Wellington is it working??

[Con Gorozidis]

Is it working? Depends on what your expectations were.
If anyone thought we were going to roll in to town and convert the locals with a new religion - then those people will be disappointed. That will never happen.
For those who think this is an AFL funded marketing trip and good for the Saints finances - then it is working as planned.

[Con Gorozidis]

500k a game says its great! The Tassie experience is exactly the reason the club should persist - when (if) we start winning games the Kiwis will claim us and jump on board!

Don't want to pick a fight but that will never happen.
NZ isn't another Tassie.
Huge cultural divide. They will remain resistant to religious conversion.

[saintspremiers]

As prespective, how much did the Wellngton-Sydney A-league game get yesterday?

13,248

[Stephen Theodore]

I don't think it will be the Saints that end the experiment - hard to see Wellington wanting to renew it unless we show something special in the next two years.

Exactly. If what snoopydog said is correct then Wellington obviously don't want the game. Not a good sign when they are paying.

Depends on how much tourist dollars are being pumped into Welly, and if it's an adequate return on investment

If it's an accurate statement, there's a fair chance Wellington City is not receiving a return on their investment

[Legendary]

As prespective, how much did the Wellngton-Sydney A-league game get yesterday?

13,248 for the A-league

So a home team which plays half their matches in NZ couldn't drawn more than an extra thousand people...

We need to stick with it over there - once our performance turns around and Billings and McCartin are stars of the comp, the fans will be more engaged

[plugger66]

As prespective, how much did the Wellngton-Sydney A-league game get yesterday?

13,248 for the A-league

So a home team which plays half their matches in NZ couldn't drawn more than an extra thousand people...

We need to stick with it over there - once our performance turns around and Billings and McCartin are stars of the comp, the fans will be more engaged

That doesn't make our crowd good though, just makes the other crowd poor. I doubt it will ever really be a popular game even when we do improve. Obviously less NZ are going than the previous years and probably less Saints fans as well. And if the club are looking at playing in Auckland it means Wellington don't want us.

We will obviously stay as long as they want us but it may not be to long if the crowds keep dropping. As far as helping us long term with memberships and sponsorships well I think that is a complete dream.

[The Disch]

For as long as we are getting half a mill bribe to play in NZ we should stay. It's all about the money.

If another place offers up then we consider that. We need the cash. End of story.

What's the after cost figure thogh?

[The Redeemer]

If we are looking to make money and not really care about the results then...it is working?

If we care about the results (why considering where we are at) then we should be at Etihad.

[saintspremiers]

If we are looking to make money and not really care about the results then...it is working?

If we care about the results (why considering where we are at) then we should be at Etihad.

Yes we win often at Etihad nowadays

[citywest]

Kiwi Kick is growing. Once the Saints improve, more and more people will come to the game. We have nothing to lose by playing one game there per year, plus we get paid $500k. If Wellington don't want to renew the contract after it expires then so be it. But if they do, we must keep playing there and building up the interest. If we abandon this venture then I honestly fear for our club. Don't forget we are $9mill in the red and that is after 10 years of 'success'.

[Eastern]

I reckon that 8,000-9,000 of the crowd were Aussies (5,500 saints). Most stayed at least 2 nights in NZ (many made a holiday out it and stayed for 1 week or more).

We stayed 2 nights and spent around $800-$1,000 on accomadation, food, drinks etc (minus airfares). The Wellington economy would have got a massive boost from it. I heard that there might be a move from Wellington to Aukland in 3 yrs time. That would be in line with our contract with Wellington running out and a re-development of a stadium.

On another note it has politically smart for Welllington to have us. The NZ Gov't seem to want to make Wellington the hub for tourists and as such want to extend Wellington Airport to cater for the larger aircraft. We have been just a small part of their campaign to sell the idea to the NZ people.

Ours was our 1st trip over and we will definitely be going back next year. We had a ball (except for the result of the game) !!

[Enrico_Misso]

I reckon that 8,000-9,000 of the crowd were Aussies (5,500 saints). Most stayed at least 2 nights in NZ (many made a holiday out it and stayed for 1 week or more).

We stayed 2 nights and spent around $800-$1,000 on accomadation, food, drinks etc (minus airfares). The Wellington economy would have got a massive boost from it. I heard that there might be a move from Wellington to Aukland in 3 yrs time. That would be in line with our contract with Wellington running out and a re-development of a stadium.

On another note it has politically smart for Welllington to have us. The NZ Gov't seem to want to make Wellington the hub for tourists and as such want to extend Wellington Airport to cater for the larger aircraft. We have been just a small part of their campaign to sell the idea to the NZ people.

Ours was our 1st trip over and we will definitely be going back next year. We had a ball (except for the result of the game) !!

Totally agree.
Simple maths says 8,000 people paying $500 minimum = $4m pumped into their economy.
Every cafe, restaurant or pub we went into had at least one table of people with StK or CFCS scarves.
And a smaller number will have stayed on and turned it into a full blown NZ holiday.

No wonder they are happy to pay us $0.5m.

But, apart from the game, it was a great experience and I would definitely go back again.

[Teflon]

I would like to see the AFL do at least one country match per season. The pre season game I saw with Hawks and North up at Shepparton went well- good ground, large enthusiastic crowd and I think a match for premiership points should be looked at. The AFL really need to get out there and push the game in the regions- bugger NZ.

Agree with this.

Country love their footy and dont get enough of AFL outside Melbourne

Saints should really start to harvest a country region in addition to NZ....have to grow.

[Enrico_Misso]

Gippsland would be the most obvious place and we have many supporters there.
(Though obviously we have had some strong player links to Ballarat and Bendigo).

