Hoops

Soccer gets another 45mill from the gov.

One other thing too, the Australian Soccer team has never been that strong a competitor on the world competition. What would happen if Australia made a successful bid for the World Cup and then host it without an Australian side competing. It would be total embarrassment. I'd like to say egg on the faces of Rudd and Ellis but its not likely that they will be in government that far ahead in time to take the blame for a stupid expensive decision.

Ho, its $45 million being paid by every tax payer. Although Soccer at present has a better following here than Basketball, its still only appeals to a very small portion of the total taxpayers. I thoroughly object to this kind of money being put up for this sport because I don't care for it and I don't want to pay taxes to support it. This would have to be the case for every non soccer supporter who's tax money is being used this way. I know everyone has their own opinion of which sport they prefer to follow, so why doesn't the government get fair about it if it is to put up some money. Don't you think that it would be appropriate for the government to help out in keeping these NBL clubs going under stay afloat? Don't you think its worthwhile to try and save a dying league? I think its pretty reckless of the government to allow the NBL to die a painful death when its injecting $45 million into soccer. It's turning its back on around 30,000 people around the country that still support the NBL by attending games regularly, not to mention the enjoyment factor that they will lose if they don't help out. I can't see any reason why they can't fund free to air coverage of games and even advertise on free to air channels. The commercials could state that its a federal or state government initiative to show the support they are giving.

XY, you raise well thought out points; if won, a world cup would provide an economic boost across multiple sectors.

However, points 2 through 5 that you list only happen if the bid is successful; if not, $45 million of taxpayer money is gone that could have been better spent elsewhere. This is my issue with it all; the government is taking a substantial risk with a non trivial sum of money.

Not only that, I'd argue that as for point 1, in terms of providing jobs for a world cup bid, I'd imagine the majority of people qualified for such a position would already be employed somehow...most likely already in a job that you can't just get Joe Bloggs off the street or Jane the uni graduate to do.

As far as the world forgetting about Australia - I disagree here. While there's no major event attracting people, the Australian climate, scenery, produce, landmarks (and perhaps even our culture) are definitely popular overseas. We may
not see it as much in Adelaide, but Australia is still an attractive tourist destination.

I do agree that major international events need to be brought to Australia, but in this case I think it's a matter of justifying the possibly large loss by measuring the potential payoffs. Not only that, Adelaide itself isn't on the list of cities included as hosts. That means the payoffs will possibly be restricted to other areas.

At least the payment is over 3 years and not one.

Because EVERYONE thinks the world cup would be great, am I right?

In terms of "economic benefit", it's only really a spike; for a few weeks the tournament will generate more income for retailers and hospitality, but it won't necessarily be creating or sustaining any jobs.

Fair enough it *may* increase tourism interest but you have to think that Australia is already a fairly popular tourist destination anyway.

Spending 45 million on a bid that may fail is just silly; not to mention, for the majority of taxpayers it provides no tangible benefit other than a few months of feeling good about having the world cup in Australia.

Can someone please explain to me the economics of the A-league? Is it exclusively based on the possible riches on offer from Asia? A transfer-fee based model where we become a developmental league and trade our players away for the long-term survival of the club?

As parlous as the NBL's current situation is, I flicked through an A-League game the other day where the Jets attracted a massive 7,500 fans. This on a perfect summer afternoon in Newcastle. How does that pay for their marquee player (up to $1.5mill as I understand it), let alone their salary cap and the administration and coaching staff.

I don't see how they are in a better position than the old Hunter Pirates with $750K salary cap (trust me - for the Pirates this was a VERY hard cap) and their admin expenses were negligible (again, as a part of their support staff I know how tightly things were run) attracting 1500-2000 people per home game.

Personally, I could do without ever seeing soccer again, but I understand that's a personal choice but I don't see droves of Australians disagreeing with me by showing up in huge numbers to games.

How does it work?

Gotta love governments. In terms of overall benefit to the population, this is one of the least beneficial things that could be done with $45 million of taxpayer money (especially considering it's only a bid). However, since it will be appreciated by soccer administrators and fans (and there are lots of them), in terms of gaining favour, this is one of the best ways (for the government) the $45 million could be spent.

Kent, my reaction to this was of utter disgust and anger. We have the NBL falling apart around our feet and in crisis right now and yet the government can throw a cool $45m at them. Basketball is a sport with high participation rates at junior level and yet soon there will be no elite level for these juniors to aspire to. That in the long run will see the decline of basketball amongst junior participation. I like to think I am not biased but what's wrong with stupid Australians. Can't they recognise a visually exciting sport to follow and support the NBL. They sit through the most boring games of soccer where you are likely to see not a single score and the tedium of cricket. Even AFL doesn't have the same level of excitement in the game in that most of the time you are watching it from a television screen to see what's happening. Basketball is an up close and personal game with the excitement right in your face. The atmoshpere is great in a closed venue (not to mention weather friendly). I really don't understand why it doesn't get the support it does.