Suburbanomics: Why NRL clubs can't afford to return to suburban grounds
It will cost St George Illawarra more than $100,000 to unlock the gates at Kogarah Jubilee Oval for Sunday's match against Newcastle.
Had they played the same match at ANZ Stadium, the Dragons would receive $150,000 for simply walking in the door.
The equation wasn't much better for Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night, with operational costs for the match against Melbourne estimated at between $65,000 and $85,000.
Canterbury also incurred costs of $80,000 to host last Sunday's match against Cronulla at Belmore Sports Ground, with the Bulldogs having to pay for fencing, security, big screen televisions and police.
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All of those expenses are covered by ANZ Stadium when Canterbury and other clubs, including South Sydney, St George Illawarra, Wests Tigers and Parramatta, play home games there.
For all of the hype about suburban grounds, it is financially unsustainable for clubs to play all of their games at those venues.
"The numbers aren't quite as good as people would think they are because they think it costs stuff all to open the gates at Belmore and therefore you have got 20,000 tickets that you can make money from but that is far from the reality," Canterbury chief executive Raelene Castle said.
Dragons chief executive Peter Doust added: "The local grounds are very cost ineffective because they don't have the infrastructure that the big stadiums can offer."
PROFITABILITY
The Bulldogs, who have a different deal with ANZ Stadium than the Dragons as they play the majority of their home games there, made a six figure profit from the match against the Sharks and another match at Belmore Sport Ground against Melbourne in June.
Given that the clash with the Storm was played on a Monday night and would have only attracted about half the 16,764 crowd if it had been played at ANZ Stadium, Canterbury officials consider their first premiership match at what is now the club's training base since 1998 to be a financial success and they also did well from merchandise sales.
With 19,005 fans attending last Sunday's match against Cronulla, the Bulldogs also made a profit but it is likely they may have drawn a bigger crowd at ANZ Stadium without the added costs associated with playing at Belmore, which included $35,000 in fencing alone.
"It was a massive success and it is not always about making money," Castle said. "To give our fans an experience at Belmore that their parents and grandparents talked about was very important from a brand perspective, a marketing perspective and an historical perspective but it doesn't mean that you take 12 games a season there."
As Canterbury have 18,189 members, officials had to estimate how many would go to the game before they could determine the number of tickets on sale to the public.
The Dragons boast 18,072 members and Doust said the club's Right Game Right Venue strategy was aimed at maximising crowds for games against big drawing Sydney clubs such as the Bulldogs, Rabbitohs (35,270 members) and Roosters (16,493), while playing other matches at Kogarah and WIN Stadium.
"The bigger brands have to play at bigger capacity venues and we will never be able to grow if we don't offer our members those sorts of amenities and facilities," Doust said.
Wests Tigers acting CEO Phil Moss said fans enjoyed being closer to the action at Leichhardt Oval or Campbelltown Stadium and playing at those venues maintained the joint venture's heritage links with Balmain and Western Suburbs but ANZ Stadium offered guaranteed revenue and opportunities for reciprocal ticketing deals with other clubs.
FACILITIES
The NSW Government has announced plans to spend $600 million on stadium infrastructure in Sydney, which is expected to include the rebuilding of Allianz Stadium into a 65,000 seat venue, improvements to ANZ Stadium and a stadium in the west.
Fairfax Media has been told that a site near Rosehill Racecourse was discussed but an upgrade of Parramatta Stadium is considered more likely.
The NRL has been told that there will be no funding for other suburban grounds in the foreseeable future, and is backing the three-stadium policy.
"The new stadia is going to be wi-fi supported, it is going to have all these fantastic food and beverage options and customer satisfaction improvements so who is going to be able to sustain keeping those suburban grounds as far as that is concerned," Doust said.
While Canterbury officials intend to play one or two matches against non-Sydney clubs at Belmore next season, depending on the draw, they believe fans would quickly tire of the queues for toilets, food and drinks, and the lack of parking if the club was to play there more regularly.
