Can we hurry up and ditch ANZ stadium?

[Number 43]

The fantastic win today reinforces how much better we would be if we could play all of our home games at the SCG. Let's ditch ANZ stadium asap and recreate the fortress of the SCG. Go Bloods!

[ugg]

A telling and unprovoked comment from ROK at the after match that he was glad this game was played at the SCG rather than ANZ.

[Big Al]

The fantastic win today reinforces how much better we would be if we could play all of our home games at the SCG. Let's ditch ANZ stadium asap and recreate the fortress of the SCG. Go Bloods!

[erica]

I wish. Unfortunately, I think we are locked into a contract.

[Damien]

A chat I had at the Chairman's Club suggested that the Club was looking to move away from ANZ once GWS was settled. I hope that's true because SCG is our home and it's the perfect size for our supporter base.

[Beaussie]

We will always struggle for relevance in this city and wins on big grounds around the country if we wish to hide at the SCG all season. BTW, anyone considered our bottom line minus all the 3 game ANZ Stadium supporters? Clearly not.

[teddys mum]

We will always struggle for relevance in this city and wins on big grounds around the country if we wish to hide at the SCG all season.

BTW, anyone considered our bottom line minus all the 3 game ANZ Stadium supporters? Clearly not.

1. SCG is bigger in capacity than both the Gabba and Subiaco. Geelong seems pretty relevant to me and they play on the smallest ground.
2. What about all those 8 game SCG only members who would upgrade to an 11 game SCG membership?

Bring on GWS so Swans can reduce the number of ANZ games to a bare minimum - once Swans start selling out the SCG then the number of games at ANZ could be increased.

[Beaussie]

Bring on GWS so Swans can reduce the number of ANZ games to a bare minimum - once Swans start selling out the SCG then the number of games at ANZ could be increased.

Swans sellout the SCG. lol

When was the last time we got anywhere near a sellout at the SCG???

[Damien]

We will always struggle for relevance in this city and wins on big grounds around the country if we wish to hide at the SCG all season. BTW, anyone considered our bottom line minus all the 3 game ANZ Stadium supporters? Clearly not.

I would suggest this year that ANZ has hurt our bottom line and not added too it. We aren't a whole of Sydney team from 2012 either and I think our clear advantage is the ground we train at, so why not force EVERYONE to come visit us at the SCG? ANZ will not help our relevance, in fact I'd argue that our greatest week in, week out years of fan love and media coverage was when ANZ was still being built on that swamp at Homebush.

[Beaussie]

1. SCG is bigger in capacity than both the Gabba and Subiaco. Geelong seems pretty relevant to me and they play on the smallest ground.
2. What about all those 8 game SCG only members who would upgrade to an 11 game SCG membership?

Geelong is in a football mad state and win flags. That makes them relevant. As for capacity, what's your point, we never reach capacity at the SCG anyway?

As for your second point, lets just see our finances once all games are SCG only. Be careful what you wish for though, we'll be in even more trouble financially then we are now when we decide to ignore the west of Sydney to represent the north shore and eastern suburbs fan base.

[Beaussie]

I would suggest this year that ANZ has hurt our bottom line and not added too it.

Care to elaborate? Doesn't seem to hurt clubs from other codes in Sydney. In fact from what I've read and heard, it's very profitable for them. If we aren't being rewarded likewise, I would like to know why not and who negotiated our deal. Sounds incompetent on our part if true.

We aren't a whole of Sydney team from 2012 either and I think our clear advantage is the ground we train at, so why not force EVERYONE to come visit us at the SCG? ANZ will not help our relevance, in fact I'd argue that our greatest week in, week out years of fan love and media coverage was when ANZ was still being built on that swamp at Homebush.

Surely by now you would appreciate that trying to force people to visit us at the SCG does not work. When exactly was our last sellout at the SCG? When did we even go close? If we can't have a presence at the biggest stadium in the centre of Sydney where all other teams in other codes take their big games then I'm afraid we are pretty much irrelevant in this city. As to your final point I'd agree with the fan love and media coverage points you make. We were however a very different team then with a different style of play and results to match it. Did you by any chance see our tv ratings in Sydney last week? Oh my god, were they awful or what? More concerning though is the continuing decline in tv numbers each week. Nothing to do with stadiums. More to do with on field performance. Wouldn't you agree?

[Damien]

In terms of bottom line, the AFL ended up funding us out of the bad ANZ deal they left us with. Our original deal was 3 games however we had a min crowd of 50K built into it because the AFL had signed a 11 game contract with the stadium in 1999, the new deal signed a few years ago is more favourable but for it to be a massive boost, we need to be getting 50 plus crowds.

Souths and Canterbury get paid 100K a game to play there and Wests Tigers left ANZ this year to play their non traditional home games (Camp/Leic) at SFS. You seem to be talking about ANZ as if it's the MCG.

Also, the ground is groomed for Rugby Codes, it's horrible to play on. Talk to any player from our team or the three teams we play and they will tell you that you need to wear multiple boots at ANZ because you have no idea what the surface is going to do one patch to the next.

I get you love the ground and it's capacity to grow further with the Swans than the SCG, but the SCG is our home and it's big enough for us, for now and to grow.