2015 Crowd Watch

[Chicken_Hunter]

I reckon 8k in cairns. Been to a few trials over the years at Barlow, pretty much an expert on the joint........

Pfftt. There can be only one expert and that's me.

 

[Brutus]

Doesn't look like a bad crowd at Penrith. It's a pitty most games this year have been affected by rain I mean last night at Parramatta the Aleague got 8k and GWS got 8k I heard. Today should get more than 10k by the looks of it

GWS got 6k didn't they?

 

[mave]

What makes you think the NRL doesn't care about the size of crowds? If they didn't why would they count fans going through the gate and release attendance figures. Also why would they be reducing prices especially for families.

Crowd figures are a good sign on the strength or otherwise of the game.

The NRL chose the TV $$$$ over helping clubs raise the attendance figures a long, long time ago.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

If the nrl didnt care about crowds they wouldnt set targets (theyre failing to meet)

What purpose would this serve?? "if you dont have goals, youll never be disapointed..."??

or manipulate figures to make them look better (because theyre failing to meet targets).

Since when have they done this?? The ARLC has been actively stamping this out.

 

[pHyR3]

The NRL chose the TV $$$$ over helping clubs raise the attendance figures a long, long time ago.

the old administration did that, and it was needed for the code at the time. since then i think we've doubled revenue in just a few years because of that and some other factors.

next media deal will be focused on raising attendances for sure.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

What purpose would this serve?? "if you dont have goals, youll never be disapointed..."??



Since when have they done this?? The ARLC has been actively stamping this out.

Last year when they included rep games to make it look like it was a record year for crowds.

 

[undertaker]

I reckon 8k in cairns. Been to a few trials over the years at Barlow, pretty much an expert on the joint........

Doesn't help that this game is played in the heat of the afternoon in April (still not dry season up there).

The Cowboys get to play their home games at night for that reason, yet the NRL seem to think that Cairns - approx. 400km north of Townsville - is suitable to hold afternoon games, especially in April. Just like the NRL thought it appropriate to play Sunday 1pm games in Brisbane/Gold Coast during March 2009/10.

This game in Cairns should've been either on Friday night or Saturday night. Poor scheduling IMO.

 

[undertaker]

I can understand taking games to regional areas and clubs getting coin to do it, but it makes the game look amatuer, they are perfect for trial games.

Never going to improve crowd avg with games played in Albury, Bathurst & cairns.

I'm all for taking games to regional areas, but the grounds need to be up to NRL standard, and be able to comfortably accommodate between 10-15k. The ground Parramatta took their game to in Mudgee in 2013 was nice, only courtesy of the millions in funding that the government put towards it. And therein lies the issue - money. Unfortunately, if governments are too half-arsed to upgrade regular first-grade venues like Brookvale Oval and Leichhardt Oval, why would they be pumping in millions into country/regional venues that will only host one NRL/top-tier match in a year? Don't discount Cairns as not improving the crowd average...16,118 turned up to Barlow Park in 2013, which is higher than the normal NRL crowd average.

And on the point of the game looking amateur doing it, heck, the AFL took a regular season game to Alice Springs.

 

[Canard]

Cairns looks great

This should be the sort of thing every club should do at least once a year

 

[SLRBRONCOS]

Cairns looks great

This should be the sort of thing every club should do at least once a year

I don't think every club should. But it is a nice idea.

 

[Perth Red]

Cairns looks great

This should be the sort of thing every club should do at least once a year

Play in front of 8k people in a sub standard venue you mean? Sounds like a good plan. Why limit it to just once a year?

 

[user_nat]

It would get more than 8k if the right teams went.

Take a Cowboys or Broncos game to Cairns and it will do better. Although you would be giving them a home game in terms of support.

 

[Canard]

Play in front of 8k people in a sub standard venue you mean? Sounds like a good plan. Why limit it to just once a year?

FNQ is heartland League, one game of NRL there a year does more good then 15 seasons of an expansion battling away in a market that doesn't care about it.

What's the standard of the venue matter when it's once a year? The field was fine and the game was great.

FYI Tickets to this game where minimum $40 with the Grandstand $75

 

[undertaker]

FYI Tickets to this game where minimum $40 with the Grandstand $75

Amongst the plethora of excuses as to why matches aren't selling out or getting near capacity crowds, the number one LEGIMIATE issue that needs to be addressed in getting more people to the games: ticket prices.

