2018 Crowd Watch

[big hit!]

The AFL is the same (3 of 9 ending in daylight, sometimes less), and the A-League rarely has any

A-League does it because the season runs over summer months. I'd prefer to be out in the evenings on balmy summer nights than cold winter ones.

Last season, they scheduled regular 7pm Sunday matches in the new TV deal which was an abject disaster for crowds - even scheduled a Sydney derby in the time slot (they actually changed the start time to 6:30pm becauase of the uproar from fans) which attracted 25k at SFS (admittedly it was raining too), but these go close to sell-out on a Saturday night. They haven't done it for this season. Gallop is a News Ltd whore.

Re AFL, it's still a 3rd of matches as opposed to a quarter. Their matches run close to two and half hours as well so it's going to be hard to avoid in winter. No doubt, they'll be pushing on with more thursday night footy during season, but they're also quick to dispense with a time slot if fans don't approve - eg. sunday night footy.

the NRL need to arrest the leeway they give the broadcaster with regard to start times - if a match is advertised for a 7:40pm start, then the players need to be on the-field and ready for a 7.40pm start with the ref counting the seconds down on his watch, like they do in the EPL. What they do there is a thing of beauty - they'll have 5 matches scheduled to start at 3pm on a Saturday arvo, and all 5 matches will begin 3pm sharp. you can switch games and the game clock will literally be within 10 seconds on all the matches.

we have here in the NRL is contempt for fans who attend the game. they just allow the broadcaster to run more ads in the time when the match should have already begun.

 

[big hit!]

Saturday Update

CAT 2 Souths now single seats only
Cat 2 Roosters multi seats only available right at the back in the nose bleeds behind corporates in bay 48/49

Cat 4 is a bit confusing as it keeps changing. Currently saying roosters exhausted but souths available.

Cat 3 TBH has seen little change that I can see from yesterday for both clubs. I expect they will move now that Cat 2 is becoming scarce.

it's the drip release of tickets and shits me. not all seats in the stadium are available from the beginning so when an allocation is exhausted, it's only the tickets that they have had available up to that time that are really exhausted, not the entire category.

i was contemplating waiting a few days before committing to buy tickets, but decided against it because I thought that they would be snapped up pretty fast (got spooked by COL & RIC fans in Melbourne selling out their match on Monday). i should've been more wise to the apathy of sydney rugby league support.

On tuesday Rabbits Cat 1 & supporters were all gone apart from single seats, Cat 4 were exhausted, and Cat 2 was on the far side of level 2 in bay 56 back row M. I decided to buy Cat 3 behind the goals in row M.

I reckon if I waited until Wednesday as more tix were released by ticketek, I could've have purchased better seats.

 

[sempmrh]

There's a couple of things that frustrate me about buying tickets to an event. First is not having all seats on sale. Fair enough if the stadium or arena is planned to be run at a reduced capacity but if I settle for something in a "worse" category or pay extra for the next category up, I better not show up and see empty seats. Second - I want to pick my exact seats out on a map. Some events you can do it, some you can't. Maybe that won't work for events that are expected to sell fast or sell out within hours of going on sale - but it should be available more often than it is.

 

[Burns]

There is nothing, nothing worse than not being able to select your own seats, or at worst choose your own Bay. Ticketmaster is 1000000x better than Ticketek in this regard.

 

[supercharger]

Might throw a spanner in the works.

 

[El Diablo]

Might throw a spanner in the works.

guess we'll know within the next 10 hours

 

[Perth Red]

What happened in 2009-2012 to boost crowds so positively? We had Monday nights, we had news ltd running the game, we had Gallop as CEO, we had low revenue yet our crowds hit an all time high avg and stayed there consistently over 16k for 4 years. Then 2013 we began the decline to the lows of the last two seasons. Why so good in 09-12 despite the handicaps and why the decline last few years despite what should be a much better time for the game?


Year Ave.
2018 15260
2017 14919
2016 15214
2015 15074
2014 15905
2013 15940
2012 16423
2011 16273
2010 16406
2009 16069

https://afltables.com/rl/crowds/summary.html

 

[El Diablo]

9pm apparently

 

[Burns]

Maybe Perth will get a team now after all!

 

[sempmrh]

Okay, but when they're rebuilding Sydney after it's destroyed can we make sure the infrastructure and stadium locations are better?

 

[LineBall]

Okay, but when they're rebuilding Sydney after it's destroyed can we make sure the infrastructure and stadium locations are better?

Good time to rationalise Sydney teams too.

 

[Perth Red]

Surely the safe thing to do would be for the weekends game to be moved to Bathurst? What are the NRL thinking??

 

[SLRBRONCOS]

Rabbitohs fans have been given a bay over on the roosters side.

 

[El Diablo]

Rabbitohs fans have been given a bay over on the roosters side.

Long Bay?

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

What happened in 2009-2012 to boost crowds so positively? We had Monday nights, we had news ltd running the game, we had Gallop as CEO, we had low revenue yet our crowds hit an all time high avg and stayed there consistently over 16k for 4 years. Then 2013 we began the decline to the lows of the last two seasons. Why so good in 09-12 despite the handicaps and why the decline last few years despite what should be a much better time for the game?


Year Ave.
2018 15260
2017 14919
2016 15214
2015 15074
2014 15905
2013 15940
2012 16423
2011 16273
2010 16406
2009 16069

https://afltables.com/rl/crowds/summary.html

I'd suggest the increasing availability of live NRL via FTA and fox has impacted crowd numbers. Less delayed telecasts and more live sport makes that a more appealing option than attending for many people in recent years compared to the years you mention.

 

[dogz08]

25k for a prelim.. can we stop having prelims in melbourne please

 

[El Diablo]

25k for a prelim.. can we stop having prelims in melbourne please

and Viicderpians say Melboring is the sporting capital of Aus

 

[greenBV4]

Not sure why but ticketek have changed the map for tomorrows game?



I find it annoying enough that you couldn't select your seat (or bay) for finals, now you can't tell what category is where as the whole stadium is just "reserved seating" besides supporter bays

 

[moffla]

25k for a prelim.. can we stop having prelims in melbourne please

But 28k in Sydney last year was acceptable?

 

[miguel de cervantes]

What happened in 2009-2012 to boost crowds so positively? We had Monday nights, we had news ltd running the game, we had Gallop as CEO, we had low revenue yet our crowds hit an all time high avg and stayed there consistently over 16k for 4 years. Then 2013 we began the decline to the lows of the last two seasons. Why so good in 09-12 despite the handicaps and why the decline last few years despite what should be a much better time for the game?


Year Ave.
2018 15260
2017 14919
2016 15214
2015 15074
2014 15905
2013 15940
2012 16423
2011 16273
2010 16406
2009 16069

https://afltables.com/rl/crowds/summary.html

dodgy crowd counting through that period? I don't have a lot of faith in reported crowd numbers for any code anymore.