2015 Crowd Watch

[Perth Red]

not attending a game because of the NRL outlawing punching is a ridiculous excuse, who watches a game of football to see fights and not football?

missing the point, people pay to be entertained. Bit of biff was a part of that. Just a small part but a part none the less. Why do they keep showing the Blair v Eagles fight everytime the two teams play each other? Not only has it gone but it has been replaced with shirt pulling and twenty players running at each other for a cuddle, a double whammy in the entertainment factor. Add this in to the numerous other de entertaining aspects of the game at the moment and you have a problem, none of them on their own but combined.....

 

[Canard]

People are making out like Crowds have dropped off dramatically and TV is way down after three rounds??

That sort of sentiment makes oikee look sensible.

 

[taipan]

missing the point, people pay to be entertained. Bit of biff was a part of that. Just a small part but a part none the less. Why do they keep showing the Blair v Eagles fight everytime the two teams play each other? Not only has it gone but it has been replaced with shirt pulling and twenty players running at each other for a cuddle, a double whammy in the entertainment factor. Add this in to the numerous other de entertaining aspects of the game at the moment and you have a problem, none of them on their own but combined.....

Biff may well have been part of it.It is not in the rules and you try and play to the rules.
It's hard enough getting young'uns to play the game with overprotective soccer mums,biff makes their choice a lot easier.We live in a far more competitive sporting environment.
I have never left a game of football,and complained there wasn't a punch thrown.
Ask the late Jack Gibson what he though of the biff,he would respond those generally with little football skill.
Crowds are down due to weather,scheduling, outdated facilities at some venues such as Brookie,Titans schemozzle,to name a few.

 

[insert.pause]

missing the point, people pay to be entertained. Bit of biff was a part of that. Just a small part but a part none the less. Why do they keep showing the Blair v Eagles fight everytime the two teams play each other? Not only has it gone but it has been replaced with shirt pulling and twenty players running at each other for a cuddle, a double whammy in the entertainment factor. Add this in to the numerous other de entertaining aspects of the game at the moment and you have a problem, none of them on their own but combined.....

I watch footy for the footy, but I'm funny that way.

Encouraging punching is appealing to the lowest common denominator, if these people miss it to the point that they no longer enjoy the game because of its absence then they are watching the wrong sport to begin with.

 

[insert.pause]

People are making out like Crowds have dropped off dramatically and TV is way down after three rounds??

That sort of sentiment makes oikee look sensible.

Rugby league is pervaded by a perception of constant crisis because it's culture has been intertwined with a tabloid.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

Rugby league is pervaded by a perception of constant crisis because it's culture has been intertwined with a tabloid.

It makes no sense for a sporting code to be self-destructive upon itself. Why would a sport put itself through crisis after 'crisis' it would make no sense and would be a detriment to it's growth and potential success.

Rugby league is the only code I know that has a constant negative mindset that bring itself down at every opportunity. The negative talk outweigh the positive about the crowds, refs, players, expansion,etc.

Rugby league is the most negative game of all (media driven mainly)

 

[Jamberoo]

SEN is the 24 hour sports station in Melbourne and they have just started to advertise SOO heavily (tag line is The Biggest Origin ever!). My ears pricked up when the hosts said 'after the break we will be discussing some developments in the NRL'.
They had Ben Ikin on talking about how crowds are down dramatically. He started off saying that ratings were steady, so there was not much to worry about, but by the end of the chat RL was in crisis again!
Not a lot of value for the NRL as the ad followed Ikin's negative spot.
Smith said on MMM over 50K tickets sold.
I take back saying that the game should be at Etihad (Capacity 56K), it should top 75K.

 

[SaraSassypants]

There must been a 'Hollywood celebrities, pets and players dead relatives party' on for souffs fans

 

[insert.pause]

SEN is the 24 hour sports station in Melbourne and they have just started to advertise SOO heavily (tag line is The Biggest Origin ever!). My ears pricked up when the hosts said 'after the break we will be discussing some developments in the NRL'.
They had Ben Ikin on talking about how crowds are down dramatically. He started off saying that ratings were steady, so there was not much to worry about, but by the end of the chat RL was in crisis again!
Not a lot of value for the NRL as the ad followed Ikin's negative spot.
Smith said on MMM over 50K tickets sold.
I take back saying that the game should be at Etihad (Capacity 56K), it should top 75K.

The only reason Victorian stations get league people on is to bag it. That's why sen get wilson on regularly and why 3aw get Rothfield on.

 

[Chook Norris]

not attending a game because of the NRL outlawing punching is a ridiculous excuse, who watches a game of football to see fights and not football?

Not what I said mate, you missed the point. The average fan is becoming disoriented with the game. The game is increasingly being perceived as soft due to forced sinbins and outlawing of shoulder charges; full of thugs/drugs due to off-field incidents; and 'corrupt' due to what they perceive as biased/woeful refereeing

These factors are having a clear negative effect on how the average fan views the game. People don't want to watch games when they believe that it already has pre-determined outcomes. Not every fan is a diehard like us on here. The average fan is fickle and easily turned off, so don't think that the above hasn't resulted in decreased interest

 

[boonboon]

2012 was the best crowds NRL has had since they expanded to 16 teams and in the last 10 years in general.

Ignore 2015 figures - 3 rounds means nothing with weather, different matches and venues year by year.

2014 was 518 people per game on Average lower then 2014. So why and where was the difference people should be asking.

