2018 Crowd Watch

[El Diablo]

The AFL final is at the SCG clown.

he's already got his ticket

 

[big hit!]

I get that TV is where the money is but it shouldn't be at the expense of match day experience.. A good crowd comes across well on TV and Fox and 9 would probably pay more for the better looking game.

of course it does.

and further on the TV thing...why are the NRL merely taking the cash without regard to how C9 in particular trashes the game?

i watched wolves vs man city on sat night where wolves scored a goal from a handball. on replay, the commentators noted it, said it shouldn't have been a goal, and perhaps VAR would be good for that scenario, but then moved on. they didn't have phil gould types crapping on for an eternity about how shit it is, etc, and repeating the same criticisms week after week.

 

[Warriors Fever]

Sydney crowds this year have been trash no two ways about it. Both those sundays should have got a lot more, hopefully parra and the dogs pick up some form next year as they have a lot of potential fans when playing well. Also having parra back in parra will be a boost. This weekend we could have some big crowds in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Auckland and Newcastle. The anz games will likely be disappointing.

 

[taipan]

At this point what is there to say? Shit crowds are just such a common occurance. Not to mention that if you mention how bad crowds are you immediately have people jumping in offering up all manner of silly excuses.

The AFL crowd is very relevant because it makes a mockery of all our excuses. Pretty much every excuse we use was present for the AFL game and yet they can attract a 35K crowd.

Facing an out of town team- check
Game was live on FTA and fox - check
Threat of rain - check
Game finished super late - check
Fans had to deal with getting around Sydney which is apparently impossible for NRL fans - check
Competing with both a bledisloe cup game and an NRL match - check
I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure the average price for a swans match is just as high if not higher than an NRL match.

The list goes on and on.

Yeah but the NRL rates better on TV I hear you say. Wrong again. The AFL match outrated the NRL game in the same timeslot despite running an hour longer.

The swans continue to embarrass our code every single time they play and that's why their crowds get brought up.

Agree with most of that.What you fail to include ,Is the Swans have an all purpose ,all seater up to date,code specific stadium.Never brought up:facilities that suit the clientele.

The NRL matches on the weekend in Sydney ,involved grounds with hills ,little cover,not all seaters, not up to date.Jubilee,Shark Park,Campbelltown and the SFS.Anyone who believes these also don't; impact crowds are delusional.Raiders got a decent crowd over the weekend ,in an all seater stadium with reasonable weather.The SFS facilities for women is ordinary.
If you believe the Swans would attract crowds with hills and old stand, you are kidding.Amazing as soon as Adelaide and perth get 21st century stadiums the crowds skyrocket.

Swans fans in the main are domiciled within reasonable proximity to the SCG.They were up against the Roosters v Broncos.Did the Swans outrate this match on TV in Brisbane and Sydney? What were the regional figures?
We know the Southern states watch players blow their noses.
The Storm crowds improved markedly with an all seater stadium.Coincidence?

 

[big hit!]

Agree with most of that.What you fail to include ,Is the Swans have an all purpose ,all seater up to date,code specific stadium.Never brought up:facilities that suit the clientele.

The NRL matches on the weekend in Sydney ,involved grounds with hills ,little cover,not all seaters, not up to date.Jubilee,Shark Park,Campbelltown and the SFS.Anyone who believes these also don't; impact crowds are delusional.Raiders got a decent crowd over the weekend ,in an all seater stadium with reasonable weather.The SFS facilities for women is ordinary.
If you believe the Swans would attract crowds with hills and old stand, you are kidding.Amazing as soon as Adelaide and perth get 21st century stadiums the crowds skyrocket.

Swans fans in the main are domiciled within reasonable proximity to the SCG.They were up against the Roosters v Broncos.Did the Swans outrate this match on TV in Brisbane and Sydney? What were the regional figures?
We know the Southern states watch players blow their noses.
The Storm crowds improved markedly with an all seater stadium.Coincidence?

but, but.....rugby league fans want to sit on the hill on a sunday arvo!

look i agree, facilities need an update. rugby league has been poor with this, but rugby league/NRL are partly to blame. by abandoning attendance as an ambition and merely focusing on TV money and scheduling primarily at times fans won't or find it hard to go, the game has bred a culture on non-low attendance so grounds are not filling up, hence there is seen as little need to upgrade or build new facilities.

also, rugby league really isn't as influential as we think it is or we have merkins who are in it for self interest rather than the good of the game.

there needs to be some rationalisation and update of grounds. there needs to be some way to convince governments that there is a benefit. obviously, the clubs and the admin needs to contribute. pipedream though

SFS - roosters, souths
WSS - parra, wests, canterbury?
Penrith - update penrith park
Sharks - update
Manly - update brookvale or move to CC, but then the game loses all representation in northern sydney.
St Merge - no value in updating a venue with 5-6 games a season. perhaps share Woolooware with Sharks.

 

[Differ To The Coifed]

Omg please tell me we are not comparing premier league games to nrl.

When will people get it. The nfl and PL are followed by absolutely crazy fans who live and breathe and die for their teams.

In Aus we are far less obsessed.... add to that high prices, live on tv, better things to do and poor facilities and you get what we get.

Anyone who thinks we will avg 15k in Sydney is dreaming. GET OVER IT.

Oh and rationalisation. Won’t do anything, if we don’t really care about the teams we follow now do u think we care when our teams are merged. Nope!!

 

[Timmah]

That doesn't explain why any random swans game can draw a bigger crowd than our biggest marquet matches like roosters v Souths.