"I fundamentally believe in the NRL strategy of going to to better quality world-class stadiums with good seats and entertainment options, plenty of food and drink outlets, wi-fi, big screens and information being pushed to your phone," Castle said. "All of that is where the game needs to go so there is no doubt in my mind that the NSW Government needs to spend some money on making ANZ a world class stadium.
"There is also a place for Bulldogs fans to have a fairytale game back at Belmore where people go back to their roots and have a great time but I wouldn't want anyone to think the we could play all our games there. The first time it rains and you have got 60 or 70 per cent of your crowd sitting out in the pouring rain wouldn't be much fun and it is never going to have the modern infrastructure like the big stadiums."​
THE FUTURE
The NRL is in discussions with broadcasters about playing Monday night matches in country towns or at smaller venues as attendances have been poor but ratings good for the concept.
The National Youth Competition is also set to be replaced by state-based Under 20s competitions that would be run alongside the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions, which could mean that just NRL matches become stand alone fixtures as happens in the English Premier League and the NFL.
If that were to occur, Doust said it may become more financially viable to play at suburban grounds.
"It all gets back to sustainability of footy clubs and the economics of the games these days," Doust said. "If you were only to play one game and therefore only have to open the ground and staff it and traffic manage it for a lesser period then you could reduce the costs."
However, Castle said suburban grounds would always be more expensive.
"The reason grounds like Kogarah are so expensive is because no one uses them so the people who own them have to make sure they make a lot of money every time the gates are opened whereas ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium get used 100 nights a year for functions, games and concerts so it is a different formula," she said.
Despite Wests Tigers planning to establish a Centre of Excellence at Liverpool or Campbelltown, Moss indicated the club was likely to continue playing at Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium, as well as ANZ Stadium.
"Both councils [Leichhardt and Campbelltown] have always worked together with the Wests Tigers year by year regarding the hire of the stadiums and the long-term future is yet to be decided," Moss said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...an-grounds-20150731-giooep.html#ixzz3hi7WSh64
It will cost St George Illawarra more than $100,000 to unlock the gates at Kogarah Jubilee Oval for Sunday's match against Newcastle.
Had they played the same match at ANZ Stadium, the Dragons would receive $150,000 for simply walking in the door.
The equation wasn't much better for Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night, with operational costs for the match against Melbourne estimated at between $65,000 and $85,000.
Canterbury also incurred costs of $80,000 to host last Sunday's match against Cronulla at Belmore Sports Ground, with the Bulldogs having to pay for fencing, security, big screen televisions and police.
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All of those expenses are covered by ANZ Stadium when Canterbury and other clubs, including South Sydney, St George Illawarra, Wests Tigers and Parramatta, play home games there.
For all of the hype about suburban grounds, it is financially unsustainable for clubs to play all of their games at those venues.
"The numbers aren't quite as good as people would think they are because they think it costs stuff all to open the gates at Belmore and therefore you have got 20,000 tickets that you can make money from but that is far from the reality," Canterbury chief executive Raelene Castle said.
Dragons chief executive Peter Doust added: "The local grounds are very cost ineffective because they don't have the infrastructure that the big stadiums can offer."
PROFITABILITY
The Bulldogs, who have a different deal with ANZ Stadium than the Dragons as they play the majority of their home games there, made a six figure profit from the match against the Sharks and another match at Belmore Sport Ground against Melbourne in June.
Given that the clash with the Storm was played on a Monday night and would have only attracted about half the 16,764 crowd if it had been played at ANZ Stadium, Canterbury officials consider their first premiership match at what is now the club's training base since 1998 to be a financial success and they also did well from merchandise sales.
With 19,005 fans attending last Sunday's match against Cronulla, the Bulldogs also made a profit but it is likely they may have drawn a bigger crowd at ANZ Stadium without the added costs associated with playing at Belmore, which included $35,000 in fencing alone.
