a financial strain on the governing body, who pay $2.55 million in TV revenue to the club but receive little in return....The Phoenix still have the opportunity of applying for a four-year licence but may have to submit different terms and a far more attractive offer if they're to remain in the A-League. A greater financial contribution from stakeholders in New Zealand would likely be required, including but not limited to covering all operational costs and funding. "

So how has the Simon Hill quoted figure of $3m been arrived at that the Nix has allegedly cost FFA? Also, in the time the Phoenix has been in existence how much has FFA spent underwriting, bailing out and propping up the many ailing Aussie franchises? Surely millions upon millions. FFA must be staggeringly deluded if they think things are magically going to change in the future. Petulant, fat cat owners will continue to dump their vanity projects, clubs will implode, players will be left in the lurch. Meanwhile a stable, healthy club with moneyed, motivated and ambitious owners, a growing tradition, a renowned club spirit, playing attractive football and with committed fans will be cut loose without a second thought. It's a tragedy.

This is PRECISELY what I've been saying. This is a shakedown. The FFA is looking at Wellington, and at the rioting racists from Southern Sydney, and pretty much saying "highest bidder".

Sickeningly - yes, it IS worth it, to have a professional football side in NZ.

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/pfa-wades-phoen...

We're generating proportionately bigger crouds per head of population than most other A League clubs. Unfortunately only 350,000 live in the Wellington region unlike the far bigger numbers in the Oz cities. I'm just trying to make the point that as well as being one of the better managed, funded, and organised clubs we also do pretty well on the pitch and outperform most other clubs in croud numbers (relative to population). Im sick of people knocking the club saying we have crap crouds when we're actually doing better than most ( given we dont have catchment populations of millions at the doorstep). We may have low absolute numbers but most other clubs have lower relative support levels. Some credit where its due eh! I hate the apathy of NZ populations to live sport but the reality is that it is actually worse in the big Aussie cities for football than in Wellington - they just look better cos their base populations are heaps higher. But everyone is slagging us off. It is damaging misinformation when we may need every positive we can find to push back on this.

I don't understand all the focus on the per capita attendance breakdown, it's an absolute irrelevance.

All that matters is $$$$$$$$.

So the FFA would take the dollars paid for coverage of our games each week and use it to what?  Bail out another clusterfudge they created by a lack of due dilligence on owners?   They expect us to pay more than our owners already do to to make them money?

Never thought I'd see the day when New Zealand Football show more signs of business common sense than Frank Lowy.  I think the fall caused some head injuries...

ROFL

this quote may be your finest work HN