2026 Crowd Watch

[guyver78]

Who's got the money these days to blow on the footy given the cost of living crisis. Category 1 Reserved seats are $80 for the Rabbitohs v Tigers game this week. That's absolutely crazy. How are working families supposed to afford that week in week out?

The crowds have been OK so far but that will die down as it always does a few rounds into the season. Averages from the first 2-3 weeks compared to previous years mean nothing more other then that fact that more favorable games have been played.

 

[johnny plath]

Who's got the money these days to blow on the footy given the cost of living crisis. Category 1 Reserved seats are $80 for the Rabbitohs v Tigers game this week. That's absolutely crazy. How are working families supposed to afford that week in week out?

The crowds have been OK so far but that will die down as it always does a few rounds into the season. Averages from the first 2-3 weeks compared to previous years mean nothing more other then that fact that more favorable games have been played.

Don't disagree with pricing but you can get 2 adults and 2 kids in GA for$80 which doesn't seem over the top these days. There are options to suit a range of costs especially to the non premium match ups.

 

[johnny plath]

Sorry ^^ $90 for family tix

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

That's absolutely crazy. How are working families supposed to afford that week in week out?

I take your point on cost, but it doesn`t have to be the same people week-in, week-out. These clubs have big enough fan bases that even if supporters choose one or two games per year they can have pretty good attendances.

 

[yakstorm]

Sales tracking for Rabbitohs v Wests Tigers this weekend.

Red indicates sold, dark grey is GA areas, whilst light grey is still on sale. Cat 1's have been selling well for the match. GA always sells out for Central Coast games, so it's well placed to get to capacity this Saturday.

 

[yobbo84]

Sales tracking for Rabbitohs v Wests Tigers this weekend.

Red indicates sold, dark grey is GA areas, whilst light grey is still on sale. Cat 1's have been selling well for the match. GA always sells out for Central Coast games, so it's well placed to get to capacity this Saturday.



View attachment 110703

I dunno how much of that red would be 'sold', as opposed to reserved for season ticket holders to redeem their tickets (I'm in there somewhere)

 

[guyver78]

Don't disagree with pricing but you can get 2 adults and 2 kids in GA for$80 which doesn't seem over the top these days. There are options to suit a range of costs especially to the non premium match ups.

Agree GA is priced alright but GA in League generally means you might as well stay home and watch the game on a 85inch screen. If you look at any of the main stadiums, Suncorp, SFS, ANZ...a good 80% of the good seats usually come from Cat 1 Reserved and 20% Cat 2 Reserved. The rest should be priced at no more then $20 for Adult and $10 for kids. $40 to sit behind the dead ball line at ANZ these days and even more at the gates.

 

[Sky_Is_The_Limit]

Who's got the money these days to blow on the footy given the cost of living crisis. Category 1 Reserved seats are $80 for the Rabbitohs v Tigers game this week. That's absolutely crazy. How are working families supposed to afford that week in week out?

The crowds have been OK so far but that will die down as it always does a few rounds into the season. Averages from the first 2-3 weeks compared to previous years mean nothing more other then that fact that more favorable games have been played.

Reasonable to be concerned about cost of living and the cost of ticketing, but there's also a sizeable demographic of the Australian population that may have been considering a European summer, and are now cancelling or delaying their travel plans. Those people may well still have disposable income to be spent on attending live sport.

Crowds haven't just been okay so far - they have been record breaking. Yes it is likely that crowd averages will reduce as the season goes on and the weather gets colder/wetter/darker, but Canterbury (only the second club to average 30k+ in a season last year) is yet to have a home game, and we still have Easter, ANZAC and Magic Rounds to come.

 

[mccarthyj367]

Agree GA is priced alright but GA in League generally means you might as well stay home and watch the game on a 85inch screen. If you look at any of the main stadiums, Suncorp, SFS, ANZ...a good 80% of the good seats usually come from Cat 1 Reserved and 20% Cat 2 Reserved. The rest should be priced at no more then $20 for Adult and $10 for kids. $40 to sit behind the dead ball line at ANZ these days and even more at the gates.

It costs $140-150 for a family to go to Sydney Zoo - a lot of NRL GA family tickets are just over half that. There are 1 million more fans attending NRL each season than 6-7 years ago. There isn't a problem with price. You can dumb down your product sometimes with pricing and it can have the opposite effect.

 

[yakstorm]

Roosters v Panthers:
Very few reserve seats are left in the lower bowl for this game. So far only 2 bays have been put on sale on level 2, with 229 pretty much gone. Hard to estimate where this game is at due to the large amount of GA areas however it's possibly trending more for around 16-18K.



Knights v Warriors
Top of the Andrew Johns Stand hasn't been put on sale for this game due to roof works. As per the map, strong pre-sales on the sidelines, with the corners & GA areas being the main area left to sell in the lower bowl. Only limited seating left in upper western grandstand.



Eels v Dragons
Outside of the southern bays, most of the lower bowl has been sold for CommBank.

 

[Sky_Is_The_Limit]

The general rule of thumb for Allianz seems to be:
- If Level 2 South or North goes on sale, the crowd will be upwards of 20,000
- If Level 2 South and North go on sale, the crowd will be trending towards 25,000

So it will be interesting to see if the crowd can push 20k. A 6:00pm start and average weather forecast may put a dampener on that.