[Bluthy]

If it was really only 6000 crowd that's not good. But I think there is another element to this that is hard to quantify. The bigger clubs love to put the boot into us about not pulling our weight in the comp and being "takers" (which is crap but that's the perception). We have to be seen to be dynamic and expanding. The AFL LOOOOOVVVEEE new markets now that the traditional heartland has reached saturation point. With Soccer and rugby sniffing away everywhere including NZ the AFL want a footprint wherever they can and we will get brownie points for being hearty pioneers in a foreign country.

We've taken the game onto the international stage for real points for the first time - something we can chuck back in soccers face when the brag about being the "world game". We are putting a footprint in NZ where the other codes are trying to grab hold of. Who knows - we may also gain one day with a really good NZ recruit. There could be NZ based companies operating in Aus (or vice versa) who want to sponsor us because we represent a co-country crossover model. And cable and the internet is making broadcasting of sport irrelevant to country borders. But also it just makes the club look dynamic, big and ambitious rather than locked in our little traditional heartland. So there are lots of elements to this and as we get better hopefully we look better to our NZ bros.

[karnaby]

At the risk of being proved wrong, I think that the club should persevere with the NZ venture. True, the results have been underwhelming, however, the revenue and marketing potential is what the whole exercise is about, and to become established we need to hang in and stay the course. I do believe we gave up on Tassie WAY too early!

Agree Jigster.

It barely matters where we play any game this year or next we're not going to be too likely to win. This is our chance to help develop a new market in conjunction with the afl. It's actually going to take effort to stick at it in the face of our on field adversity but I believe that we have to continue. I don't think it's got anything to do with gaining a significant Saints supporter base in Wellington in the short term. It's about increasing the afl's presence and as we improve over time then maybe we will eventually gain a significant benefit from our groundwork.

Personally I feel that some people are inclined to knee jerk reactions and don't look far past the short term. Frankly we are only a small, and currently very unsuccessful, part of a big league. How anyone expects to change that by being reactionary and shying away from sticking to a difficult course is beyond me.

We've got a pretty poor history in terms of building long term consistency as evidenced by where we've been located, we're we play and turnover in administration and coaches. I firmly believe that it is time to avoid continuing down that sorry path. Our current administration seems to be building towards a (hopefully) brighter future. This is one of the planks in that future and I believe we should have the balls to keep at it until we make it a strength.

For info, here is an article from today's Wellington Dominion post. It avoids some of the passion we as supporters might succumb to.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-spor ... ew-zealand

[miskycat]

Is it working?

NO

[karnaby]

Is it working?

NO

Crap.

[asiu]

bigger picture stuff for me.
... stick it out 'n go as hard as we can (whilst stay'n real) to make it work.

sorta pointless doin otherwise after agreeing to give it a go.

re tassy
... anywhere anytime was GT's mantra


Squibs.

[matrix]

shouldve stayed in tassie
said it from the start

oh well
500k for nz
hopefully games start going into nz live on tv this week, you know...that might actually help in the long run

[IanRush]

As prespective, how much did the Wellngton-Sydney A-league game get yesterday?

13,248 for the A-league

So a home team which plays half their matches in NZ couldn't drawn more than an extra thousand people...

We need to stick with it over there - once our performance turns around and Billings and McCartin are stars of the comp, the fans will be more engaged

OK, what are the Hurricanes (Wellington’s Super 15 rugby team) averaging of late, crowd wise?

Angle is the ‘perspective’ angle here (i.e. is AFL the problem, or are the folk of Wellington not attending sports events in big numbers).

I know for sure the FFA is not happy with Wellington in the A-League (lack of constant big crowds and lack of TV Money into Aus from NZ soccer) and are reviewing their position in the A-League beyond 2016.

[IluvHarvey]

I heard Nathan Burke on the radio say that last year the crowd of 15000 was financially the equivalent of ( I might get this a little wrong) 3 Home games at the MCG and 6-7 Home games at Etihad.
So that alone means Yes it is working.........
I think he said it was 1/3 of our attendance revenue for the year.

[ace]

If we get paid more to play in Timbuktu then we play in Timbuktu.
From St Kilda's perspective it is not about bums on seats it is about money.
It is not like a heap of St Kilda fans fly over just for the game.
Playing on ANZAC day in New Zealand works for the TV rights holder.
Marketing the game is an AFL responsibility so lack of bums on seats is their probelm.

[spert]

I heard Nathan Burke on the radio say that last year the crowd of 15000 was financially the equivalent of ( I might get this a little wrong) 3 Home games at the MCG and 6-7 Home games at Etihad.
So that alone means Yes it is working.........
I think he said it was 1/3 of our attendance revenue for the year.

Sad to think that we send our team to NZ, never won a game, lost in lack-lustre performances in the last two efforts to two other struggling teams in Carlton and Brisbane, play to a small crowd, the locals have largely lost interest in the whole thing- next game attendance will be three men and a sheep. Maybe the brains trust need to look at other, more inspiring avenues of improving the finances.

[plugger66]

If we get paid more to play in Timbuktu then we play in Timbuktu.
From St Kilda's perspective it is not about bums on seats it is about money.
It is not like a heap of St Kilda fans fly over just for the game.
Playing on ANZAC day in New Zealand works for the TV rights holder.
Marketing the game is an AFL responsibility so lack of bums on seats is their probelm.

Not so sure how playing in NZ works for the TV rights holder. I think people are still failing to understand snoopygirl statement that they are looking at Auckland in the future. We are being paid by Wellington so that suggests they may not want us there much longer. It may be out of our hands.