Thanks for posting those numbers up Paul - very interesting to see the trends over 50 years.
I'm starting to lose count of the number of people (RL fans and non-fans alike) who want to tell me that crowds at NRL games are way below what they were in the 1970s and '80s, and that interest in the AFL is taking over in NSW & QLD.
It's all about perceptions & getting the message out into the minds of the masses (public). Homebush isn't helping. The biggest concern I have with the Olympic Stadium is when it draws a crowd of less than 25K, it still looks on TV as being sparsely populated.
While anything over 15K for any Sydney club game is historically a very good attendance number, it "sells" RL better if that 15K is packed into Leichhardt, Kogarah or Brookvale, rather than the same number (or even more) strung out across Homebush.
I mean, we as a sport, are saying to potential new fans "Hey, come and watch our game, its fantastic", yet, these potential new fans are seeing on their TVs grabs of action in front of thousands of empty seats, rather than a packed suburban ground.
If I was a potential new RL fan, I'd be asking myself why should I take up watching RL when it seems that no one in Sydney cares for the game?
I understand why clubs are playing at Homebush, and that the facilities for fans are better - but I just think that it is presenting a bad look for RL, sells the wrong message, and is having a detrimental effect on the "buzz" around the code itself.
I read somewhere of a new owner taking over a NFL franchise - he dropped the stadium prices to a ridiculously low $ to pack the joint every home game, building interest/buzz/demand - then he gradually over time began to increase the prices - obviously this strategy only works if you have a decent team, and it must costs money to cater for a larger crowd, but it got fans into the habit of going, created a buzz, then it created demand, which meant the prices could be increased.
The Green Bay Packers play every winter in cold, snow and ice, and are now up to
over 250 sold out games in a row at Lambeau Field (capacity 72,000) - in a city with a population of 100K.
Sometimes I think that playing in front of 20K in an 80K stadium is far more damaging to the game than any media fallout caused by a misbehaving footballer.
