Rd 4 Penrith vs Newcastle @ Penrith
Rd 5 Roosters vs Manly @ Allianz
Rd 9 Souths vs Manly @ Allianz
Rd 14 Manly vs Newcastle @ Brookvale
Rd 20 Roosters vs Newacstle @ Allianz
If Belmore last Friday got 8.7k (which there wasn't, as the ground was nowhere near half-full. More about 6-7k), I really hate to think what the crowds could be for those 6pm matches above. Only the absolute RL diehards/fanatics that are not working that day (or who finish work in the CBD well before 4:30pm) will be in attendance, due to the geographic location and limited accessibility to those places via public transportation (Anzac Parade has been a nightmare to get through from afternoon onwards due to peak-hour traffic as a result of light-rail construction). If it rains, sub-5k is definitely on the cards. Crowds for local derbies such as Dragons vs Sharks at Kogarah in Rd 10 are going to suffer, whereas on a Sunday arvo would get close to a sell-out.
In this history of rugby league scheduling in Australia since 1908, this is undoubtedly the worst regular time-slot allocated. Yes, even worse than Monday Night Football.
Thing is it is just yet another reflection on how poor the management running our game is. They are clueless and when you consider we would be up around a $750mill business factoring in NRL revenue and club revenue it is outrageous really that the senior people are so poor. We are into the last year of the strategic plan and they have failed to reach any of their key targets.
You could live with it if the NRl went into it with eyes open, told us the game was worth $X in the TV contract and that they had a strategy to maximise the opportunity it presented.
Just one idea, make it the "family game" of the week. free admission for under 15's. Family attendance for $30 (two parents two kids) with food discount vouchers and a kids NRL pack. Reduce price to everyone else to $15 sit wherever. NRL covers off $200k of family entertainment during the game, give aways, prizes, entertainers etc etc. Create a family BBL style atmosphere and see if you cant fill the place with families, in theory it should be the best time for them to get to.
or idea 2 pay for clubs to move home games to NZ to cities outside Auckland. Play 18+ of the 6pm games in NZ. Increases the games footprint in NZ and addresses the dreadful crowd possibility.
or idea 3 make as many games a possible at ANZ and Alliance and make the free to anyone with an NRL membership, will still be sht but maybe not quite as sht
The NRL are genuinely clueless and it doesn't bode well for how they will continue to squander the riches the game has had since 2012 with little to show for all that money.
Or maybe Timmah will be right and they wont be as bad as we fear!
