Melbourne Rebels 2024

[RugbyReg]

I take it you failed to read the article than champ

yeah daddio. I didn't read the pay-walled article.

 

[oztimmay]

yeah daddio. I didn't read the pay-walled article.

archive.is is your friend, dear Reg.

 

[Rebel man]

I remain skeptical overall and hope there are real plans being cooked up that have a likelihood of succeeding, and it's not just a pie in the sky, any port in a storm, directors throwing all the shit at RA thing dragging this out.

However, there's very little doubt that this Consortium does have in an interest (a deeply self serving one, but a sincere one nonetheless) in doing everything they can to make that area across Wyndham City & Melton City Councils somewhere people want to live, work and travel to for entertainment, and we can be a part of that. If there is genuinely money there that gets us to RWC, I hope they're given a shot at taking us through rather than the unceremonious dumping that seems to be on the cards.

Rugby getting a foothold in the west would help the game big time as that’s were most of the league clubs are

 

[SouthernX]

One gripe I want to have about the rebels and RA relationship and their lack of support is…

why all the Friday night games?

I think the rebels would draw a better crowd if the games were on Saturday night or even Sunday afternoon.

I imagine there’s a lot of rugby fans that live out in boondocks (as opposed to the inner city folk who I assume [stereotype] are latte drinking hipsters) who just don’t want to entertain the mission into Melbourne CBD on Friday afternoon.

Come on Rugby Australia/super rugby pacific… support your Melbourne team by stop pigeon holing them into this crappy timeslot of Friday night kick offs.

 

[LeCheese]

One gripe I want to have about the rebels and RA relationship and their lack of support is…

why all the Friday night games?

I think the rebels would draw a better crowd if the games were on Saturday night or even Sunday afternoon.

I imagine there’s a lot of rugby fans that live out in boondocks (as opposed to the inner city folk who I assume [stereotype] are latte drinking hipsters) who just don’t want to entertain the mission into Melbourne CBD on Friday afternoon.

Come on Rugby Australia/super rugby pacific… support your Melbourne team by stop pigeon holing them into this crappy timeslot of Friday night kick offs.

Pretty sure RA has no say in the scheduling.

Sub-optimal scheduling is just an unfortunate reality for a venue like AAMI Park which hosts three football codes (plus other events) in the same window.

 

[SouthernX]

Pretty sure RA has no say in the scheduling.

Sub-optimal scheduling is just an unfortunate reality for a venue like AAMI Park which hosts three football codes (plus other events) in the same window.

i’m sure RA has input into the scheduling.

I think the rebels Friday night games might be due to the Brisbane broncos Friday night dominance of nrl scheduling which then pushes reds to mostly Saturday night fixtures and even the storm being bumped to mostly Saturday/Sunday fixtures

 

[Slim 293]

One gripe I want to have about the rebels and RA relationship and their lack of support is…

why all the Friday night games?

I think the rebels would draw a better crowd if the games were on Saturday night or even Sunday afternoon.

I imagine there’s a lot of rugby fans that live out in boondocks (as opposed to the inner city folk who I assume [stereotype] are latte drinking hipsters) who just don’t want to entertain the mission into Melbourne CBD on Friday afternoon.

Come on Rugby Australia/super rugby pacific… support your Melbourne team by stop pigeon holing them into this crappy timeslot of Friday night kick offs.

There are more rugby union fans living out in the boondocks that don't want to attend attend Friday night game near the CBD?

I don't think so...

 

[oztimmay]

Saturday arvo games are not really great for the Rugby faithful, who are likely involved in the club/school comp in some form.

 

[Highlander35]

Sure, but absence of South African Travel, there's no reason greater opportunity for Sunday Arvo could be exercised.

Particularly this most recent game against the Chiefs: with the Wallaroos double header, the game should have 100% been shifted. 4:45pm or whatever is a genuinely awful time.

 

[Slayer!]

I remain skeptical overall and hope there are real plans being cooked up that have a likelihood of succeeding, and it's not just a pie in the sky, any port in a storm, directors throwing all the shit at RA thing dragging this out.

However, there's very little doubt that this Consortium does have in an interest (a deeply self serving one, but a sincere one nonetheless) in doing everything they can to make that area across Wyndham City & Melton City Councils somewhere people want to live, work and travel to for entertainment, and we can be a part of that. If there is genuinely money there that gets us to RWC, I hope they're given a shot at taking us through rather than the unceremonious dumping that seems to be on the cards.

Unfortunately the self-serving part is all about the current directors (including Leigh Clifford's daughter) getting off the hook with the ATO for their mismanagement.
There is a strong argument for a Super Rugby team in Melbourne.
There's an even stronger one that it should not involve any of the directors who got the Rebels into this situation.
(As for Tarneit - it's is all about the soccer consortium getting an extra sport to try to pry more funding out of its own investors. Any expansion of that stadium won't happen for at least two more seasons, so the Rebels/Phoenix whatever they're going to be called would be playing in a 5000-capacity stadium. Might as well play at a club ground. Pretty sure they would need a dispensation from SANZAAR to be able to do that).

 

[Wilson]

i’m sure RA has input into the scheduling.

I think the rebels Friday night games might be due to the Brisbane broncos Friday night dominance of nrl scheduling which then pushes reds to mostly Saturday night fixtures and even the storm being bumped to mostly Saturday/Sunday fixtures

It's all down to broadcasters I think. Nine/Stan want the big game on Saturday night and push for that. There's some effort to spread the teams involved around a little bit to share exposure but at the end of the day they need to be putting their best foot forward in those games.