"It was a massive success and it is not always about making money," Castle said. "To give our fans an experience at Belmore that their parents and grandparents talked about was very important from a brand perspective, a marketing perspective and an historical perspective but it doesn't mean that you take 12 games a season there."
As Canterbury have 18,189 members, officials had to estimate how many would go to the game before they could determine the number of tickets on sale to the public.
The Dragons boast 18,072 members and Doust said the club's Right Game Right Venue strategy was aimed at maximising crowds for games against big drawing Sydney clubs such as the Bulldogs, Rabbitohs (35,270 members) and Roosters (16,493), while playing other matches at Kogarah and WIN Stadium.
"The bigger brands have to play at bigger capacity venues and we will never be able to grow if we don't offer our members those sorts of amenities and facilities," Doust said.
Wests Tigers acting CEO Phil Moss said fans enjoyed being closer to the action at Leichhardt Oval or Campbelltown Stadium and playing at those venues maintained the joint venture's heritage links with Balmain and Western Suburbs but ANZ Stadium offered guaranteed revenue and opportunities for reciprocal ticketing deals with other clubs.
FACILITIES
The NSW Government has announced plans to spend $600 million on stadium infrastructure in Sydney, which is expected to include the rebuilding of Allianz Stadium into a 65,000 seat venue, improvements to ANZ Stadium and a stadium in the west.
Fairfax Media has been told that a site near Rosehill Racecourse was discussed but an upgrade of Parramatta Stadium is considered more likely.
The NRL has been told that there will be no funding for other suburban grounds in the foreseeable future, and is backing the three-stadium policy.
"The new stadia is going to be wi-fi supported, it is going to have all these fantastic food and beverage options and customer satisfaction improvements so who is going to be able to sustain keeping those suburban grounds as far as that is concerned," Doust said.
While Canterbury officials intend to play one or two matches against non-Sydney clubs at Belmore next season, depending on the draw, they believe fans would quickly tire of the queues for toilets, food and drinks, and the lack of parking if the club was to play there more regularly.
"I fundamentally believe in the NRL strategy of going to to better quality world-class stadiums with good seats and entertainment options, plenty of food and drink outlets, wi-fi, big screens and information being pushed to your phone," Castle said. "All of that is where the game needs to go so there is no doubt in my mind that the NSW Government needs to spend some money on making ANZ a world class stadium.
"There is also a place for Bulldogs fans to have a fairytale game back at Belmore where people go back to their roots and have a great time but I wouldn't want anyone to think the we could play all our games there. The first time it rains and you have got 60 or 70 per cent of your crowd sitting out in the pouring rain wouldn't be much fun and it is never going to have the modern infrastructure like the big stadiums."​
THE FUTURE
The NRL is in discussions with broadcasters about playing Monday night matches in country towns or at smaller venues as attendances have been poor but ratings good for the concept.
The National Youth Competition is also set to be replaced by state-based Under 20s competitions that would be run alongside the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions, which could mean that just NRL matches become stand alone fixtures as happens in the English Premier League and the NFL.
If that were to occur, Doust said it may become more financially viable to play at suburban grounds.
"It all gets back to sustainability of footy clubs and the economics of the games these days," Doust said. "If you were only to play one game and therefore only have to open the ground and staff it and traffic manage it for a lesser period then you could reduce the costs."
However, Castle said suburban grounds would always be more expensive.
"The reason grounds like Kogarah are so expensive is because no one uses them so the people who own them have to make sure they make a lot of money every time the gates are opened whereas ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium get used 100 nights a year for functions, games and concerts so it is a different formula," she said.
Despite Wests Tigers planning to establish a Centre of Excellence at Liverpool or Campbelltown, Moss indicated the club was likely to continue playing at Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium, as well as ANZ Stadium.
"Both councils [Leichhardt and Campbelltown] have always worked together with the Wests Tigers year by year regarding the hire of the stadiums and the long-term future is yet to be decided," Moss said.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...an-grounds-20150731-giooep.html#ixzz3hi7WSh64
