I HAVE to be honest with you, I am completely under whelmed by the news that my favourite club has officially changed their name to Brisbane Roar FC.
It's not that I do not welcome the change but just that I can't see it having any impact beyond making my beloved Queensland Roar merchandise a historical curiosity.
As much as I am heartened by the raft of official statements from the club that are overflowing with optimism and hubris, I sincerely doubt that changing a few letters in our moniker will make any difference to some of the issues confronting the club.
Firstly, Brisbane Roar needs serious investors who are willing to put their hard-earned in to the team. We need investors that believe in the club and, perhaps more importantly, believe in the game itself.
It is an unfortunate reality that, for the foreseeable future, Brisbane Roar FC will not be a hugely successful venture in terms of profit. The game is still growing and it appears that the more successful a club is, the more money is required to keep it going - Adelaide United's reputed costs throughout their Champions League campaign are a case in point.
What Brisbane Roar need as investors are the true believers that Frank Lowy appealed to when the A-League concept was announced all those years ago. We need our very own equivalent of the late Clem Jones whose undying support of Brisbane Strikers kept football in Brisbane during the calamitous days of the National Soccer League.
Whether any Brisbane-based corporate high-fliers are willing to back this club with the sums of money required remains to be seen. I doubt however, that a change of name will figure at all in their decision making processes. Their decisions will ultimately be made on the basis of balance sheets and profit and loss statements.
This is where the next point becomes critical - Brisbane Roar need to improve their crowd figures. Anyone who has been a regular visitor to Suncorp Stadium on game day will attest that Roar crowds are fickle. While a blockbuster semi-final can bring more than 30,000 through the gates, a regular season game that doesn't feature either Sydney or Melbourne is more likely to attract barely 10,000.
Thankfully, the emergence of true derbies against Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury will ensure larger attendances for three games of the new season. Combined with the mooted renegotiation of the tenancy agreement at Suncorp Stadium, this will at least prevent the club from haemorrhaging money on match day as has been the case in the past.
The club's statements that the new name will give the city a greater sense of ownership of the club are predictable but at best are only a half truth. Brisbanites have already embraced this team bar those who dislike the original affiliation with Queensland Lions and the football snobs who only watch Europe's very best.
A simple name change will not solve the underlying problem. The club must recognise that value needs to be added to the match day experience.
In the current financial climate a night at the football is increasingly out of reach for many families. An extension of last season's mid-season promotion of five games for the price of four needs to be implemented across the season, perhaps offering three different blocks for the fans to choose from. Alternatively, or perhaps congruently, the club could consider increasing the age of free tickets from the current 4 years to perhaps 8 years of age.
By adding value to the ticket price, the crowds will increase and the investors will begin to see the potential of the round-ball game in this rugby dominated pocket of Australia. With larger crowds and the injection of funds behind the scenes, perhaps Brisbane Roar could even achieve what the previous Queensland incarnation could not - i.e. actually winning the A-League title.
