Opinion Could the Suns overtake the Lions in fan base?

[Matchu]

Would there be a stage in the foreseeable future that the Suns could overtake the Lions in terms of fan base? Obviously it's virtually impossible to know exactly how many fans each club has but you would think a city of 2 million+ would have the Gold Coast covered. However, we can look at home crowds and membership numbers to get an idea of how many fans are investing in each club.

2013
Brisbane Lions: 24,144 members. 21,083 home crowd average.
Gold Coast Suns: 12,502 members. 13,907 home crowd average.

Now obviously the crowd average isn't a fair fight given the Suns are capped at 25,000 but the Lions haven't averaged home crowds more than 25,000 since 2009 anyway. So, what do you think? I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers were very similar when the Suns are genuinely contending for a premiership in 2-4 years time.

 

[TheJaegerBomb]

You just unleashed a shit storm of epic proportions.

 

[Matchu]

You just unleashed a shit storm of epic proportions.

Haha. Not my intention. Just looking for opinions.

 

[GC2015]

Of course we are going to overtake the Brions! They are stagnate while we are up and coming.

 

[newsneakers]

Having 2 clubs up and running should hopefully mean more interest generally in afl in Queensland - more coverage, more juniors, more investment, more ownership of the game by queenslanders. Which means Lions should float up with the Suns on the rising tide -except during the Suns premiership window. But long term I think more people will call themselves Lions fans than there are footy fans of any stripe on the Gold Coast.

 

[RookieListed]

I believe we will, Our stocks rising while Lions were big in the past but are standing still , Suns are like Bloomberg and Lions are Thomson Reuters

 

[Covertackle]

I voted no. simply because the Lions have such a start on us. We will make inroads in the next few years. Especially if the Lions aren't competitive. The Lions have huge swathes of rights to competitions in growth areas of SEQ, and that equates to fans as the Lions are high profile in these ares due to development squads, Lions players going to sign ons, the free tickets and merchandise they give away in these areas.

They have a lot of clever promotional stuff that targets kids who are talented. These kids probably wont ever even make NEAFL sides, but they (and their families) become Lions fans forever.

 

[holybishop]

The Lions have been in operation for over 25 years. Combine that with having one of the most successful periods of any club in the modern era, and that's a head start that no new club will be able to overtake, just like how both Fremantle and Port Adelaide are lagging behind their bigger and more successful brothers. Crowds might be down thanks to some poor performances in recent times, but any sleeping Lions fans will come back when they start winning rather than jumping over to the Suns.

 

[Matchu]

tigernova and holybishop, you seem to have misunderstood my question. I conceded in the original post that Brisbane will probably always have the Suns covered in total fans. The question was whether the Suns will ever overtake them in terms of membership numbers and/or home crowd average.

 

[CourageousDave]

I suppose its possible at some point for the Suns to overtake the Lions in total average crowd attendance, maybe even total members for a time. But as hard as it is to measure something like a clubs "fan base" I dont see how the suns could possibly compete with Brisbane in the forseeable future. I vote no

 

[GCFC Official]

Let's hope so matchu!

 

[holybishop]

tigernova and holybishop, you seem to have misunderstood my question. I conceded in the original post that Brisbane will probably always have the Suns covered in total fans. The question was whether the Suns will ever overtake them in terms of membership numbers and/or home crowd average.

Well they probably wont for the same reasons. You can't just conveniently point out that the Lions home crowds have been at a slump for the past 4 years and ignore where they've been on the ladder at that time. When they start winning again, fans who jumped on during the 2001-2004 era will turn up again.

 

[Matchu]

Well they probably wont for the same reasons. You can't just conveniently point out that the Lions home crowds have been at a slump for the past 4 years and ignore where they've been on the ladder at that time. When they start winning again, fans who jumped on during the 2001-2004 era will turn up again.

I agree. To put it in more simple terms - will the Suns reach Brisbane's membership numbers/crowd average before the Lions start to climb the ladder again?

 

[Haso]

Nah.

 

[PREETY_FLY]

I think so. I also think it'll work in cycles . If we are having a few strong seasons and then drop off abit the lions will over take and visa Versa..