What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

The Game Future NRL Stadiums part II

El Diablo

Post Whore
Messages
94,107
no i think that concept died last sunday .. was great to see it played in front of literally no one on the east of the sfs
it's going global man

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/af...k=2853a01d46af3efa4dbd11e9dd8b8e9a-1519216009

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...n/news-story/0daab46984ea6d7cacbb8e6ebcb09d48

AFLX’s spectacular debut sets up global campaign

  • The Australian
  • 12:00AM February 19, 2018
  • Greg Denham
    1f242a9cfd252e52e24fdaf8783c8927
AFLX is here to stay following a hugely popular three-day introduction.

The inaugural short-game concept with new and adapted rules attracted more than 40,000 fans to tournaments in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, and rated well on television.

Allianz Stadium in Sydney got its first taste of modified Australian football with 9892 spectators on Saturday night. Coopers Stadium in Adelaide launched the series on Thursday night with a near-capacity crowd of 10,253 while Etihad Stadium in Melbourne attracted 22,585 on Friday night.

The success of AFLX will prompt the league to introduce the new concept around the world, starting almost certainly in Hong Kong in November next year with as many as six clubs initially involved.

Before then, AFLX general manager of China and India Dave Stevenson said there would be “some tinkering” around the structure of the shortened version of the game. “We might look at such things as changing the zones or adding more players than the current seven,” he said.

Seven-a-side AFLX marked the start to the code’s pre-season practice matches, with the JLT Community Series beginning on Saturday before the first game of the premiership season on March 22.

The Crows, Demons and Brisbane remained undefeated in their games by taking out the grand finals in the three divisions.

Stevenson told The Australian yesterday the league had interest from “multiple” clubs, promoters and international stadiums to play the game overseas from 2019. “We’ve even been contacted by recently retired players interested in participating in the new format in the future,” Stevenson said.

The AFL will today send out surveys to clubs, players, fans and broadcasters on their AFLX experience with a full executive review to be conducted on Wednesday.

“Across the board, we were very happy, and crowd figures at all three venues came in above forecast,” Stevenson said.

“If you look through the crowd numbers that we got at each of the three, through the player feedback, through the club feedback, through the ratings, it very much exceeded our expectations.”

On opening night, the 3½-hour broadcast on Fox Footy drew 82,000 viewers, while a free-to-air audience on 7Two peaked at 643,000 viewers, with an average audience of 171,000.

The AFL was encouraged that viewers were not turned off by a lack of involvement of each club’s best players, which is not unusual at this time of the year.

“We wouldn’t have put all this effort in if we thought it was just a one-year proposition,” Stevenson said. “There’s definitely some things we’ll change and we’ll tweak along the way. We learned some things that we’ll improve and we’ll get feedback from all our stakeholders, including the fans. We’ll do a post mortem … and work out what worked and what didn’t, and what we’ll change for next year.”

High on the list of improvements will be initiatives to encourage high marks and more contested football.

The AFLX fixture will also be reviewed, but clubs will not be forced to play their most experienced stars. “An alternative could be to have a more fluid fixture so you could try and engineer the live games a little bit earlier and give the teams a break before the grand finals,” Stevenson said.

“We think the game was really strong even without all of those established stars. I felt we had a good mix of established stars, and we saw some new names that I think will give us some pretty good excitement as the year goes on.”

There were teething problems and the silver balls were replaced by yellow ones midway through the Adelaide tournament after complaints from the Seven Network. The broadcasters found the silver ball difficult to see on television, as did the players in action.

Coaches and players were generally very supportive of the concept. Geelong coach Chris Scott led a chorus of support, which included his twin brother Brad at North Melbourne, in approving the format, saying it was not only an elite-level spectacle but an invaluable game involving just seven players at any one time for children to become accustomed to before graduating to the traditional game.

“Our footy club really supports the concept,” he said. “We think it not only has a good chance at the top level but probably, more importantly, it has a good chance to succeed at the amateur level, and internationally as well.

