2019 Crowd Watch

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

It’s not so much those games, but maybe cronullla v st George played on a Sunday afternoon at a shiny new allianz draws 25k instead of 16k? The trick to increasing crowd avg’s Is to boost the big drawing games to over compensate for the low drawing ones.

Also, the hope would be to get people going to the big games, then have that trickle down to the smaller games too...

Once people get into the habit of going to games and when they fi ally decide it is better live than on the tv, they WONT just go to big games but the smaller games too.

 

[Mr Angry]

Sound logic

 

[Dawesy76]

How are you going to work the averages for the R.9 magic round in Brisbane? I suspect that rounds total may not be that good.

I heard that the non broncos days have sold about 20k. So technically every game bar the broncos and manly game will attract 20k at least. There’s nothing bad about that at all.

 

[franklin2323]

It never ceases to amaze me how those living outside of Sydney or those without kids assume they know better then those who have lived in Sydney all their lives

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

It never ceases to amaze me how those living outside of Sydney or those without kids assume they know better then those who have lived in Sydney all their lives

It also amazes me that Sydney people think they are the only city with traffic congestion and infrastructure inefficiencies, leading to longer travel times. Took me 2 1/2 hours to go pick up my wife on Sunday from a Melbourne inner suburb to the south east travelling by bus and train. Good times, wish I could have just watched her on TV....

 

[Quicksilver]

It never ceases to amaze me how those living outside of Sydney or those without kids assume they know better then those who have lived in Sydney all their lives

There are few things more magical than sitting on a congested Centenary Drive for 2 hours with a car load of screaming kids.

 

[Quicksilver]

Maybe not, but theyd be great candidates for the “Back To The Suburbs” games once or twice a year.

Meanwhile, the Sydney derbies would actually get good crowds.



This is a perfect reason to move into central stadiums...

Either fans cannot access the ground or they dont like the facilities. OR your team is just not very popular.

Either way, its a perfect reason to END the suburban experment.

What about the experiment of teams playing out of oversized stadiums with zero atmosphere?

In case you haven’t noticed people don’t seem to be flocking to that either.

 

[franklin2323]

It also amazes me that Sydney people think they are the only city with traffic congestion and infrastructure inefficiencies, leading to longer travel times. Took me 2 1/2 hours to go pick up my wife on Sunday from a Melbourne inner suburb to the south east travelling by bus and train. Good times, wish I could have just watched her on TV....

imagine trying to do the same to make a kickoff for a game then the same home. No one is saying Sydney is the only place with traffic but it is priorities and sport doesn't always come out on top.

 

[franklin2323]

https://afltables.com/rl/crowds/2018.html

Using this...Without Dragons as I didn't have time to break down the Sydney and Wollongong

1,351,764 people attended Sydney club home games. Of course some is in other areas like Tamworth etc.. but still hardly like no one is coming to games. Better use of public holidays etc will improve that going forward

 

[franklin2323]

There are few things more magical than sitting on a congested Centenary Drive for 2 hours with a car load of screaming kids.

ahh yes after a day at work nothing better then it

 

[Timmah]

It never ceases to amaze me how those living outside of Sydney or those without kids assume they know better then those who have lived in Sydney all their lives

You know it's possible for people to have both lived in Sydney and no longer live in Sydney now, yeah?

 

[Timmah]

What about the experiment of teams playing out of oversized stadiums with zero atmosphere?

In case you haven’t noticed people don’t seem to be flocking to that either.

Sounds like a bit of chicken and egg.

Fact is, more people attend matches on average at larger, modern stadia.

If you get them used to attending such venues, the potential for crowds to grow increases and has a much higher cap than a suburban ground. Breeding familiarity is key and centralising more games to the larger modern venues is a step in the right direction.

Don't abandon suburban grounds - they'll still have their place - but they shouldn't be the norm anymore.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

While it's only for reserve grade and women's comp, 4 or 5 suburban venues have been promised upgrades in Melbourne from the last election.

Do you know how much they are putting in?

Id guess its around $10mil each at most. Perfect for park football but that will never build a decent stadium

 

[Frailty]

GC is a terrible example for the suburb debate, they never playes in a suburb. If they had, they might have averaged 8k over their lifetime instead of 15.5k they have achieved.

The prefect example is actually the Storm. At the old Olympic park, they averaged 11k that even includes their golden age from 06-09. Skip forward to AAMI, they have an overall average of 14k and if we only talk about the last 4 years their acerage is 17k!!!

Same for the Broncos. With the opening on Suncorp, their average jusmped from 20k to 30k almost overnight.

My hope is that the new WSS will see Parra and the rest pull in such huge numbers, it will put the debate to bed...

But you will happily neglect the fact that in 2001 when the Storm moved to Docklands for a season their crowds went down after the average increasing for the first three seasons. Nor that it's only in the last 4-5 seasons that the average crowd at AAMI has increased - a few consecutive grand finals will do this.

As for Brisbane moving to Suncorp, they moved from an athletics track 30 minutes out from the CBD, to a stadium designed for League next to the CBD with great public transport connects.

The point of the Gold Coast reference was the basis that better stadium =/= better crowd. It's not that simple.

 

[Timmah]

Do you know how much they are putting in?

Id guess its around $10mil each at most. Perfect for park football but that will never build a decent stadium

$20 mil for Princes Park (Carlton) to make it the "home of women's football"
$15 mil to assist in making more footy grounds across Victoria to be more female friendly
$13 mil to continue the Moorabbin Oval redevelopment (St Kilda's base)
$10 mil for Casey Fields (Cranbourne, also used by NRL VIC) and Whitten Oval (Footscray)
$2 mil for Victoria Park (Collingwood) infrastructure upgrades

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/supporting-community-sport-from-the-suburbs-to-the-g/

The point wasn't how much they were putting in but that a government has actually thrown some money at a range of local venues to make improvements, which seem to be few and far between in NSW recently.

 

[Quicksilver]

$20 mil at Penrith or Shark Park would go a hell of a long way.

 

[franklin2323]

You know it's possible for people to have both lived in Sydney and no longer live in Sydney now, yeah?

I get that. You don't use Google to search for how long it takes to get to x place like some do

 

[franklin2323]

$20 mil at Penrith or Shark Park would go a hell of a long way.

Penrith's academy cost $25m no Govt help. So I don't like the chances though that said the new conference centre is govt assistance as well

 

[Jamberoo]

Are we suggesting...

10k showed up Wests V Warriors, but if it was played at a shiny new Homebush more people show up.

15K showed up to Sharks V Gold Coast, but if that was played a shiny new SFS more people show up.

We don't fill the current grounds.

It is not about the capacity of the stadiums, it is about the facilities/game day experience and the ease of getting there.
Port Adelaide moved to a stadium with the same capacity, but virtually brand new (rather than 50 years old) and centrally located and their average crowds instantly went up from 23K (2009-13) to over 40K (2014-18). That is almost double!!!
So, yes, more people will turn up. If WSS is to the standard of MCG, Adelaide oval or Perth, it will be a revelation to all Sydney sports fans and crowds will increase dramatically.

 

[insert.pause]

What a waste holding Broncos v Dragons on a thursday night, a game that would pull 40k+ on the weekend will be lucky to get 25k. Just like last week with Dragons v Souths, and the week before with Storm v Broncos. They are diluting the games that traditionally attract good crowds.