Also Friday night games are particularly tricky in Brisbane for the earlier half of the season, daylight savings means they're being played an hour earlier which really limits people's ability to get to the stadium, more so than in the AEDT states and territories.

 

[The Ghost of Raelene]

Unfortunately the self-serving part is all about the current directors (including Leigh Clifford's daughter) getting off the hook with the ATO for their mismanagement.
There is a strong argument for a Super Rugby team in Melbourne.
There's an even stronger one that it should not involve any of the directors who got the Rebels into this situation.
(As for Tarneit - it's is all about the soccer consortium getting an extra sport to try to pry more funding out of its own investors. Any expansion of that stadium won't happen for at least two more seasons, so the Rebels/Phoenix whatever they're going to be called would be playing in a 5000-capacity stadium. Might as well play at a club ground. Pretty sure they would need a dispensation from SANZAAR to be able to do that).

This part concerns me when talking viability. When the Rebels go asking for something more which will likely happen are they going to just ignore it or kill it off as it risks pulling down the Soccer team. As far as I know this isn't anything like City Group where it can just be paid whatever it may be.

 

[Strewthcobber]

I really don't understand how you can afford to run a professional sports team with these sort of crowd figures

This remains the big risk for me. It relies on someone continuing to fund the team to the tune of $5m a year
(based on the current accounts - which run at $14m expenses, and $9m revenue).

Who is putting up the $5m a year, why, and how long are they going to be prepared to do it?

I know the answer is Jason Sourasis and mates. But presumably, they are using someone else's money for some or all of this. Hopefully he's really into his rugby

 

[KevinO]

It's about getting the 15k stadium built, as a one use stadium it's not going to get any government assistance. If they can prove they have a 2nd long term tenant they will be able to get assistance from State and National Governments. Being right on the regional border it's easy to see the appeal and marketability.

Western United will grow once they have a stadium as long as they can pull off a train station. The areas close to the stadium, Werribee/Hoppers crossing, Tarneit, Manor Lakes all have large Islander and international communities, it's the biggest growth corridor in Victoria for affordability.

I don't care where we play as long as we have a team, I live 18km (31 min) from Wyndham Stadium or 25km (35 min) AAMI park.

 

[stoff]

It's ok for a weekend game, albeit with no public transport option. Friday night for me would involve driving into the city for work in the morning, then fighting the traffic from the city out to Tarneit after work then another hour to hour and a half or so to drive home across Melbourne - it would legitimately be four hours plus in the car to go on a Friday.

 

[Tomikin]

One gripe I want to have about the rebels and RA relationship and their lack of support is…

why all the Friday night games?

I think the rebels would draw a better crowd if the games were on Saturday night or even Sunday afternoon.

I imagine there’s a lot of rugby fans that live out in boondocks (as opposed to the inner city folk who I assume [stereotype] are latte drinking hipsters) who just don’t want to entertain the mission into Melbourne CBD on Friday afternoon.

Come on Rugby Australia/super rugby pacific… support your Melbourne team by stop pigeon holing them into this crappy timeslot of Friday night kick offs.

I actually agree on the Friday night thing, to be honest I don't think the Brumbies have played 1 Friday nighter this year, with a lot of arvo games thrown in.

 

[Slim 293]

I actually agree on the Friday night thing, to be honest I don't think the Brumbies have played 1 Friday nighter this year, with a lot of arvo games thrown in.

Brumbies definitely pushed for more arvo games because of the unpleasant Canberra winter nights at the concrete freezer...

It's unfortunate, and somewhat odd, that they never published the crowd figure from their arvo game against the 'landers last year which was quite clearly one of their highest attendances in recent times.

An indoor stadium in the heart of the CBD (that will likely never happen) would change that dynamic.

A Friday night game in Melbourne a short stroll from the CBD is a much better experience.

And as mentioned... Saturday night is the FTA game, so it also comes down to ratings.

 

[Omar Comin']

I really don't understand how you can afford to run a professional sports team with these sort of crowd figures

View attachment 18961
This remains the big risk for me. It relies on someone continuing to fund the team to the tune of $5m a year
(based on the current accounts - which run at $14m expenses, and $9m revenue).

Who is putting up the $5m a year, why, and how long are they going to be prepared to do it?

I know the answer is Jason Sourasis and mates. But presumably, they are using someone else's money for some or all of this. Hopefully he's really into his rugby

It would be interesting to know what the rough breakeven crowd figure is per game. Tarneit would obviously be much much lower than for AAMI Park. It wouldn't surprise me if they were currently losing money on most home games, whereas they wouldn't need very big crowds to turn that around at Tarneit. They'd still need to find some extra revenue from somewhere though.

 

[Strewthcobber]

It would be interesting to know what the rough breakeven crowd figure is per game. Tarneit would obviously be much much lower than for AAMI Park. It wouldn't surprise me if they were currently losing money on most home games, whereas they wouldn't need very big crowds to turn that around at Tarneit. They'd still need to find some extra revenue from somewhere though.

It's a bit hard to do apples v apples, but over the last 3 years the administrator found they had $4.2m from match revenue, membership and merch and $1.7m in match and merch expenses.

Is that showing a profit from AAMi? Hard to say especially when they hadn't paid $1m in rent

 

[Scooter]

Injury update

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