“I have a view, and I think it’s shared by a few of the senior coaches around the competition, that 18 versus 18 on a huge field is not the right way to go for young kids who can only kick the ball 30m. I think this (AFLX) is a really good way to learn the game.”
 

jim_57

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,296
no i think that concept died last sunday .. was great to see it played in front of literally no one on the east of the sfs

I live in Melbourne, flicked through the paper Monday and it is all success story articles. It'll be back to remind us all we have sinned.
 
Last edited:

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
it's going global man

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/af...k=2853a01d46af3efa4dbd11e9dd8b8e9a-1519216009

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...n/news-story/0daab46984ea6d7cacbb8e6ebcb09d48

AFLX’s spectacular debut sets up global campaign

AFLX is here to stay following a hugely popular three-day introduction.

The inaugural short-game concept with new and adapted rules attracted more than 40,000 fans to tournaments in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, and rated well on television.

Allianz Stadium in Sydney got its first taste of modified Australian football with 9892 spectators on Saturday night. Coopers Stadium in Adelaide launched the series on Thursday night with a near-capacity crowd of 10,253 while Etihad Stadium in Melbourne attracted 22,585 on Friday night.

The success of AFLX will prompt the league to introduce the new concept around the world, starting almost certainly in Hong Kong in November next year with as many as six clubs initially involved.

Before then, AFLX general manager of China and India Dave Stevenson said there would be “some tinkering” around the structure of the shortened version of the game. “We might look at such things as changing the zones or adding more players than the current seven,” he said.

Seven-a-side AFLX marked the start to the code’s pre-season practice matches, with the JLT Community Series beginning on Saturday before the first game of the premiership season on March 22.

The Crows, Demons and Brisbane remained undefeated in their games by taking out the grand finals in the three divisions.

Stevenson told The Australian yesterday the league had interest from “multiple” clubs, promoters and international stadiums to play the game overseas from 2019. “We’ve even been contacted by recently retired players interested in participating in the new format in the future,” Stevenson said.

The AFL will today send out surveys to clubs, players, fans and broadcasters on their AFLX experience with a full executive review to be conducted on Wednesday.

“Across the board, we were very happy, and crowd figures at all three venues came in above forecast,” Stevenson said.

“If you look through the crowd numbers that we got at each of the three, through the player feedback, through the club feedback, through the ratings, it very much exceeded our expectations.”

On opening night, the 3½-hour broadcast on Fox Footy drew 82,000 viewers, while a free-to-air audience on 7Two peaked at 643,000 viewers, with an average audience of 171,000.

The AFL was encouraged that viewers were not turned off by a lack of involvement of each club’s best players, which is not unusual at this time of the year.

“We wouldn’t have put all this effort in if we thought it was just a one-year proposition,” Stevenson said. “There’s definitely some things we’ll change and we’ll tweak along the way. We learned some things that we’ll improve and we’ll get feedback from all our stakeholders, including the fans. We’ll do a post mortem … and work out what worked and what didn’t, and what we’ll change for next year.”

High on the list of improvements will be initiatives to encourage high marks and more contested football.

The AFLX fixture will also be reviewed, but clubs will not be forced to play their most experienced stars. “An alternative could be to have a more fluid fixture so you could try and engineer the live games a little bit earlier and give the teams a break before the grand finals,” Stevenson said.

“We think the game was really strong even without all of those established stars. I felt we had a good mix of established stars, and we saw some new names that I think will give us some pretty good excitement as the year goes on.”

There were teething problems and the silver balls were replaced by yellow ones midway through the Adelaide tournament after complaints from the Seven Network. The broadcasters found the silver ball difficult to see on television, as did the players in action.

Coaches and players were generally very supportive of the concept. Geelong coach Chris Scott led a chorus of support, which included his twin brother Brad at North Melbourne, in approving the format, saying it was not only an elite-level spectacle but an invaluable game involving just seven players at any one time for children to become accustomed to before graduating to the traditional game.

“Our footy club really supports the concept,” he said. “We think it not only has a good chance at the top level but probably, more importantly, it has a good chance to succeed at the amateur level, and internationally as well.

“I have a view, and I think it’s shared by a few of the senior coaches around the competition, that 18 versus 18 on a huge field is not the right way to go for young kids who can only kick the ball 30m. I think this (AFLX) is a really good way to learn the game.”

Absolutely right, better than VFL.