I think Parramatta and St George will be over 20k. Parramatta surprised everyone by beating Brisbane, and it would be good for the comp for them to be amongst it this year.

 

[guyver78]

It costs $140-150 for a family to go to Sydney Zoo - a lot of NRL GA family tickets are just over half that. There are 1 million more fans attending NRL each season than 6-7 years ago. There isn't a problem with price. You can dumb down your product sometimes with pricing and it can have the opposite effect.

Yeah good point. The best value for money are always season tickets. To be fair Cat 1 Reserved at ANZ for Souths home games have been $420 per season which i actually think is quite a good deal. Besides the last 2 years when I moved away from Sydney and I can no longer attend every home game, I've had those for about 12 years in the row.

Now I just buy the 3-game memberships. Still pretty expensive to buy individual tickets on a weekly basis. Price does however matter, i do recall I think it was 2 or 3 years ago during Origin they made all ticket prices $10 at Campbelltown stadium for a game the Tigers were playing that was never going to sell out. Guess what tho, at $10 a ticket the stadium did sell out even for a low rated tigers team against an out of town I think it was Cowboys side.

 

[beave]

The NQ crowd will be interesting.

Sunday 6pm game isn't a great timeslot but it's better than a Thursday night or 6pm friday game, but I sense our fanbase has had a gutful of this fraud coach and those fans that are not in Tvl and spent a metric shit tonne getting to vegas are probably still in financial mourning so probably not inclined to head to the big smoke for this one considering the Storm are in town the following week and are well more of a draw card than the Titans.

My guess is 16.5k.

 

[Nich]

Wonder what the crowd would have been at kogarah ?

The average Kogarah crowd for the last 4 years is 10,700.

 

[Billythekid]

The NQ crowd will be interesting.

Sunday 6pm game isn't a great timeslot but it's better than a Thursday night or 6pm friday game, but I sense our fanbase has had a gutful of this fraud coach and those fans that are not in Tvl and spent a metric shit tonne getting to vegas are probably still in financial mourning so probably not inclined to head to the big smoke for this one considering the Storm are in town the following week and a well more of a draw card.

My guess is 16.5k.

Maybe I’m overselling this but I’m assuming those people also have to drive and the surge in petrol prices probably isn’t helping.

 

[beave]

Maybe I’m overselling this but I’m assuming those people also have to drive and the surge in petrol prices probably isn’t helping.

yeah 100% mate.

 

[horrie hastings]

Who's got the money these days to blow on the footy given the cost of living crisis. Category 1 Reserved seats are $80 for the Rabbitohs v Tigers game this week. That's absolutely crazy. How are working families supposed to afford that week in week out?

The Roosters play the Titans at Gosford in May and when i looked the seats in bay 41 were i thought $80 also but checked again today and they are $75 which is still way to much. i like sitting in bay 41, your on about the quarter line and under cover, with my Roosters member discount and concession i got the tickets for $52 each which is still not cheap but a bit more affordable but as you say i'm not sure how some people or families can afford to go week in week out.

 

[Barney Stubble]

Raiders are on track to surpass their 2025 membership tally before they play their first home game this season next Thursday V the Bulldogs
@ 24,970 last week.
A win over the Wahs tomorrow & decent weather forecast should ensure a big crowd for the next week.

update

The Raiders have broken their membership record today , before playing their 1st home game of the year.
26,174 members.
They're expecting a large crowd tomorrow apparently.

Raiders set new membership record ahead of first home game

The Toyota Forklifts Canberra Raiders have set a new club membership record, with 26,174 members signed up so far for the 2026 season ahead of the Raiders' first home game at GIO Stadium Canberra on Thursday night.

www.raiders.com.au

 

[mccarthyj367]

The Roosters play the Titans at Gosford in May and when i looked the seats in bay 41 were i thought $80 also but checked again today and they are $75 which is still way to much. i like sitting in bay 41, your on about the quarter line and under cover, with my Roosters member discount and concession i got the tickets for $52 each which is still not cheap but a bit more affordable but as you say i'm not sure how some people or families can afford to go week in week out.

It's rarely week in, week out though is it? There will be a chunk of Chooks members who go to Allianz but not Gosford this week purely on geography. I would love to know the overlap of Wests fans who go to both Leichhardt and Campbelltown, or Dragons fans who go to both Jubilee and Wollongong. I bet it isn't that high at all.

Those teams that do stick at the same stadium week in week out like Newcastle, Melbourne, NQ, Camberra etc. always have very generous general admission spaces. You can watch the Warriors for around $18 which is crazy for live top class sport.

 

[horrie hastings]

It's rarely week in, week out though is it? There will be a chunk of Chooks members who go to Allianz but not Gosford this week purely on geography. I would love to know the overlap of Wests fans who go to both Leichhardt and Campbelltown, or Dragons fans who go to both Jubilee and Wollongong. I bet it isn't that high at all.

Those teams that do stick at the same stadium week in week out like Newcastle, Melbourne, NQ, Camberra etc. always have very generous general admission spaces. You can watch the Warriors for around $18 which is crazy for live top class sport.

Fair point but I was originally mentioning the pricing at Gosford as the person mentioned the price of a Cat 1 ticket there for the Souths vs Tigers game there. Would be interesting to see what the pricing is like at Newcastle, Canberra , NQ if you aren't a member and what a family ticket would cost also but i do get your point.