Fans continue to vote with their feet - and continue to be ignored.
In fact, they are not only ignored, they are seen as the cause of the perceived problems.
Why should clubs care about crowd numbers at ANZ stadium - they get a guaranteed income anyway. No incentive to waste money boosting crowd numbers - because that is what any efforts in this regard would be - a waste. The income is guaranteed regardless.
Sydney fans do not want to go to night matches. Moreso when they are live on tele anyway.
If crowd numbers are really important, and I am not convinced that they are, then all Sydney teams have to do is schedule Sunday afternoon matches at their home grounds and do a bit of local promotion - not national campaigns appealing to women or sit around on think-tanks. Take out ads in local papers, visit local schools and hand out tickets to local junior teams - plenty of effective, cheap stuff can be done at a local level. None of this is interesting or 'sexy' to the staff in clubs or the NRL.
More important than boosting current crowd numbers is the support that this will shore up for the future. People have to enjoy going to the footy. It has to be exciting, good value and easy. Local grounds offer all of this. Sunday afternoon is perfect for this. Unfortunately, this is only good from a Sport perspective. From a TV perspective it will never fly - so it will not happen.