Tear down the Ovals and put all stadium money into rectangular venues.

VxFxLx is here to stay!!!
 

azza29

Juniors
Messages
1,013
No idea how they're measuring success... couldn't even land 45k total attendance across 3 events, despite the novelty factor. Every local I've spoken too think this experiment is a waste of time. As much as the Herald Sun would love a few extra weeks of footy to fill their sports pages, I suspect the rectangular stadiums will be safe from an AFLX invasion for the time being.
 

Stormwarrior82

Juniors
Messages
1,036
I’m still not sure why there hasn’t been more of a push for a televised summer state touch/tag comp series. All states/territories supply a male and female team in a variety of age groups and those teams play a round robin tournament in each state. Nov-dec or Jan-feb. reinforces the benefit of spending on stadiums.
 

Hank_Scorpio

Juniors
Messages
353
No idea how they're measuring success... couldn't even land 45k total attendance across 3 events, despite the novelty factor. Every local I've spoken too think this experiment is a waste of time. As much as the Herald Sun would love a few extra weeks of footy to fill their sports pages, I suspect the rectangular stadiums will be safe from an AFLX invasion for the time being.

Whilst not creating a fantastic response in its first year, you can see at least they are trying new things to engage fans, particularly young ones with potential for an opportunity for exposure to markets outside of Australia.

It may fail dismally and that might be next year, who knows, but at least they are showing some initiative in growing their game and connecting with potential growth markets. Nothing ventured is nothing gained I suppose. You are going to have resistance from purists of a sport but that shouldn't be the target audience when strategizing for product positioning in 10-20 years time.

NRL 9s concept had the same opportunity but pulled up stumps after a couple of years. Maybe sticking it out for longer, giving it a chance may have reaped the rewards further down the track. With increased exposure, using a more dynamic product, the NRL may have helped increase attendance/participation/commercial engagement. Especially with the kids, now who want constant excitement, flashing lights and action to keep them interested. Got to play the long game, not the short game.
 

Dogs Of War

Coach
Messages
12,718
I’m still not sure why there hasn’t been more of a push for a televised summer state touch/tag comp series. All states/territories supply a male and female team in a variety of age groups and those teams play a round robin tournament in each state. Nov-dec or Jan-feb. reinforces the benefit of spending on stadiums.

How many people would actually attend to watch that? A few hundred at most (with the majority of those family and friends). It's something that you open a stadium for. You have it at the local oval that has seats for about 100.
 

unforgiven

Bench
Messages
3,138
I’m still not sure why there hasn’t been more of a push for a televised summer state touch/tag comp series. All states/territories supply a male and female team in a variety of age groups and those teams play a round robin tournament in each state. Nov-dec or Jan-feb. reinforces the benefit of spending on stadiums.

Touch State of Origin has been televised in the past and it just doesn't rate. Touch/ Tag is a participation sport not a viewing sport.
 

beave

Coach
Messages
15,527
Whilst not creating a fantastic response in its first year, you can see at least they are trying new things to engage fans, particularly young ones with potential for an opportunity for exposure to markets outside of Australia.

It may fail dismally and that might be next year, who knows, but at least they are showing some initiative in growing their game and connecting with potential growth markets. Nothing ventured is nothing gained I suppose. You are going to have resistance from purists of a sport but that shouldn't be the target audience when strategizing for product positioning in 10-20 years time.

NRL 9s concept had the same opportunity but pulled up stumps after a couple of years. Maybe sticking it out for longer, giving it a chance may have reaped the rewards further down the track. With increased exposure, using a more dynamic product, the NRL may have helped increase attendance/participation/commercial engagement. Especially with the kids, now who want constant excitement, flashing lights and action to keep them interested. Got to play the long game, not the short game.

9’s got the ass due to a few reasons.

World Cup meant top line players were still involved up until December so they needed the break/rest, shit canning avoided fatigue. Most clubs would have sat their stars out moreso than normal I reckon

The warriors have been going shit over the last few years so i reckon there has been a bit of wane in interest in league over there, the crowds dropped a bit after the first 2 years.

I think they will bring it back next year but they’ll put it out to tender.

I love the 9’s concept overall but see the value in moving it around.
 

big hit!

