2025 Crowd Watch

[nko11]

Updated Suncorp sales map. Currently there are less than 70 seats left on Level 5. Surprisingly they still haven't opened up the back rows of 604, despite how well everything else is selling on Level 6. At the current rate of sales, I imagine they'll need to open up either 735 or 732 soon for the Samoan supporters.

View attachment 107277

Just opened up:
* The rest of Level 7 East.
* Alcohol Free bay 737
* Restricted View seating on level 3
* Bay 506 - Last bay on Level 5 to be released
* Level 4 East Corporate boxes/terraces (I believe) - Going for $95 each or $269 for a family of 4. This is really good value for money.

* 735 now also on sale.

 

[Wb1234]

Should drop ticket prices on Thursday to fill up what’s left

Getting this sold out is huge for test match footy

And not involving the Roos

Arlc owes Jason taumalomo so much

 

[yakstorm]

Eden Park sales map. Areas at the start of 318 - 323 are marked grey as they've never been put on sale via Ticketek. Might mean they are being sold through other channels and could potentially already be filled, but it's hard to know with the NZRL ticketing strategy.

Guestimating the ground, we know the East Stand hold 12K, so let's call 6K there as only the lower tier has been sold (though it is sold out). On the North Stand, the lower tier is meant to be between 12K-14K, so with roughly half sold, that would be another 6K-7K and let's say around another 2-3K on the South Stand to give us a conservative 14K-16K so far.

 

[Wb1234]

Eden Park sales map. Areas at the start of 318 - 323 are marked grey as they've never been put on sale via Ticketek. Might mean they are being sold through other channels and could potentially already be filled, but it's hard to know with the NZRL ticketing strategy.

Guestimating the ground, we know the East Stand hold 12K, so let's call 6K there as only the lower tier has been sold (though it is sold out). On the North Stand, the lower tier is meant to be between 12K-14K, so with roughly half sold, that would be another 6K-7K and let's say around another 2-3K on the South Stand to give us a conservative 14K-16K so far.

View attachment 107280

Tongans will end up being most of the crowd

Support for the kiwis is dire

 

[wain]

Tongans will end up being most of the crowd

Support for the kiwis is dire

to be fair, prob not much different in the makeup of last years final in aus against Tonga. prob shows the lack of support for the ‘big’ test teams, thankfully saved by the current bubble of support for the pac island nations. Hopefully we can continue to capitalise on it and grow the international game off the back of it.

 

[Gobsmacked]

to be fair, prob not much different in the makeup of last years final in aus against Tonga. prob shows the lack of support for the ‘big’ test teams, thankfully saved by the current bubble of support for the pac island nations. Hopefully we can continue to capitalise on it and grow the international game off the back of it.

Tonga isn't a prized scalp for NZ.
Until we're seeing these sides over a decent period challenging and beating the likes of NZ and Australia, it still remains a David and Goliath story..
There's never going to be massive support for the Goliath in the story. It'll take time, probably generational.

 

[yakstorm]

Tonga isn't a prized scalp for NZ.
Until we're seeing these sides over a decent period challenging and beating the likes of NZ and Australia, it still remains a David and Goliath story..
There's never going to be massive support for the Goliath in the story. It'll take time, probably generational.

Yeap, there is definitely an element of that. There is also a portion of the Tongan and Samoan supporter base who use to go for the Kiwis and use to turn up to their games before Toa Samoa and Mate Ma'a Tonga were actually rewarded with more opportunities against the top teams.

The Kiwis need to rebuild their supporter base, the best thing they can do is continue to play as many games as possible each year and as many of them at home.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Yeap, there is definitely an element of that. There is also a portion of the Tongan and Samoan supporter base who use to go for the Kiwis and use to turn up to their games before Toa Samoa and Mate Ma'a Tonga were actually rewarded with more opportunities against the top teams.

The Kiwis need to rebuild their supporter base, the best thing they can do is continue to play as many games as possible each year and as many of them at home.

The game they played against Samoa was top shelf, I think if the Kiwis can put some prestige into the jersey it will help.
Where League really struggles with internationals is that it's only marketable to League fans as opposed to people getting behind their country. Union has done this very well as at All blacks game will sell out but it won't be just Union die hards.

I think the little opportunity that Samoa and Tonga get to wear their countries colors on the world stage and be competitive has many in attendance that probably aren't week in week out League fans and that boosts support.
GB do well to attract casual fans too because of their patriotism and rivalry with Australia.

The Kangaroos and Kiwis need to market themselves to non League fans on the basis on patriotism - if done well will also pull more into the sport.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

I'd go even further than that and say union international crowds are significantly made up of people that have little interest in week in week out union. It's a weird phenomena.

 

[T to the T]

I'd go even further than that and say union international crowds are significantly made up of people that have little interest in week in week out union. It's a weird phenomena.

100%. My Wales for example will get 70k+ for RU internationals (albeit due to form will do well to test that at the moment) however the 4 RU pro teams combined averages is 20k or so.

International RU and club RU are 2 different beasts, both a blessing and a curse for the code. I'm all for an improved international calendar in RL but it shouldn't be at the cost of the club game.

 

[newc18]

I'm all for an improved international calendar in RL but it shouldn't be at the cost of the club game.

It's a balance between the two. I think a lot of people on here will agree that the NRL season goes for too long (For me it's starts off strong then sort of drags on during the Origin period then picks back up towards finals).

