2018 Crowd Watch

[OldPanther]

And we are done, kids have gone to the other room to watch the AFL. In the words of my 12yo, “there’s nobody there Dad, this is boring.” That’s your next generation right there!!

I call bullshit. Kids don't stop watching something on tv that they enjoy if the crowd is small.

 

[Timmah]

Three times in the past 15 years that I can see with those three falling into very early October. The point is, you have a reasonable expectation on when the AFL season would start so why take your chances when you have a very good idea of when they would be, give or take a week? Just stupid scheduling that could have been avoided.

I think the fact they still got 13k despite the Tigers playing across the road is testament to their growth. They couldn't have avoided going head to head with any Round 1 game - Essendon tonight, Collingwood Saturday, Melbourne Sunday. I doubt they would've got anything north of 15k on any other night.

What I agree on is making it Thursday. Poor choice for a GF rematch IMO

 

[Marlins]

My First time at aami Park last night and it was greet. Took a few mates with my and they loved it. Despite be only half full still a great experience. Best viewing stadium I’ve seen a league match played.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

I think the fact they still got 13k despite the Tigers playing across the road is testament to their growth. They couldn't have avoided going head to head with any Round 1 game - Essendon tonight, Collingwood Saturday, Melbourne Sunday. I doubt they would've got anything north of 15k on any other night.

What I agree on is making it Thursday. Poor choice for a GF rematch IMO

Yes, whilst not one of the storms finest crowds it is respectable when you consider the competition close by. After a home game last Saturday night, did we need another the following Thursday? Probably better having an away game and avoid the round 1 AFL hype and Melbourne games all together.

 

[taipan]

Yes, whilst not one of the storms finest crowds it is respectable when you consider the competition close by. After a home game last Saturday night, did we need another the following Thursday? Probably better having an away game and avoid the round 1 AFL hype and Melbourne games all together.

I think another point which is valid.How many Cowboy's fans galloped down to watch the match live.? 50?
Basically the overwhelming majority of the crowd were locals.Whereas the AFL game across teh road were all locals one would assume.
That doesn't excuse the outhouse scheduling for a Thursday night.Bleeding ch9 needs to be hung up by Karl Stiffnick's balls.

 

[Billythekid]

In the end the crowd wasn't THAT bad. It was 13K against one of the lowest drawing teams in the league on a Thursday night. I think there is a good chance that will be the storms lowest crowd this year which would be a good result IMO.

Would it have been better on another night not against possibly the biggest game of AFL outside of the finals this year? Obviously but it's not the end of the world.

Edit: there is way too much doom and gloom about the popularity of the storm in Melbourne. The fact that they can still attract 13K against 90-100K fans at the MCG with who knows how many watching on TV shows how strong the core supporter base is. The match couldn't have been on at a worse time and it still did ok. Even the ratings were pretty steady compared to last week despite the competition.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

I think another point which is valid.How many Cowboy's fans galloped down to watch the match live.? 50?
Basically the overwhelming majority of the crowd were locals.Whereas the AFL game across teh road were all locals one would assume.
That doesn't excuse the outhouse scheduling for a Thursday night.Bleeding ch9 needs to be hung up by Karl Stiffnick's balls.

I don't think the storm expect many travelling fans on games outside of the weekend, but Thursdays are obviously a harder sell than any other time. A better scheduled time, taking into account the massive competition less than 1km away, would have had a better crowd number impact than an attempt to accommodate travelling fans to attend.

 

[azza29]

I think another point which is valid.How many Cowboy's fans galloped down to watch the match live.? 50?

I'm not sure how many travelled from NQ, but there were a few hundred Cowboys supporters there last night. Certainly more than the typical away crowd in Melbourne, credit where it's due.

 

[malleekid]

Not crowds related, but related to the scheduling discussion. NRL on Ch9 got a national audience of 816k. AFL on Ch7 got 862k.
Think the NRL overall be happy that an event game like the GF replay clashed with the AFL opening game.
Crowd obviously suffered but national interest didn't.

 

[ReddFelon]

Not crowds related, but related to the scheduling discussion. NRL on Ch9 got a national audience of 816k. AFL on Ch7 got 862k.
Think the NRL overall be happy that an event game like the GF replay clashed with the AFL opening game.
Crowd obviously suffered but national interest didn't.

Also the differential between the regional ratings shows that League still has that much greater advantage in country areas.

 

[moffla]

@moffla

How popular is the Rugby League scene in Melbourne and how much of a following do the Storm have? Everytime I've watched a Storm game from Melbourne there always seems to be a good bunch of supporters but are League followers hard to find in Melbourne?. Are more people involved in Rugby League now then when I visited Melbourne back in 2007? When I was in Melbourne I couldn't believe how insular people were towards anything that wasn't AFL and I've been heckled by some dumbf**k victorians over the years for being a RL follower and not liking AFL.

