2017 Crowd Watch

[King Ben]

Ideally you would have a NRL controlled Friday night blockbuster at Allianz and a Sunday afternoon blockbuster (or even better double header) at ANZ every round. NRL to pay the clubs for these games and take all responsibility for marketing and making them massive must do Sydney events. Sadly club self interest will get in the way though and I doubt clubs have the confidence NRL could do it properly anyway.

Well I'll be damned, I agree with you.

 

[Vee]

Over 15000 by Tuesday is good. 3 more work days and Saturday walk up should have a crowd in the mid to high 30000s. Lets hope so. It should be a great game of footy and I feel that alot of neutrals will be keen to see the backs to wall Cowboys continue their run to the GF.

Particularly with Matt Scott named.

 

[carcharias]

Then dont whinge if your team gets relegated from lack of support.

Relegated?

Haha

We have a great goal keeper

 

[colly]

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/greater-w...ow-sees-them-as-an-asset-20170918-gyjpw4.html

typical NRL media here.....deflect. seems to be taking the line of 'yeah NRL crowds are shit, but this mob are just as bad so it's a Sydney thing.

ahhh no. the giants are 6 years old. rugby league has been in sydney for over a century. swans manage to pull 30k to home games regularly these days. difference is the AFL don't schedule them to play every thursday night or at friday 6pm

Can't stand that Webster. Hate his views! Makes me puke. Of course you know....But their is nothing wrong with it anyway.. really wish he stick with fumbleball

 

[Danish]

The beauty of a double header is reduce costs to put on the show and you can schedule a not so big game as the first one and lead itto the derby blockbuster in the second. one ticket gets admission to both.

ie Manly V Storm 1pm KO, Souths v Bulldogs 3pm KO. (reserve or NSW cup game 11am)
Festivities start at 11am in ANZ precinct with food trucks, bands, kids play zone, meet the players autograph tents etc. Formula 1 do the whole event thing amazingly well, just look there for inspiration. Sunday very much family focused, like magic event in UK you can enter and leave stadium to visit the food and family areas as you please. NRL merchandise for all teams tents (after all we want to attract neutrals as much as fans of the teams taking part) etc. $20 for any NRL member, $50 for family of 4 with a drinks deal, transport included. Its very doable and could see crowds of 30-40k regular at ANZ if done well

Friday night adults focussed. Around the world beer and food village, bands on in the stadium precinct, Start at 6pm with stuff outside the stadium, KO 7:30pm then 9pm till 11pm more stuff in a fanzone outside the ground. Moore park is perfect venue for this. Target 25-35k fans every Friday night.

Lets actually benefit from NRL heartland being in a city of 5million and nine teams creating rivalry and tribalism.

You want to create rivalry and tribalism by forcing all Sydney clubs to play out of 2 stadiums, with only 1 of those stadiums actually falling a club's traditional heartland?

This plastic carnival crap is for sports which don't have an on field product up to snuff, like Rugby 7s. My brother tries to sell me on going to the 7s whenever it is in town.... I don't think he has mentioned actually watching the games ever when making his pitch.

If the NRL worked on its scheduling, we would improve attendances. Thats all that needs to be done. Having footy spread over 4 days every week, with only 2 day games per round, is f**king stupid.

Have all games played on the weekend, with only 1 blockbuster on friday night. Get rid of this stupid obsession of having all games played at separate times, and double up on the slots.

Friday - 7:30pm
Saturday - 5:30pm, 7:30pm x 2
Sunday - 2:00pm x 2, 4:00pm x 2

All games available live through viewer's choice on fox or secondary channels on 9. Done and done.

On top of the obvious boost you'd get in attendances, you'd also boost player welfare since you could all but eliminate 5 day turnarounds from the game. Give the players some time for proper recovery.

No doubt the TV networks would bitch and want to pay less since they'd get less live TV, so add a couple concessions during the game to allow for a couple extra ad breaks during the FTA games.

Oh, and f**k off these stupid friday night prelims and night time grand final while you are at it.

The NRL's negotiating skills when it comes to scheduling are just diabolical

 

[mave]

That has been their goal for a while, since the stadium strategy for Sydney started to emerge. Sadly the clubs pushed back on it and said they wouldn't be dictated to in giving up home ground advantage.

Ideally you would have a NRL controlled Friday night blockbuster at Allianz and a Sunday afternoon blockbuster (or even better double header) at ANZ every round. NRL to pay the clubs for these games and take all responsibility for marketing and making them massive must do Sydney events. Sadly club self interest will get in the way though and I doubt clubs have the confidence NRL could do it properly anyway.

