2026 Crowd Watch

[T to the T]

Nope

Where’s the growth going to come from?

More event games / souths doing well will give a bump but not that much

Canterbury (30.6k, 2025 figures) have shown what can be done in Sydney, no reason why Parramatta (16k) in particular but also Wests (18k), St George (12.5k) and even Souths (18k) can add a few to thousand to their crowds. Scope for Newcastle (21k) and North Queensland (18.6k) too. Brisbane (41k) will increase too.

I think the feel good factor of the Bears being back will have Perth getting a 25k+ average in their first year with a match or 2 at Optus Stadium pumping those numbers.

 

[yakstorm]

We've got two new clubs joining in 27/28 which will have an impact on both our ability to stay around 20K and any chance of getting to 25K.

HBF Park won't be getting any upgrades before the Bears enter the competition and the club will play one home game in NSW per year, so their contribution to averages will be dependent on their ground choices. If they play on at HBF (20.5K) & NSO (10K), they're going to average sub-20K.

The Chiefs will be at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, which will get upgraded from 20K to 25K, though there is no guarantee that upgrades will be completed prior to 2028, which could mean the club will be at the 15K NFS for year 1.

Whilst I imagine the Chiefs will sell out every home game and that their crowds will be very close to capacity, a 25K cap unfortunately means their ability to lift the competition average to that figure is minimised.

From a crowd average perspective, its a shame a 40-50K venue isn't a realistic option for Port Moresby, that would do wonders for our averages.

 

[yakstorm]

Duplicate

 

[drcmuch]

Shark f**ken park.

That one is a mystery beyond the ken of mortal schmucks like me.

Edit: Just checking if it would censor the rhyme of Shark f**king Park.
Yep, it did. What sort of a pathetic girly world are we living in?

 

[Wb1234]

Canterbury (30.6k, 2025 figures) have shown what can be done in Sydney, no reason why Parramatta (16k) in particular but also Wests (18k), St George (12.5k) and even Souths (18k) can add a few to thousand to their crowds. Scope for Newcastle (21k) and North Queensland (18.6k) too. Brisbane (41k) will increase too.

I think the feel good factor of the Bears being back will have Perth getting a 25k+ average in their first year with a match or 2 at Optus Stadium pumping those numbers.

One game at Optus and one game at Allianz in Sydney (manly or souths) could really boost their (bears) crowds

You’re right about their first game at Optus that would be massive

 

[Wb1234]

We've got two new clubs joining in 27/28 which will have an impact on both our ability to stay around 20K and any chance of getting to 25K.

HBF Park won't be getting any upgrades before the Bears enter the competition and the club will play one home game in NSW per year, so their contribution to averages will be dependent on their ground choices. If they play on at HBF (20.5K) & NSO (10K), they're going to average sub-20K.

The Chiefs will be at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, which will get upgraded from 20K to 25K, though there is no guarantee that upgrades will be completed prior to 2028, which could mean the club will be at the 15K NFS for year 1.

Whilst I imagine the Chiefs will sell out every home game and that their crowds will be very close to capacity, a 25K cap unfortunately means their ability to lift the competition average to that figure is minimised.

From a crowd average perspective, its a shame a 40-50K venue isn't a realistic option for Port Moresby, that would do wonders for our averages.

Don’t know why but the chiefs are actually playing at santos now which is only 15k ?

They want to wait and see how popular the club is but yeh any future ground needs to be 30k at a minimum and more like 40k

 

[drcmuch]

Dogs could get to 40k
...
Shark park back to 18k
.

Tell him he's dreamin'.
Dogs more likely to settle under 30k. Take just the lower of the two huge holiday crowds out of 2025 and their season average is 28,037.
Sharks have never average 18k in their existence. 16.5 k in 2005, 14.6k in 2016 their 2 best ever.

 

[Ian Douglas]

One game at Optus and one game at Allianz in Sydney (manly or souths) could really boost their (bears) crowds

You’re right about their first game at Optus that would be massive

Perth v manly or warriors at Optus first up would be huge.

 

[Ian Douglas]

Marginally

Even so probably five years away

To what?

 

[Ian Douglas]

Don’t know why but the chiefs are actually playing at santos now which is only 15k ?

save money?

They want to wait and see how popular the club is but yeh any future ground needs to be 30k at a minimum and more like 40k

that doesn’t fill me with confidence hearing that.

