quentinClive, you've done it again!!!
August 20th 2010 03:46
Well for those who don't remember, earlier this year I had a post dedicated to the ongoing battle between Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer and the Football Federation of Australia. This concerned comments, thumbing nose at authority, lashing out at the FFA and crowd caps.
Unfortunately it's the pesky crowd cap that has made its return and pours scorn on Gold Coast. As reported on The World Game - Gold Coast Crowd Cap Back Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer made the decision to reintroduce the cap after recording an opening round crowd of just 6,394 in the South Queensland derby against Brisbane Roar
As an outsider looking in and having read several comments and stories about this situation, it can be painfully obvious that there are a lot of issues here that need resolving.
1. Move to a smaller stadium
Skilled Park holds around 28,000 fans which is a good thing to allow for new supporters and the like but unfortunately the costs involved with such a stadium are absolutely barbaric. If Skilled Park is capped at 5000, they only pay $40,000 in rent however if the whole stadium is open, it costs $140,000 in rent. That's $100,000 difference in rent which a smaller boutique stadium wouldn't have.
2. Strike a better stadium deal with the QLD Government
The fact that 5,000 people costs $40,000 rent and 5,001 people costs $140,000 rent is a ridiculous cause for concern. The QLD Government hasn't really helped out GCU here and considering Palmer is a Liberal while the Government is Labor, I doubt that there'll be any decent negotiation here. If they were to negotiate, rent should be paid according to how many turn up so for example, 7,000 people = $35,000 rent. This would work under the 25% principle. If 25% stadium is full, you charge $35,000 rent, 50% would be $70,000 rent. If you get say 5,000 people, the rent would decrease from the $35,000 accordingly.
3. Lower the ticket prices
It is no secret that last season, Gold Coast had the highest ticket prices in the league. Essentially they were running the club as a business (i.e. to make money). This approach is fine as long as you have the people turning up to justify it. Clearly Gold Coast don't have the people. I went on to the Ticketek website to look at the Gold Coast prices and was left alarmed.
The cheapest tickets for each type were
Adults - $25 (category 3 and home team bay)
Concession - $21 (same as adult)
Junior (4-14) - $14 (category 3)
Family (2 adults and 2 children) - $72 (category 3)
Family of 2 (1 adult and 1 child) - $41 (category 3)
If you want good seats, the prices then start to increase making it hard for people to afford it.
Adults - $49
Concession - $39
Junior - $28
Family (2 2) - $136
Family (1 1) - $68
People on the Gold Coast evidently don't want to pay extreme pricing for seats to the soccer. Also their tickets don't allow free public transport which isn't great.
4. Get out in the local community and do some promotion
This is the most simple and obvious way to ensure that the club is in the eyes of the local community. Send players to schools, promote at local soccer clubs, offer discounted tickets do all the basic things that will more than likely endear you to fans. Billboards, TV and Radio ads, use some bloody imagination. It's really not that bloody hard.
Fair dinkum, this is where the Gold Coast have failed and really, they've already burnt some bridges so they have a long way to go to get back from this
5. Get rid of Clive Palmer and Miron Bleiberg
In any organisation, the person/people who is/are the public face of the organisation/company/club can often go a long way towards determining what you think of that club.
Take Manchester United in the mid 1990's. They were everywhere, promoted ruthlessly and also had a snarling image led by the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Keane, Cantona. This led to them being disliked with a passion by everyone who weren't United supporters and led to the founding of a club called ABU (Anyone But United). This isn't a good image, most definately.
To link the United example to Gold Coast, you have, as the face of Gold Coast, 2 people who ramble on, challenge authority and who are insufferably arrogant. This isn't a good look for Gold Coast and unfortunately has turned off a lot of people since the beginning. It's sad really considering they have players like Jason Culina and Shane Smeltz but people won't be watching those players because of Palmer and Bleiberg. You get rid of them and bring in people who are football astute and are easy to deal with and suddenly the whole club projects a more positive image thereby bringing in people.