That would be an ideal situation, but your last sentence is the most salient.

Greenburg couldn't organise an end of year bbq without blatantly showing favouritism to certain clubs.

 

[T-Boon]

If the NRL worked on its scheduling, we would improve attendances. Thats all that needs to be done.

It is a cop out to blame the scheduling and just leave it at that. That is what lazy NRL club CEOs would do.
There is a whole bunch of other things that should be fixed that NRL club CEOs have control over today. Pricing, game day experience, marketing.

 

[Captain Apollo]

That would be an ideal situation, but your last sentence is the most salient.

Greenburg couldn't organise an end of year bbq without blatantly showing favouritism to certain clubs.

It goes beyond Greenberg.

Institutionally, the NRL have been poor negotiators as they let the TV networks (both free to air and pay) walk all over them giving them whatever they want (e.g. the 6pm Friday timeslot for Fox Sports, Night time Grand Finals because of Channel 9). When one of the TV networks wants to deviate from their obligations to the NRL under their TV agreements, rather than hold them to it, the NRL caves in and gives the networks what they want (e.g. 2008 Finals series. The TV agreement with Channel 9 stipulated all Finals games had to be shown live. In week 2, the Warriors hosted the Roosters in NZ, with an 8.30 pm (NZ) kick-off time, which would have been 6.30 pm (AEST) kickoff and meant bumping A Current Affair from the schedule. The NRL allowed Channel 9 to televise the final on 1 hour delay so they could air A Current Affair).

It is an institutional/cultural problem.

 

[Timmah]

we laugh at GWS getting a shy under 15k when two 50 year plus old Sydney NRL teams barely cracked 15k?

Have the NRL clubs had the same funding benefits, player concessions etc as the AFL has afforded GWS?

We're not comparing apples with apples.

 

[Danish]

It is a cop out to blame the scheduling and just leave it at that. That is what lazy NRL club CEOs would do.
There is a whole bunch of other things that should be fixed that NRL club CEOs have control over today. Pricing, game day experience, marketing.

Name me a professional sports competition on the planet whose game day experience is different to "turn up, buy overpriced beer/food, watch game, endure pointless t-shirt gun/giant ball game/kiss cam/other garbage, go home".

Name me a sports competition on the planet who charges less than NRL for tickets.

Name me a sports competition on the planet who advertises their games more than the NRL.

People aren't going to go to a game at a time they don't like because the club drops $50K on hiring the local top 40 band to play a track at half time. They aren't dragging their kids out of the house for 5 hours on a school night because food got 20% cheaper.

Those factors only come into play once the game is on at a time that actually works for people to go.

All the most successful sports codes in the world base their scheduling around getting people through the gates i.e. holding multiple games at once at the times that crowds most want to go to the game. All the other shit about ticket prices and food and "experience" is just window dressing

 

[T-Boon]

Name me a professional sports competition on the planet whose game day experience is different to "turn up, buy overpriced beer/food, watch game, endure pointless t-shirt gun/giant ball game/kiss cam/other garbage, go home".

MLB: Anthem every game, 7th innings stretch, catch ball keep ball, take me down to the ball game, friendly service from staff, cheap as chips bleacher seats, music throughout game, free small game day magazine (free!!) (per: Atlanta Braves), ceremonial first pitch for cripple kid or war hero or whatever.

College Football: countless traditions, pep rally, white out game (Penn State), jump around (student section Wisconsin), student section in itself, press ups after touch down - student section, magnificent marching bands, cheer girls who look like they want to be there looking for ways to get crowd into game, player walk to stadium, trumpets under the dome (Notre Dame), O-H-I-O, traditional unique player entrance (look up Virginia Tech Hokies or Clemson Tigers), at a minimum players come out through an explosion of smoke, all players and coaches on sidelines at all times, marching bands at half time (mums love this).

NFL,College Football: pre game tailgating.

I could go on for hours with these and they are just the american ones.

Big Bash: ... I don't know, but the kids love it.

But let me guess...you think they are all garbage so lets not bother.

Name me a sports competition on the planet who charges less than NRL for tickets.

I got in to see the Cincinnati Red v New York Mets for $7, Chicago White Sox for $10 and at both I ended up sitting anywhere I wanted. But anyway I dont care about pricing I am going on about gameday experience.

Name me a sports competition on the planet who advertises their games more than the NRL.

MLB, NBA, NFL, College Football, AFL.