If we can shorten the NRL season to around that 19-22 round mark that will free up some space to expand the internationals. I'd love to see Australia play at minimum 6 test matches a year (including a two match series between the Kangaroos and Kiwis every year).

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

It's a balance between the two. I think a lot of people on here will agree that the NRL season goes for too long (For me it's starts off strong then sort of drags on during the Origin period then picks back up towards finals).

If we can shorten the NRL season to around that 19-22 round mark that will free up some space to expand the internationals. I'd love to see Australia play at minimum 6 test matches a year (including a two match series between the Kangaroos and Kiwis every year).

It`s all very well talking about shortening the season but there is no way on God`s earth that that will happen until it is guaranteed that we have on-going permanently competitive International opposition.
Once the grand-parent rules loses its` effectiveness, which it will, will there be enough players coming out of Samoa, population 250k and Tonga, population 150k to maintain their competitiveness and I mean actually winning series. Prob not.
NZ can only get better, PNG 10 - 20 years off and England, christ who knows.
The NRL will know this and planning as such.

 

[eels4lifee]

100%. My Wales for example will get 70k+ for RU internationals (albeit due to form will do well to test that at the moment) however the 4 RU pro teams combined averages is 20k or so.

International RU and club RU are 2 different beasts, both a blessing and a curse for the code. I'm all for an improved international calendar in RL but it shouldn't be at the cost of the club game.

The downside is that our internationals are no where near unions ones, and their premiership is no where near ours. So if i had to choose between internationals or premiership down my throat all season, id prefer NRL anyday, and I'm not being biased either. The NRL has elements that international union will never have, and thats entertainment to the core.

 

[Wb1234]

100%. My Wales for example will get 70k+ for RU internationals (albeit due to form will do well to test that at the moment) however the 4 RU pro teams combined averages is 20k or so.

International RU and club RU are 2 different beasts, both a blessing and a curse for the code. I'm all for an improved international calendar in RL but it shouldn't be at the cost of the club game.

As the union club game keeps shrinking the future of the international game will follow eventually

Best way to develop int league is via pro clubs at the elite level so toulose and png locked in. Christchurch Wellington and Fiji to follow ?

Once league intentionals get to a decent level they’ve got Union fans around the world as a new audience

Rfl are useless can’t develop France let alone wales etc

Nrl doing the heavy lifting with Aus nz tonga samoa Fiji cooks png as top nations

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

Great post.

Best way to develop int league is via pro clubs at the elite level so toulose and png locked in. Christchurch Wellington and Fiji to follow ?

Spot on there brother, horse before the cart.

Rfl are useless can’t develop France let alone wales etc

Worse than useless actually, think we should drop everything and tour there every year to save their arse.

 

[newc18]

It`s all very well talking about shortening the season but there is no way on God`s earth that that will happen until it is guaranteed that we have on-going permanently competitive International opposition.

From everything PVL has been saying, it appears to me the plan is to shorten the season once we get to 20 teams (which won't be that far away), hence why I said it.

Whether or not that's the right decision I don't know, but I hope it's true as I want standalone Origin and more Internationals.

Once the grand-parent rules loses its` effectiveness, which it will, will there be enough players coming out of Samoa, population 250k and Tonga, population 150k to maintain their competitiveness and I mean actually winning series. Prob not.
NZ can only get better, PNG 10 - 20 years off and England, christ who knows.
The NRL will know this and planning as such.

I agree that Tonga and Samoa won't be strong forever, so we need to take advantage of this. I'm very optimistic about the future though.

 

[kurt faulk]

.

Is not about shortening the season. It's about creating a league formation that creates more interest for fans, which leads to bigger crowds and bigger TV audiences. This antiqued ladder system where the first past the post at the end of the season is the winner has to be changed. There has been a finals system for decades. Winning the minor premiership is meaningless.

Once there are 20 teams the league has to have divisions. There will be enough teams to make it work. There's no other way.

.

 

[SLRBRONCOS]

Probably nudging 40k sold now - just need the putrid Sunday weather to shift right, ffs!

Worried about corporate package sales given the eastern open air are available and stadium members but should be guaranteed 34-35k even with heavy rain from here.

 

[Chook Norris]

I'd go even further than that and say union international crowds are significantly made up of people that have little interest in week in week out union. It's a weird phenomena.

Its the same thing as soccer in Australia, or at least in the domestic leagues. An occasion to support the national team in a sport which it is an underdog.

Australians hate winners/ goliaths, hence why we need a competitive and credible international rugby league schedule. And by credible, we need games which mean something rather than feeling like exhibitions. The ashes series will hopefully mean something (if they aren't complete drubbings)

 

[nko11]

Probably nudging 40k sold now - just need the putrid Sunday weather to shift right, ffs!

Worried about corporate package sales given the eastern open air are available and stadium members but should be guaranteed 34-35k even with heavy rain from here.

2025 NRL Pacific Championships Corporate Suite Suncorp

Not sure how accurate the numbers on this website are, seeing as they have the wrong times and wrong teams playing- correct date, think they've just copied a pasted last years and updated the date - but shows:

Corporate Suites - 50% sold
Centreline Lounge - 40% sold
Open Air Corporate Box - 30% sold

To be fair a lot of the Samoan and Tongan supporters would be 1st or 2nd gen migrants. Birsbanes Samoan population has grown 2.5x since 2006. I think with time the corporate support will increase - especially if they both keep building their brands. They've both done very well with Marketing this year.