How many NRL games this season have drawn more than 35K in Sydney? Let's not pretend it's only sharks vs knights getting smaller crowds.

It absolutely does explain it. There is an oversupply of games in Sydney so people don't feel the need to attend as much. Our attendance culture in the NRL in Sydney isn't like AFL attendance culture in Melbourne.

Even so, we still have 3mil+ in stadia every year. But that's not enough for some. I'm keen to see it keep growing but its not the end of the world that we don't draw the same figures as 11 Swans games in a season.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

f**k the afl

 

[Warriors Fever]

So what are crowd averages per club looking like atm? Also raiders taking a game to Wagga next year thoughts raiders fans?

 

[Perth Red]

It absolutely does explain it. There is an oversupply of games in Sydney so people don't feel the need to attend as much. Our attendance culture in the NRL in Sydney isn't like AFL attendance culture in Melbourne.

Even so, we still have 3mil+ in stadia every year. But that's not enough for some. I'm keen to see it keep growing but its not the end of the world that we don't draw the same figures as 11 Swans games in a season.

Not really, I doubt there are hardly any fans who go to games as neutrals regularly. Most fans have ten to twelve chances a year to see their team. A few more if they can be arsed to go to away games in Sydney, it’s hardly over supply in that sense. Now over saturation for a city with Sydneys size and sporting apathy is another question.

 

[taipan]

f**k the afl

But please do so responsibly.Use protection.

 

[Canard]

Omg please tell me we are not comparing premier league games to nrl.

When will people get it. The nfl and PL are followed by absolutely crazy fans who live and breathe and die for their teams.

In Aus we are far less obsessed.... add to that high prices, live on tv, better things to do and poor facilities and you get what we get.

Anyone who thinks we will avg 15k in Sydney is dreaming. GET OVER IT.

Oh and rationalisation. Won’t do anything, if we don’t really care about the teams we follow now do u think we care when our teams are merged. Nope!!

I think population has far more to do with it then "craziness" of fans

 

[carcharias]

Why would anyone think neutrals would go in numbers?

 

[Canard]

Sydney crowds are just as much now, or lower, than when Sydney had a lower population

And every game isn't shown on live on TV domestically in the UK. In fact the majority aren't.

On a side note, what will the Titans crowd average end up being after this weekend's sell out?

 

[Timmah]

Not really, I doubt there are hardly any fans who go to games as neutrals regularly. Most fans have ten to twelve chances a year to see their team. A few more if they can be arsed to go to away games in Sydney, it’s hardly over supply in that sense. Now over saturation for a city with Sydneys size and sporting apathy is another question.

You need to split yourself of this notion that somehow everyone in Sydney is a rugby league fan and therefore a devout follower of their club.

Those people are already attending 90% or more of their clubs home games and where possible away games.

This is about the casual fans, the people around the edges who ask who's playing in the footy this weekend, when is the next game on. The ones that aren't rusted-on diehards.

Whilst ever you keep talking about attendances in a way that assumes all are fans and are just lazy, you're missing the point entirely. The casuals, the passing-interest people, they're the ones who need marketing and focused campaigns pointed at. Make the games something they want to attend (without turning off the diehards/core fans), because at the moment - as I've pointed out - there's too many games. They don't consider any of them must-attend, because they know there's another one the next day or within a few days. That's the oversupply.

 

[greenBV4]

Oh and rationalisation. Won’t do anything, if we don’t really care about the teams we follow now do u think we care when our teams are merged. Nope!!

You might not care but future generations won't even know the difference
When was the last time you heard a teenager say they don't follow NRL because the bears are gone?

to pick a random number lets say there's 1million NRL fans in Sydney, if that was split evenly between 8.5 clubs thats 117,647 fans per club, drop that to 7 clubs and its 142,857, 6 clubs and its 166,666.
The remaining teams will have a bigger fanbase to draw on, and less games in Sydney will create more demand

Saying that though, there is no easy way to go about rationalisation, and because of that I don't think it will ever happen unless a club flops itself.

 

[mozza91]

Over 25k expected in Newcastle on Saturday. Should be a big day. Plenty going on outside the ground and our Flegg side playing their Semi Final beforehand.

 

[greenBV4]

So what are crowd averages per club looking like atm?

updated stadium averages for Round 24:

 

[carcharias]

You might not care but future generations won't even know the difference
When was the last time you heard a teenager say they don't follow NRL because the bears are gone?

to pick a random number lets say there's 1million NRL fans in Sydney, if that was split evenly between 8.5 clubs thats 117,647 fans per club, drop that to 7 clubs and its 142,857, 6 clubs and its 166,666.
The remaining teams will have a bigger fanbase to draw on, and less games in Sydney will create more demand

Saying that though, there is no easy way to go about rationalisation, and because of that I don't think it will ever happen unless a club flops itself.

If my team was kicked out I wouldn’t watch the footy
I definitely wouldn’t go to another game
That means my kids wouldn’t be exposed to it.

Kids would rather play the Xbox than watch footy these days anyway.

 

[unforgiven]

If my team was kicked out I wouldn’t watch the footy
I definitely wouldn’t go to another game
That means my kids wouldn’t be exposed to it.

Kids would rather play the Xbox than watch footy these days anyway.

That is the big point when we are talking about future fans. Teenagers may not be walking around saying that they don't follow the game because the Bears are gone, but there will be plenty who are not league supporters now because their parents lost their team and the kids weren't exposed to the game in the same way they would have been. They weren't brought into the game by their parents.

This would be magnified massively if the NRL cut 4 teams from Sydney, which is what a number of people in this thread want.