Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham says Swans destined to be No. 1 on Australian sports scene
SYDNEY believes it is only a matter of time until the Swans overtake Collingwood as the biggest sporting club in Australia. Are they right?
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Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham says the Swans are on track to become the biggest sporting club in Australia.
They’re words which will sure to have Collingwood president Eddie McGuire screaming blue murder.
The release of the 2017 AFL fixtures has put the Swans in the spotlight even more than usual with eight games in the Friday night timeslot and another two on Thursdays. Pridham says the race to be No. 1 on the Australian sporting landscape is a foregone conclusion.
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“I think it’s inevitable we will become the largest sporting club in Australia,” Pridham told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’ve got no doubt. We have the most supporters with 1.1 million, 300,000 more than Collingwood. We are the dominant team in Australia’s largest city by far. Our membership of 56,500 is larger than Adelaide and Port Adelaide and we’ve got more than GWS, Brisbane and the Gold Coast combined.”
Just over 20 years ago the Swans almost folded twice but are now an undoubted sporting powerhouse with the 2017 draw underlining their bankability.
This year more than 22 million fans tuned into Sydney’s matches and those ratings are sure to get even better given the favourable timeslots they’ve been granted for 2017.
The club’s membership has grown by more than 20,000 in three years from 36,358 in 2013. They have signed a 30-year deal to play all home games at the SCG, their home attendances are now averaging 33,425, which is the largest of Sydney’s many sporting franchises.
Major sponsors QBE, VW and Citi have all renewed their multimillion-dollar deals in the last two years and corporate hospitality at the SCG has almost reached the $4 million mark annually.
This has all been driven by a consistently high standard of on-field performances which has seen the Swans miss the finals only three times in the last 21 years, including six grand final appearances and two premierships.
“All of these things impact over time,” Pridham said.
“Little by little things add up — the academy, playing all our games at the SCG, team success is important, having players like Buddy Franklin and local players like Dane Rampe, Isaac Heeney and Callum Mills, all those things add up.”
Pridham said the Swans’ brand, which he believes is built on more than just on-field success, has been crucial to attracting corporate interest.
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“It’s no accident we have long-term global brands as our principle major sponsors,” he said.
“It was significant Qatar Airlines chose us. They sponsor Barcelona and are global sponsors of sport. They did a very thorough analysis of Australian sport and not just AFL, NRL, soccer, everything. These aren’t corporations doing it on the folly of the chairman like 20 years ago, now it’s a hard-nosed business decisions.”
Originally published as Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham says Swans destined to be No. 1 on Australian sports scene
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