The average age of NRL fans?

[DC_fan]

I was reading an interesting article to day on the MLB (Baseball) in America. The article was asking where is the game headed to in the US. I found very interesting a couple of points brought up and if they have a possible relationship with rugby league and the NRL.

Firstly, the average age of a MLB fan is 57. Which got me wondering what the average age of an NRL fan would be. I am not sure research has been done on this. If anyone has any information on this, it would be appreciated. Obviously the older your support base is the greater concern for the future of the sport.

Secondly, MLB games have a bad habit of going about 3 hours in length, which seems to alienate the sport from younger Americans, with near 66 percent of 18-36 year olds saying they do not follow the sport. Supposedly the younger generation have a short attention sport. I remember a time when a league game would go 90-95 minutes. For a few years now that has extended out to between 110-120 minutes. That extra 20-25 minutes of time is not extra playing time, it comes from an extended halftime break, and stoppages during the game which usually come from tries being sent to the bunker. Maybe this is one area of the game the NRL should look at.

 

[Pedge1971]

Mental age or actual age? Means a fair bit in here........

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

It would have to be 30's to 40's surely, 50's if you want to go that far.

 

[roostersrule2]

It would have to be 30's to 40's surely, 50's if you want to go that far.

f**k you make me laugh sometimes

 

[The Great Dane]

I don't know about the rest of the comp but the Raiders fan-base's average age is steadily getting older and older, it'd have to be early to mid 30s at this point.

With the lack of success the club has had for the last two and a half decades and the lack of mainstream exposure that the club gets it's been extremely hard for the club to get many kids to pick them up as their team, the kids by and large are still supporting the sport at about roughly the same rate that they used to, it's just that the vast majority of them are supporting other clubs instead of the Raiders.

Realistically It should be one of the biggest concerns that the club has, but this is the family farm we are talking about so they probably haven't even realised that each generation of fans has consistently been smaller than the last.

 

[muzby]

I’m 21, female & lonely.

 

[Chook Norris]

I would think slightly over 40.

I think it'd be an interesting study. I suspect its data the NRL already has access to and they've considered as part of the integration with touch football and their younger fan base.

An ageing NRL supporter base population would not necessarily be unrealistic, however, given the ageing Australian population. However, if we're anywhere close to the MBL average age, that would be very concerning.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

I’m 21, female & lonely.

In reality, you are 55, male, obese and balding.

AND you have a penchant for wearing diapers.

 

[taipan]

In reality, you are 55, male, obese and balding.

AND you have a penchant for wearing diapers.

So a rugby union prop?

 

[Pommy]

T20 lasts about 3 hours and doesn’t seem to be stopping Australians of all ages watching and attending in droves.

 

[Canard]

Given the median age of Australians is increasing all the time (around 37 years last I looked) it's not going to be 21 that's for sure.

And no way games used to be 90 minutes kick off to full-time.

 

[mongoose]

according to that footyindustry site the NRL demolishes the AFL in facebook followers, with the Broncos, Warriors and Storm having the highest number of followers. Most people following a team on facebook would be very casual fans, however i think that indicates lots of younger people following the game. AFL has a higher amount of twitter followers than NRL apparently.

 

[Danish]

I would expect slightly below the median age of the nation, so maybe 33-34.

You could probably glean it pretty nicely from the demographic break downs of TV audiences for the sport. Pretty sure league kills it in the all important 18-49 category.

 

[mozza91]

Rugby League has no fans. Don’t you listen to Kent and Rothfield?

 

[Lambretta]

T20 lasts about 3 hours and doesn’t seem to be stopping Australians of all ages watching and attending in droves.

That's because in T20 something happens every 15 seconds - there is no down time
There is a f**k load of sweet fanny adams happening during the average baseball game

But help is at hand. Across large swathes of America, pot is being legalised.
If anything helps you find interest in sports that move at a snails pace, it's punching cones

Baseball - saved by the pungent aroma of sweet Mary Jane

 

[Lambretta]

You could probably glean it pretty nicely from the demographic break downs of TV audiences for the sport. Pretty sure league kills it in the all important 18-49 category.

The 18 - 49 category? Why such a narrow age range? Why not the 6 to 129 age demographic?

I can't believe you just lumped me with into the same category teenager
Strewth cobber.

 

[carcharias]

30+
Probably more like 40+
If we are talking crowds demographic

 

[Danish]

The 18 - 49 category? Why such a narrow age range? Why not the 6 to 129 age demographic?

I can't believe you just lumped me with into the same category teenager
Strewth cobber.

Its the age range who the most expensive advertising - automotive, alcohol, and gambling - is targeted at. So it’s the one most TV stations target.

 

[cain3y]

If anything helps you find interest in sports that move at a snails pace, it's punching cones

f**k that made me laugh.

 

[cain3y]

I'd say late 30's to early 40's, I know Penrith has a very young demographic, a lot of young families go to games, other crowds like Rabbits, St George and Roosters are definitely older.