Bench
Messages
3,452
No idea how they're measuring success... couldn't even land 45k total attendance across 3 events, despite the novelty factor. Every local I've spoken too think this experiment is a waste of time. As much as the Herald Sun would love a few extra weeks of footy to fill their sports pages, I suspect the rectangular stadiums will be safe from an AFLX invasion for the time being.

AFL propaganda machine is quite the operation.

everyday regular AFL fans and media didn't think much of it. unlike 20/20 cricket which enhanced the best bits about cricket, AFLX removed anything that is good about the sport such as contested marking and contests for the ball, and produced a product akin to a inter-club training run. I literally watched 5 kicks of the Geelong Adelaide final on the first night flicking through while Olympics were on ads, and saw 3 scores as 2 kicks and uncontested marks easily got the ball from one end to the other.
 

Timbo

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,270
Touch State of Origin has been televised in the past and it just doesn't rate. Touch/ Tag is a participation sport not a viewing sport.

Exactly - also, cricket and tennis own the summer.

How would touch football go against the Big Bash or Murray vs Federer?
 

Hank_Scorpio

Juniors
Messages
353
AFL propaganda machine is quite the operation.

everyday regular AFL fans and media didn't think much of it. unlike 20/20 cricket which enhanced the best bits about cricket, AFLX removed anything that is good about the sport such as contested marking and contests for the ball, and produced a product akin to a inter-club training run. I literally watched 5 kicks of the Geelong Adelaide final on the first night flicking through while Olympics were on ads, and saw 3 scores as 2 kicks and uncontested marks easily got the ball from one end to the other.

I guess you have to take it for what it's supposed to be and not a miniaturisation of the same game. What AFLX seemed to remove was the rolling maul that is prevalent in the game at the moment, with increased ball movement and scoring, which on the face, makes it more attractive to watch.

I guess that's what NRL 9s is also trying to achieve? More enterprising play, more space for playmakers and runners to do their best work and hopefully leading to more exciting play and scoring?

All new sports will naturally evolve over time, but the premise of a shortened version of any sport at the moment is to take out some of the most frustrating aspects of the longer forms and make it more exciting and appealing to watch.
 

Hank_Scorpio

Juniors
Messages
353
the 9's wasn't on this year because of the World Cup

it will be back next year as will the All Stars game

Yeah fair call. Are there take-aways from those years that can be taken forward? Does the entire tournament need to be held in one location? Could it be split into two pools across NZ and Sydney/Brisbane with pool winners making the final? Spreading the love I guess and not saturating one location which could dilute potential reach and attendances?
 

Stormwarrior82

Juniors
Messages
1,036
Touch State of Origin has been televised in the past and it just doesn't rate. Touch/ Tag is a participation sport not a viewing sport.

I know they currently stream it online and maybe last year showed a game or two. In my opinion they haven’t really had a good crack. I’ve been a rugby league/touch fan my whole life and have yet to see 1 touch game on fta. If they could commercialize it with good camera angles and professional broadcasting I’m sure a lot more people would be interested in it.
 

Stormwarrior82

Juniors
Messages
1,036
Exactly - also, cricket and tennis own the summer.

How would touch football go against the Big Bash or Murray vs Federer?

I understand your point. Yes big bash is massive but it is a night game. Touch though could be day long, festival type event. And geezzz Murray vs Federer is a 5hr game once a summer. Just seems like a lot of excuses to me.
 

carcharias

Immortal
Messages
43,120
I don’t watch big bash
Couldn’t give a shit about it
I’ll watch Aus v anyone else in all forms of cricket though.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
Would love to see a summer televised nines series. Doesn't have to have any NRL stars, could be young kids, players out of state cups, retired NRl players etc. Union 7's doesn't worry about crowds so why should we. Take it to spots that don't get much NRL action and include state or city based teams as well some international flavour and womens comp.

5 event series
Sydney North, South, East and West
Brisbane North and South
GC
NQ
WA
Victoria
NT
PNG
PI
NZ Maori
Aboriginal
England

16 teams games over Fri night, sat and sun

Play Dec-Feb, break over Christmas

Got to be worth a few mill of TV money and be better than the current summer sht sport that Fox shows!
 
Top