People aren't going to go to a game at a time they don't like because the club drops $50K on hiring the local top 40 band to play a track at half time.

Nope, thats true. The game day departments need to get way more creative than that. EG: catch ball keep ball, free small game day magazine, friendly staff no bitches, viking clap, jumping castle, national anthem, cripple kid kicks off, players run out through members tunnel, engaged cheer leaders (e.g. try to lead cheers)...etc, etc,

Those factors only come into play once the game is on at a time that actually works for people to go.

People go to state of origin at a crappy time because their desire to experience the game is greater than their dread of all the hassle of going. Increase peoples desire to go or come back again next week by improving the game day experience will increase crowds at every time slot.

All the other shit about ticket prices and food and "experience" is just window dressing

Why do they bother with it then? Why did Penn State come up with the idea of the white out game (answer: they have said they wanted to invigorate the fan base regardless of what time they play).
Why are we suddenly getting big crowds to state cricket?

 

[El Diablo]

Have the NRL clubs had the same funding benefits, player concessions etc as the AFL has afforded GWS?

We're not comparing apples with apples.

and it's funny how NRL, Soccer, Cricket, Netball and Union players in Sydney can survive without rent assistance but those poor folk at the Swans and GWS can't

 

[Danish]

MLB: Anthem every game, 7th innings stretch, catch ball keep ball, take me down to the ball game, friendly service from staff, cheap as chips bleacher seats, music throughout game, free small game day magazine (free!!) (per: Atlanta Braves), ceremonial first pitch for cripple kid or war hero or whatever.

Those are literally the exact same amateur hour garbage that happens at every NRL game. Besides the purely american cultural cringe shit like singing the anthem and "honour the troops" trash.

Unless I suppose you are suggesting fans should be able to keep the ball when its kicked into touch?

College Football: countless traditions, pep rally, white out game (Penn State), jump around (student section Wisconsin), student section in itself, press ups after touch down - student section, magnificent marching bands, cheer girls who look like they want to be there looking for ways to get crowd into game, player walk to stadium, trumpets under the dome (Notre Dame), O-H-I-O, traditional unique player entrance (look up Virginia Tech Hokies or Clemson Tigers), at a minimum players come out through an explosion of smoke, all players and coaches on sidelines at all times, marching bands at half time (mums love this).

Amateur sport, I said professional.

College sports also have a captive audience of built in fans that literally live next door to the stadium. Not to mention an endless supply of slave labour, both as athletes and all those glorious marching bands you speak of (again with the yank cultural cringe).

Oh, and they are always played on saturday at a time that best suits them, TV scheduling be damned.

NFL,College Football: pre game tailgating.

I don't suppose that lovely tradition of tailgating - a tradition that has nothing to do with the club and is entirely run by the fans has anything to do with 95% games being scheduled for sunday afternoon? No doubt the tailgating at Thursday night football is equally as strong.....

I could go on for hours with these and they are just the american ones.

Big Bash: ... I don't know, but the kids love it.

But let me guess...you think they are all garbage so lets not bother.

The actual game day experience stuff run by the clubs you mentioned boiled down to anthem, getting to keep baseballs, and 3 different ways of mentioning the same 30 second singalong.

Tremendously compelling stuff

I got in to see the Cincinnati Red v New York Mets for $7, Chicago White Sox for $10 and at both I ended up sitting anywhere I wanted. But anyway I dont care about pricing I am going on about gameday experience.

Perhaps we can introduce a thrilling rendition of "blow that whistle ref" before games to really get your motor running?

MLB, NBA, NFL, College Football, AFL.

I live in the US in New York. I've never seen a Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Islanders, or Devils game advertised. Ever.

Nope, thats true. The game day departments need to get way more creative than that.

Like by having everyone singalong to a 30 second song once per game?

People go to state of origin at a crappy time because their desire to experience the game is greater than their dread of all the hassle of going. Increase peoples desire to go or come back again next week by improving the game day experience will increase crowds at every time slot.

People go to state of origin at a crappy time because it only comes around once per year most of the time. Annual events can afford to expect fans to make sacrifices with their time to attend. They go because it is the absolute pinnacle of skill on display ON THE FIELD.

They aren't turning up because there are people wearing crappy blue/maroon wigs or to hear the latest The Voice runner up sing a couple covers pre-game

Why do they bother with it then? Why did Penn State come up with the idea of the white out game (answer: they have said they wanted to invigorate the fan base regardless of what time they play).
Why are we suddenly getting big crowds to state cricket?