Yes, I understand that it was Cairns only NRL match for the year, but $75 is still exorbitant. If Stadiums Queensland had anything to do with the ticket prices, it wouldn't surprise me as they're complete scum.

 

[insert.pause]

Amongst the plethora of excuses as to why matches aren't selling out or getting near capacity crowds, the number one LEGIMIATE issue that needs to be addressed in getting more people to the games: ticket prices.

Yes, I understand that it was Cairns only NRL match for the year, but $75 is still exorbitant. If Stadiums Queensland had anything to do with the ticket prices, it wouldn't surprise me as they're complete scum.

It's not a legitimate excuse for every game, all Sydney games now have a $50 family pass with free transport for ANZ, people aren't going because they prefer to watch at home on TV. The NRL has to come up with a point of difference to get people wanting to go to the game over watching on TV. The difficult part to that is if you identify atmosphere as that point of difference you are left facing a catch 22 type scenario where people will go for the atmosphere but you can't build the atmosphere without first getting people to show up.

Upgrading stadiums and moving away from the suburban grounds to enhance the stadium experience is also central to that, people don't want to pay to watch a game of footy at the local park and sit on the grass, the game is now too professional and it has outgrown it. They want to sit undercover in comfort with wifi and public transport right to the door.

 

[Cumberland Throw]

The TV based fans will always be transient.. NRL needs to focus on the hard core fans for attendance growth...

Basically every NRL team has at a minimum 8-9K absoluteley rusted on hard core fans who will go when ever where ever in almost any conditions... + 6-7k transients who come and go every week,,,

The trick is to work out exactly who these 9k are, and what makes them tick, and how to turn that 9k into 15k (while keeping the transient fans )

If i was a CEO i would want to know every little thing i could about these guys, how old, how much do they earn, where do they live, married, single, kids, gay, straight, catholic, etc...

Even something as simple as giving a cash bonus ($50) to members who sign up another member would be a very simple strategy..

Or a bonus if your members card got scanned at all 12 home games in a year .. not exactly rocket science

 

[LeagueXIII]

Disagree

The biggest victim (well one of) during the super league war was the feel good factor the game had built up, it was seen as a sport to be involved with by the so called fringe fans who bounce between sports. We lost that market during the super league war and the swans picked up on them and Union to a lesser extent. Then after that news ltd ran a campaign to downgrade the game to keep costs low which resulted in constant negativity.

This market I believe is where we need to pick up on.

 

[undertaker]

It's not a legitimate excuse for every game, all Sydney games now have a $50 family pass with free transport for ANZ, people aren't going because they prefer to watch at home on TV. The NRL has to come up with a point of difference to get people wanting to go to the game over watching on TV. The difficult part to that is if you identify atmosphere as that point of difference you are left facing a catch 22 type scenario where people will go for the atmosphere but you can't build the atmosphere without first getting people to show up.

Upgrading stadiums and moving away from the suburban grounds to enhance the stadium experience is also central to that, people don't want to pay to watch a game of footy at the local park and sit on the grass, the game is now too professional and it has outgrown it. They want to sit undercover in comfort with wifi and public transport right to the door.

I never said it was legitimate for every game.

However, fact of the matter remains that tickets at most games are overpriced and most fans just don't have that excess of money to be forking out on a regular basis, especially at the current prices. The NRL and clubs need to offer more incentives, especially for attending Monday night games (undoubtedly the most family unfriendly timeslot to attend). Something definitely needs to be done about attracting more ppl to Monday night games.

 

[DC_fan]

8,713 up in Cairns

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

The TV based fans will always be transient.. NRL needs to focus on the hard core fans for attendance growth...

Basically every NRL team has at a minimum 8-9K absoluteley rusted on hard core fans who will go when ever where ever in almost any conditions... + 6-7k transients who come and go every week,,,

The trick is to work out exactly who these 9k are, and what makes them tick, and how to turn that 9k into 15k (while keeping the transient fans )

If i was a CEO i would want to know every little thing i could about these guys, how old, how much do they earn, where do they live, married, single, kids, gay, straight, catholic, etc...

Even something as simple as giving a cash bonus ($50) to members who sign up another member would be a very simple strategy..

Or a bonus if your members card got scanned at all 12 home games in a year .. not exactly rocket science

Membership cards to track individual activity then targeted offers based on trends. (basically, what woolies does with their flybuys)