10 years ago, it seemed like AFL fans found it impossible to be open to any other sport. They madee a competition out of it despite the fact that it was clear there is room to coexist. Fast forward to now, we see a lot of Victorians have taken to the storm - and that's why we've seen this increase in members and crowds.

I think a lot of credit has to go to the way in which we've marketed. 2015 we shifted our approach, and advertised our game in a way that "allowed" people to be AFL first, but if there team wasn't playing, why not come and support the storm that night? It's the right approach. The AFL has too much history for us to ignore, and we have to respect that it's Victoria's #1 game.

If Victorians are willing to adopt the storm as a team, we have to be willing to accept that their loyalty will still first and foremost, lie with their respective AFL sides.

 

[Cumberland Throw]

Not crowds related, but related to the scheduling discussion. NRL on Ch9 got a national audience of 816k. AFL on Ch7 got 862k.
Think the NRL overall be happy that an event game like the GF replay clashed with the AFL opening game.
Crowd obviously suffered but national interest didn't.

Any fox figures ?

 

[Hoofhearted]

I call bullshit. Kids don't stop watching something on tv that they enjoy if the crowd is small.

I live in WA where AFL is prominent, my kids have been brought up watching League but play AFL. The AFL had already started yesterday when I turned over to the Storm game, trust me, the first comment made was that there's nobody there. Within 5 mins they were in the other room watching the AFL with 90k screaming idiots yelling out "Ball!!!!".

 

[malleekid]

Any fox figures ?

AFL: 275k
NRL: 258k

www.tvtonight.com.au/2018/03/thursday-22-march-2018.html

 

[Perth Red]

Not crowds related, but related to the scheduling discussion. NRL on Ch9 got a national audience of 816k. AFL on Ch7 got 862k.
Think the NRL overall be happy that an event game like the GF replay clashed with the AFL opening game.
Crowd obviously suffered but national interest didn't.

So they got a massively bigger crowd and more viewers on FTA and on Fox? So much for the theory we are sacrificing crowds to win ratings wars.

 

[Stallion]

I call bullshit. Kids don't stop watching something on tv that they enjoy if the crowd is small.

Its the initial impact be it positive(big crowd ) or negative (small crowd ) that reduces the interest or intrigue factor. For instance people wint bother having a look because if a small crowd is evident they surmise that it must not be relevant or culturally popular.

 

[OldPanther]

I live in WA where AFL is prominent, my kids have been brought up watching League but play AFL. The AFL had already started yesterday when I turned over to the Storm game, trust me, the first comment made was that there's nobody there. Within 5 mins they were in the other room watching the AFL with 90k screaming idiots yelling out "Ball!!!!".

Exactly. They're AFL kids. Great they are getting exposed to league but it's definitely not a priority.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

So afl can make inroads in qld/nsw yet the storm for all that success barely made a dent the fact it must be frustrating for the nrl. Compare the crowds swans/lions at there peak to the storm constant success sums it up, if anything it shows how much open qld/nsw is to the other codes compared to 'sporting capital'.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

So afl can make inroads in qld/nsw yet the storm for all that success barely made a dent the fact it must be frustrating for the nrl. Compare the crowds swans/lions at there peak to the storm constant success sums it up, if anything it shows how much open qld/nsw is to the other codes compared to 'sporting capital'.

I'll bite, not sure if troll or serious. Storm home crowds are the second biggest in a comp only behind a RL big city with only one team. All this when competing in a state with a league with some pretty big average home crowds. QLD / NSW eat a big bag of d*cks compared to Vic crowds. Not even in the same hemisphere. Laughable really.

The impact of AFL on NRL crowds in Melbourne is significant. At least the NRL have it right that the only Sydney AFL Thursday game is not against a Sydney NRL game.

NRL & AFL 2017 - VIC
Total Attendance 4,071,500
Home Matches 111
Average 36,680
Population 5,791,000
% Attendance 70.3%

NRL & AFL 2017 - NSW
Total Attendance 2,151,091
Home Matches 142
Average 15,149
Population 7,544,000
% Attendance 28.5%

NRL & AFL 2017 - QLD
Total Attendance 1,070,629
Home Matches 58
Average 18,459
Population 4,691,000
% Attendance 22.8%

 

[Perth Red]

So afl can make inroads in qld/nsw yet the storm for all that success barely made a dent the fact it must be frustrating for the nrl. Compare the crowds swans/lions at there peak to the storm constant success sums it up, if anything it shows how much open qld/nsw is to the other codes compared to 'sporting capital'.

or maybe it is a direct return on investment? AFL would have spent more in NSW in last 5 years than the NRL has in Victoria in the last 20!