Well - 518 per game is 140k attenders no longer going. That seems like a lot you say

So the first question is what clubs is this happening to
Well the main one , in fact 100k is the Bulldogs. the biggest difference being in 2012 when 41k attended a Bulldogs match in Brisbane (they all do well in counting the crowd for both of the double header). They were also leading the comp for most of the year and had some big crowds against some sydney crowds.

Now Rothfield will say
- Its the referees - well 8 teams crowds went up and 8 went down so that doesen't hold true
- They say its Dave Smith - Well is he doing a different job at different clubs in getting crowds up - So Nope
- He will say its the price of tickets - Well no that doesen't seem to be it as 8 went up and 8 went down and the Dogs play at ANZ which has almost the cheapest tickets and my Tigers who also went down significantly had much cheaper tickets in 2014 then 2012.
- Mayby its teams playing at big stadiums - Dogs and Tigers going down , but then Manly went down with its traditional ground, Newcastle went down with its great ground of hill

So what do I think it is. Well I think that crowds are fairly well the same and you can put the small movements year to year on 2 non NRL driven factors and 2 NRL driven factor

Non NRL
1. Weather - 2012 was dryer then 2014 and this is the main reason
2. Other Events on - This happens for example cricket world cup at the start of this year, Waratahs winning in the Rugby last year, etc

NRL/ Club Driven Issue
1. Scheduling - Moving from a flexible draw to a fixed draw has affected crowds in the negative because as the year goes on you get bad games on good nights and visa versa - may only mean 100 people per games but thats 20% of the changes
2. Moving some games to regional areas - Moving a game in the case of the Dogs from Lang Park to the Country or Penrith to Bathurst reduces crowds

1 other issue that might be having a negative effect is private ownership of clubs with Manly, Gold Coast and Knights all having significantly reduced crowds at the same time as ownership problems

 

[user_nat]

NRL/ Club Driven Issue
1. Scheduling - Moving from a flexible draw to a fixed draw has affected crowds in the negative because as the year goes on you get bad games on good nights and visa versa - may only mean 100 people per games but thats 20% of the changes

For years people were saying that bringing in a fixed draw would improve crowds.

Which makes me think.. no one has a clue in regards to fixing it.

 

[taipan]

Simple answer get rid of Monday nights/Thursday nights and have only two games on Saturday ,using the ones flicked for Sunday arvos.Next Tv deal would mean less money naturally.Make up some of it with SOO contract.
Only play NRL games in the bush for pre season.
Much as its good to have games in Bathurst ,you will never get 15,000.
Provide more stadium cover and we would not be in the so called panic situation we are in now.
And give better deals for kids.

When I see an A League crowd of 6,800 at Suncorp <I think we panic too much.

 

[insert.pause]

While the NRL's attendance drop is coming off a much lower base, the AFL are also going through a similar issue, at least in Melbourne anyway, where attendances at Etihad last year were a record low and at the MCG were the lowest since 2006. We can certainly do better than we have been, but I think there is something broader going on than just issues within the games control.

 

[Perth Red]

We clearly need the Mumbai mongooses to enter the nrl! Crowd boost would be enormous.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

While the NRL's attendance drop is coming off a much lower base, the AFL are also going through a similar issue, at least in Melbourne anyway, where attendances at Etihad last year were a record low and at the MCG were the lowest since 2006. We can certainly do better than we have been, but I think there is something broader going on than just issues within the games control.

Agree 100%, there are broader issues here. You can only pump up and motivate a populace into buying memberships and attending sport so much, and in the last few years the football codes have been going into overdrive. People jump on and off the bandwagon, find other things to do etc.

There are also growing financial pressures.

 

[Timmah]

When I see an A League crowd of 6,800 at Suncorp <I think we panic too much.

To be fair, that's a Wednesday night with both sides outside the eight, and in shite weather.

The same two teams, in perfect weather, in a Grand Final, attracted 51k.

 

[juro]

Hey juro, thanks for your graphs, and research, it is always a compelling read.

I just picked up on a minor point you made (as quoted above).
In fact the crowd isn't up 5k, it was the Eels home ground, and last season was 17,706. 18,718 puts it up 1,012 people (still a good number, but not a 5k increase!).

Unless you are suggesting a 5k increase on Eels first home crowd of the season? Which it wouldn't be anyway - in 2007 the Eels/Eagles crowd was 20k+, so my assumption is that you were referring to that one (yes, biggest crowd since then, but not up 5k ).

Eels can't currently break that 2007 crowd result against the Sea Eagles They need that stadium increase!

My comparison is between this year's crowd and the average over the last 5 years. For Eels vs Sea Eagles we have:

• 2010 - 15602
• 2011 - 11102
• 2012 - 13158
• 2013 - 11232
• 2014 - 17706

which gives an average of 13760. The 2015 crowd of 18718 is 5k higher than this.


I prefer the average over 5 years, because it gives a bit more stability to the results.

 

[Canard]

To be fair, that's a Wednesday night with both sides outside the eight, and in shite weather.

The same two teams, in perfect weather, in a Grand Final, attracted 51k.

To be fair you can't use a Grand Final as any barometer of Crowds. Also, Do you think Buzz will give the NRL a "pass" if by Round 20 crowds are down because of certain teams being outside of the eight??

So your point is bullshit.

 

[Danish]

I reckon the Roosters Canberra game is going to be one of the lowest drawing games in recent history.

Seriously besides absolute tragics like me there will be no one there.