 

[i0Nic]

25k+ average is on track in a few years, outside stadium updates the cultural shift of attendance gaining momentum, positive growth story with Perth and png, and game day experience upgrades across all nrl clubs will drive that - without even considering stadium upgrades beyond what’s already in the works.

I can see dogs getting 35-40k average, parra 25k, souths 25k, wests tigers 20k, Penrith 20k all within the next couple years.

Titans and dolphins having strong performances will drive their averages up a lot.

Broncos fixing their ticket allocation and getting 43-45k average.

warriors, storm, dragons and bears taking games to bigger stadiums (Eden, docklands, allianz, Optus)

This can get it pushing 25k. If we get stadium upgrades to WIN, Canberra, Suncorp, Accor, HBF over the next 5-10 year period it could go beyond 25k even.

For 2026 I’d hope we can at least maintain last year but hopefully can grow a bit to 22k average.

I also think a 25k average is a sweet spot for the nrl, maintaining its unique edge with boutique suburban stadiums mixed with larger city venues.

 

[Ian Douglas]

Warriors really need to get some upgrades done at mt smart and get the capacity to around 30k to build on their current momentum.

 

[mccarthyj367]

We've got two new clubs joining in 27/28 which will have an impact on both our ability to stay around 20K and any chance of getting to 25K.

HBF Park won't be getting any upgrades before the Bears enter the competition and the club will play one home game in NSW per year, so their contribution to averages will be dependent on their ground choices. If they play on at HBF (20.5K) & NSO (10K), they're going to average sub-20K.

The Chiefs will be at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, which will get upgraded from 20K to 25K, though there is no guarantee that upgrades will be completed prior to 2028, which could mean the club will be at the 15K NFS for year 1.

Whilst I imagine the Chiefs will sell out every home game and that their crowds will be very close to capacity, a 25K cap unfortunately means their ability to lift the competition average to that figure is minimised.

From a crowd average perspective, its a shame a 40-50K venue isn't a realistic option for Port Moresby, that would do wonders for our averages.

Perth could play their high profile opening fixture at Optus Stadium, which makes complete sense from a launch point of view, and likely hit 45-50k. They then could comfortably average over 20k with the rest of the games a HBF and even one possibly at NSO.

 

[Ian Douglas]

Perth could play their high profile opening fixture at Optus Stadium, which makes complete sense from a launch point of view, and likely hit 45-50k. They then could comfortably average over 20k with the rest of the games a HBF and even one possibly at NSO.

How many games are they thinking of playing at Optus?

 

[i0Nic]

Perth could play their high profile opening fixture at Optus Stadium, which makes complete sense from a launch point of view, and likely hit 45-50k. They then could comfortably average over 20k with the rest of the games a HBF and even one possibly at NSO.

Surely they won’t play any nrl game at NSO. If they must play a home game in Sydney which id rather they don’t, play it verse manly at allianz. It will get 40k. The opening at Optus could get 50k. That will drive up Perths average considerably.

 

[newc18]

Clubs (especially in Sydney) need to start thinking bigger if we will ever get to a 25k average. Teams like the Dragons, Tigers, Manly, etc. will either need to increase the capacity of thier stadiums or take thier marquee games to Allianz.

 

[drcmuch]

Clubs (especially in Sydney) need to start thinking bigger if we will ever get to a 25k average. Teams like the Dragons, Tigers, Manly, etc. will either need to increase the capacity of thier stadiums or take thier marquee games to Allianz.

'To misspell "their" once may be regarded as a misfortune, to do both looks like carelessness.' or something like that -- Oscar Wilde

 

[Trifili13]

I can see crowd averages creeping upwards due to the positive vibe across the game, new teams, better facilities and increase in population. How high will obviously depend on success of teams, especially those with large followings.

A potential issue is with more teams and only a top 8, it may mean alot of teams their seasons are over earlier than before which can have a negative effect on crowds.

 

[Trifili13]

I can see crowd averages creeping upwards due to the positive vibe across the game, new teams, better facilities and increase in population. How high will obviously depend on success of teams, especially those with large followings.

A potential issue is with more teams and only a top 8, it may mean alot of teams their seasons are over earlier than before which can have a negative effect on crowds.

 

[Ian Douglas]

Perth could play their high profile opening fixture at Optus Stadium, which makes complete sense from a launch point of view, and likely hit 45-50k. They then could comfortably average over 20k with the rest of the games a HBF and even one possibly at NSO.

How many games are they thinking of playing at Optus?