It's sad that I, as an outsider can basically say the 5 things they need to do to get a better image and draw the crowds in and frankly it's astonishing that they haven't acted on these things
All that can be said at this point is
Clive, you've done it again!!!!
Unfortunately it's the pesky crowd cap that has made its return and pours scorn on Gold Coast. As reported on The World Game - Gold Coast Crowd Cap Back Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer made the decision to reintroduce the cap after recording an opening round crowd of just 6,394 in the South Queensland derby against Brisbane Roar
As an outsider looking in and having read several comments and stories about this situation, it can be painfully obvious that there are a lot of issues here that need resolving.
1. Move to a smaller stadium
Skilled Park holds around 28,000 fans which is a good thing to allow for new supporters and the like but unfortunately the costs involved with such a stadium are absolutely barbaric. If Skilled Park is capped at 5000, they only pay $40,000 in rent however if the whole stadium is open, it costs $140,000 in rent. That's $100,000 difference in rent which a smaller boutique stadium wouldn't have.
2. Strike a better stadium deal with the QLD Government
The fact that 5,000 people costs $40,000 rent and 5,001 people costs $140,000 rent is a ridiculous cause for concern. The QLD Government hasn't really helped out GCU here and considering Palmer is a Liberal while the Government is Labor, I doubt that there'll be any decent negotiation here. If they were to negotiate, rent should be paid according to how many turn up so for example, 7,000 people = $35,000 rent. This would work under the 25% principle. If 25% stadium is full, you charge $35,000 rent, 50% would be $70,000 rent. If you get say 5,000 people, the rent would decrease from the $35,000 accordingly.
3. Lower the ticket prices
It is no secret that last season, Gold Coast had the highest ticket prices in the league. Essentially they were running the club as a business (i.e. to make money). This approach is fine as long as you have the people turning up to justify it. Clearly Gold Coast don't have the people. I went on to the Ticketek website to look at the Gold Coast prices and was left alarmed.
The cheapest tickets for each type were
Adults - $25 (category 3 and home team bay)
Concession - $21 (same as adult)
Junior (4-14) - $14 (category 3)
Family (2 adults and 2 children) - $72 (category 3)
Family of 2 (1 adult and 1 child) - $41 (category 3)
If you want good seats, the prices then start to increase making it hard for people to afford it.
Adults - $49
Concession - $39
Junior - $28
Family (2 2) - $136
Family (1 1) - $68
People on the Gold Coast evidently don't want to pay extreme pricing for seats to the soccer. Also their tickets don't allow free public transport which isn't great.
4. Get out in the local community and do some promotion
This is the most simple and obvious way to ensure that the club is in the eyes of the local community. Send players to schools, promote at local soccer clubs, offer discounted tickets do all the basic things that will more than likely endear you to fans. Billboards, TV and Radio ads, use some bloody imagination. It's really not that bloody hard.
Fair dinkum, this is where the Gold Coast have failed and really, they've already burnt some bridges so they have a long way to go to get back from this
5. Get rid of Clive Palmer and Miron Bleiberg
In any organisation, the person/people who is/are the public face of the organisation/company/club can often go a long way towards determining what you think of that club.
Take Manchester United in the mid 1990's. They were everywhere, promoted ruthlessly and also had a snarling image led by the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Keane, Cantona. This led to them being disliked with a passion by everyone who weren't United supporters and led to the founding of a club called ABU (Anyone But United). This isn't a good image, most definately.
To link the United example to Gold Coast, you have, as the face of Gold Coast, 2 people who ramble on, challenge authority and who are insufferably arrogant. This isn't a good look for Gold Coast and unfortunately has turned off a lot of people since the beginning. It's sad really considering they have players like Jason Culina and Shane Smeltz but people won't be watching those players because of Palmer and Bleiberg. You get rid of them and bring in people who are football astute and are easy to deal with and suddenly the whole club projects a more positive image thereby bringing in people.
It's sad that I, as an outsider can basically say the 5 things they need to do to get a better image and draw the crowds in and frankly it's astonishing that they haven't acted on these things
All that can be said at this point is
Clive, you've done it again!!!!
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