[PRO] Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

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Nathan
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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#61 Post by Nathan » Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:03 am

What I want to know is where those fans from 2013-16 have gone? What's stopped them coming to games, and how can they be won back?

I've only been going the last two years, became a member last season, as my son has been getting really into the sport. I never went to a game before 2021. It's enjoyable — I'm not expecting Premier League, and it doesn't need to be. The games are still entertaining, the atmosphere at Coopers is good, the stadium is easy to move around in, the players are approachable, and compared to the bigger sports it's pretty affordable to go to.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#62 Post by ChillyPhilly » Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:53 am

JCK98 wrote:
Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:35 pm
ChillyPhilly wrote:
Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:46 pm
abc wrote:
Fri Oct 21, 2022 8:15 pm


I don't see the use case for an upgraded/expanded Hindmarsh. The current facility serves primarily one tenant whose base isn't growing but dwindling, plus the odd outdoor concert.
A large centralised indoor facility would have far wider usability.
An indoor facility is a no-go for football.

The Riverbank Arena plan would have gained more traction if it was completely flexible (i.e. able to convert to a grass pitch for AUFC). Even less justifiable than this use is for basketball, which was the main anchor point of the proposal.

A new rectangular stadium will be a must in the future - this is inevitable - and the best inner city site is immediately west of Adelaide Oval.
An outdoor soccer stadium would be a no-go for basketball/netball/some concerts that could be hosted at an Entertainment Centre replacement, whereas major soccer games could be hosted at Adelaide Oval (same for Rugby League and Union).

Adelaide United games could stay at Hindmarsh (might pay to keep upgrading it), which would be better suited for those size crowds, which seems to be a model other A-League teams are copying right now (like Victory leaving Docklands, Roar mostly moving away from Suncorp and Western United eventually moving into a boutique stadium in Western Melbourne).

The only problem is if a Soccer World Cup comes to Australia which can't happen until 2034 anyway (or maybe an Asian Cup before hand).

Can't see this government doing either anyway, more likely to spend money getting a SANFL ground up to AFL standard for 3 matches during "Magic Round".
Adelaide Oval is dreadful for any sport played on a rectangle pitch, and ground-level stands are not technically AFC- or FIFA-compliant, meaning that the venue would be unable to host Asian Cup fixtures. This is also a factor in Melbourne Victory cancelling any further games at Docklands, despite the positive impact this had on their membership base and attendances. It will soon be up to Brisbane Roar to find a more atmospheric ground.

Regarding declining attendances, this is mostly due to multiple factors and not a fault of the club itself. At an AUFC-only level, past ownership burnt many bridges, many of whom have not opted to return. Declining attendances are across the board throughout the league. Keep in mind that for much of the 2020-21 season, Hindmarsh had a maximum capacity of 50%, then this was lifted to 75%. Capacity was reduced even less for 2021-22 as the Eastern Stand was closed for the upgrade.

Now that league operation is a vastly better model, once this is truly settled I think we can see some uptick.

Investment in the code is critical, because it is far and out more watched than any other sport on earth. The AFL Grand Final can pull 3-4m viewers on TV, but a 2012 Asian Champions League match in Adelaide saw over 120m+ viewers in Japan. Demographically, as the traditional 'Australian Rules followers' age brackets move on and pass away, and Australia's immigrant population grows and start families here, the sport will only grow further.

However, this will be negated by the following factors:
- Ridiculous pricing of grassroots participation and exorbitant junior football club fees, which means the richest players take the pathways toward national teams, rather than the best players. This affects player development and the quality of players;
- Overpolicing and poor treatment of fans and past unnecessary bans;
- Poor refereeing, VAR included;
- Negative and incorrect tainting by News Corp media;
- Past bowing down to Foxtel, resulting in pointless franchises in Western United and Macarthur;
- and East Coast Bias.
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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#63 Post by Nathan » Fri Oct 28, 2022 11:07 am

ChillyPhilly wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:53 am
- Ridiculous pricing of grassroots participation and exorbitant junior football club fees, which means the richest players take the pathways toward national teams, rather than the best players. This affects player development and the quality of players;
I'm just experiencing this. Looked at our closest club, and for an 8yo they want a whopping $850 for a season (and have them training two nights a week!). Have just signed him up elsewhere under Miniroos (which first club don't offer), and that's looking to be more around the $500-$550 mark including kit. Still crazy, but not as bad as $850. Meanwhile my 10yo nephew does AFL and it costs his parents $280 a season. And it's all because clubs fleece the juniors to pay their senior players.