Penn State? You mean the team that has consistently averaged 95000-100000 in attendance year after year?

Yep, I'm sure they come up with their game day "experiences" because they are worried about getting people through the gates you ponce. Couldn't be because the marketing folk just thought it would be fun to jump on board with the very popular white party trend.

Penn state could host a "cut off your pinky at half time" theme day and they'd still pack em in

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Have the NRL clubs had the same funding benefits, player concessions etc as the AFL has afforded GWS?

We're not comparing apples with apples.

Its definitely not apples and apples as one has had 50 years to build a fanbase for that state's predominant winter sport while the other is 6 years old in foreign territory for that code. Should be a worry that GWS get even close to those well established teams, fudged crowd numbers or not. Sure success helps brings fans to games but it's more than that, which both club and organisation can influence through a number of initiatives to engage a community around a team.

 

[Perth Red]

Name me a professional sports competition on the planet whose game day experience is different to "turn up, buy overpriced beer/food, watch game, endure pointless t-shirt gun/giant ball game/kiss cam/other garbage, go home".

Name me a sports competition on the planet who charges less than NRL for tickets.

Name me a sports competition on the planet who advertises their games more than the NRL.

People aren't going to go to a game at a time they don't like because the club drops $50K on hiring the local top 40 band to play a track at half time. They aren't dragging their kids out of the house for 5 hours on a school night because food got 20% cheaper.

Those factors only come into play once the game is on at a time that actually works for people to go.

All the most successful sports codes in the world base their scheduling around getting people through the gates i.e. holding multiple games at once at the times that crowds most want to go to the game. All the other shit about ticket prices and food and "experience" is just window dressing

How do you expalin the drop off in crowds from 2013-2015? We only had one of eight sht schedule games. Yet crowds dropped. Short of playing 7 games on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm, which will never happen there will always be times that are less convenient. This goes much deeper than Ko times, though they are clearly a factor,

 

[big hit!]

Particularly with Matt Scott named.

mate, it'll be a miracle if he plays.....surely just covering injuries

 

[Perth Red]

Went to my first big bash last year. $30 to get in so not that cheap, started at 4pm on a Thursday, so not exactly convenient time, I really don't like cricket that much so not exactly a rusted on fan, was at the waca which makes shark park look like Wembley. Guess what, it was sold out! They must be doing something right. It was a great "event" and a good night out. I'll def be back to another one this year.

 

[Perth Red]

Have the NRL clubs had the same funding benefits, player concessions etc as the AFL has afforded GWS?

We're not comparing apples with apples.

You mean like the extra $4.6mill a year nrl grant that tne Storm got for years, or the salary cap which creates an artificial equality between clubs and rewards mediocre businesses?

 

[big hit!]

How do you expalin the drop off in crowds from 2013-2015? We only had one of eight sht schedule games. Yet crowds dropped. Short of playing 7 games on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm, which will never happen there will always be times that are less convenient. This goes much deeper than Ko times, though they are clearly a factor,

danish is right. schedule more games during the day on sunday rather than just the 2 we've been reduced to in 2017, then that will encourage folks to attend.

NFL still schedules 8 to 9 of their 16 weekly games at 1pm, and another 4 to 5 games at 4pm, all on sunday.

Premier league schedules all but 2 of their 10 weekly matches during the day with 5 of them starting at 3pm on saturdays.

the NRL have bent over for television and reaping what they sow with crowd numbers. it's a no brainer the networks will want to schedule games in the evening - it's when everyone is home!!!

and if they aren't home on friday/saturday nights, it's in competition with everyone's social life and other entertainment options that come to life at those times.

the NRL set a precedent by accepting more cash for so the networks can broadcast prime-time football. it can't go back on it now without taking a hit to the value of the game. that's the predicament the game now finds itself in......it has basically f**ked itself with regard to attracting crowds

 

[Perth Red]

Yep, imagine the melt down if grant had agreed to a deal worth $300mill less so we could have 4 Sunday games! Where we can pick up is in eventually dropping the stupid slots (thur and fri6pm) and having simucast games at better times. Afl manage to do this and still get more money so no reason we couldn't. You could sweeten the deal with a ninth game for more content and new markets.

The other thing would be to reign spending in so the game didn't require as much tv money. It seems no matter the massive increases we spend it with little to show so maybe a hit in revenue for clubs to increase their revenues at the gate needs to be investigated. Too many businesses measure their success by revenue growth rather than what outcomes the revenue growth has led to.