Quote Originally Posted by furns View Post
And I can't see a game that's only popular in 3 states of one country on the planet expanding beyond that, regardless of ill-conceived games in China.
But the point is that you would never want it to expand beyond Australia. My experience following the Jets has made me see how low in the pecking order we are. We fail to attract real stars (the MLS and China has much higher purchasing power than us) and we lose our own valuable players way too quickly. If Aaron Mooy played AFL, he couldn't go anywhere. So you can happily invest in developing your players knowing that they will stay here for their entire career. I'm starting to see the international character of football as a disadvantage to being a supporter of a regional A-League club. It might be an advantage to a player, but not to a supporter.

I agree that no other football code has a strong foothold across the entire nation. But of the winter sports, which one looks most promising? It's not rugby league. AFL is in every major market except Canberra and the Hunter. It is ranked 4th in the world for average game attendance.

Football has the same problem with establishing a foothold in the Australian market. And the BBL is expanding its season next year. The move to Summer to avoid clashing with rival football codes is no longer an advantage. I have people in my street whose kids play soccer and they won't go to the Jets but they'll drive to Sydney for the BBL.

I'm not wishing for the death of the Jets or the A-League, I just don't think that the Jets are ever going to reach the heights they did in the first 3 seasons again. Ever. Con basically wrecked any chance of that. Any revival was reliant on the new owner basically tipping in unlimited funds to rejuvenate the club, but I can't see that happening.