(There's also a lack of details, from nearly every single club, available online. It's like they all assume that parents are already involved in the club and just know everything. As a complete newcomer, I had to email clubs just to find out details like: cost, when the season is, when training is, when games are on, when registration is, etc. Some clubs didn't even respond. We missed out entirely last season because even though we enquired in February, before the season starts [and when they were advertising Miniroos heavily at A-League and Socceroos games], we were told they were full up and registration was done the prior October - 5 months before the season starts)

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#64 Post by abc » Fri Oct 28, 2022 12:08 pm

Algernon wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:15 am
The A-League is struggling, notwithstanding the obvious impact of covid, because of the internal revolt in FFA that lead to the clubs assuming control and ownership of the league.It went on longer than it should have and a whole lot of noses were bent out of shape. But on the recovery side, the APL just sold a 30% equity stake to Silverlake for 130 million and has a streaming deal with paramount financially similar to what Fox paid when the league was reaching its second peak in 2015-16. Further, the two new entrants Macarthur and Western United contributed about 50 million to the league coffers in license fees.

Just to put the Silverlake deal into context, AU as a 1/12 owner of the A-League own the entity that had 130 million pumped in. About 10 million each for clubs which have a salary cap not far north of 2 million (a cap in itself which is already covered by the media deal). Adelaide United isn't going anywhere for a looooong time.
TV ratings for the A-league are abominable. Nearly nobody watches Channel 10's select matches and very few have Paramount.
The decline started when Foxtel lost the Premier League rights and accelerated when Foxtel abandoned the A-league.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#65 Post by Algernon » Fri Oct 28, 2022 7:53 pm

abc wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 12:08 pm
Algernon wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:15 am
The A-League is struggling, notwithstanding the obvious impact of covid, because of the internal revolt in FFA that lead to the clubs assuming control and ownership of the league.It went on longer than it should have and a whole lot of noses were bent out of shape. But on the recovery side, the APL just sold a 30% equity stake to Silverlake for 130 million and has a streaming deal with paramount financially similar to what Fox paid when the league was reaching its second peak in 2015-16. Further, the two new entrants Macarthur and Western United contributed about 50 million to the league coffers in license fees.

Just to put the Silverlake deal into context, AU as a 1/12 owner of the A-League own the entity that had 130 million pumped in. About 10 million each for clubs which have a salary cap not far north of 2 million (a cap in itself which is already covered by the media deal). Adelaide United isn't going anywhere for a looooong time.
TV ratings for the A-league are abominable. Nearly nobody watches Channel 10's select matches and very few have Paramount.
The decline started when Foxtel lost the Premier League rights and accelerated when Foxtel abandoned the A-league.
The audience split hurt more than the FFA has acknowledged, yes. This is probably around the right time that the decline from the second peak started, yes, but it's well down the list of causes. Chillypilly made a pretty good go of a list. The New LTD ambush followed by Gallop and Lowy hiding under their blanket was the starting point. I haven't been a club member since that point.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#66 Post by Nathan » Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:30 pm

I'll agree about Paramount+. As a new/casual fan, it was handy having it on Kayo (which I already had to watch F1). The proposition that I needed to sign up to something completely different was too much. (Although in the end, I got a long trial of it which covered most of last season, and I've got it free this season as part of my sons AU membership). And it's shit — none of the niceties we expect of streaming sports like pausing live coverage, or watching from the start while the game is in progress. If you miss the start, you still need to wait hours after the game is finished for it to be uploaded. You can almost excuse the first season, but that it's still a shambles this season is inexcusable.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#67 Post by ChillyPhilly » Sun Oct 30, 2022 6:52 pm

Photo of the new stand.

It does make some difference to acoustics, which is great.

Now for the remainder of the stadium to get a roof.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#68 Post by Nathan » Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:10 pm

ChillyPhilly wrote:
Sun Oct 30, 2022 6:52 pm
It does make some difference to acoustics, which is great.
I think that was the whole new AV system. Sound around the ground was much improved. Red Army were a bit quiet though.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#69 Post by Brucetiki » Mon Oct 31, 2022 3:26 pm

ChillyPhilly wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:53 am
- Poor refereeing, VAR included;
The A-League had a social media post today celebrating 4 red cards last weekend as a highlight of the round.

It's becoming blatant they're resorting to controversial refereeing and VAR referrals to gain some notoriety and be noticed.

Ultimately this isn't going to translate into bums on seats, which is why Hindmarsh will be perfectly fine for Adelaide United for years to come.

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[PRO] Re: Hindmarsh Stadium Upgrade

#70 Post by Algernon » Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:56 am

Great view of Hindmarsh stadium and surrounds in this drone footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdRL_21 ... aliawithme

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