Australia's premier sport

[T-Boon]

The storm actually rated better in Melbourne than the swans did in Sydney for the Grand Final.

I heard that, thats good I suppose. Last I heard though Swans averaged about 100k on Sydney TV whilst I am not even sure Nine bother broadcasting Storm games.

 

[T-Boon]

And the Swans get crowds that are twice the size of the Storm.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

I heard that, thats good I suppose. Last I heard though Swans averaged about 100k on Sydney TV whilst I am not even sure Nine bother broadcasting Storm games.

They must. The days of not honouring the TV deal are done, and as someone who lived in Melbourne at the time they only showed games at 1am and helped with getting games shown in pubs via satellite (with sometimes over a hundred of people coming to watch), it was kinda bittersweet when people could watch at home instead of coming together at the pubs to see a game

And the Swans get crowds that are twice the size of the Storm.

And many of those attendees are there on freebies. You can get them on the swans own website. My childs daycare had books of them left there untouched this year, every second week. The swans manufactured success can only be accepted by Melbourne for so long. The storm are also in the same position, albeit without the vast amount of money down the gurgler.

 

[T-Boon]

I hope you are right. Maybe League can win the war.

 

[docbrown]

They won't because the AFL will see that they start winning shortly. Their crowds have bottomed out at about 19k average after ten years of horror on the field (thats actually pretty good).

1. That just goes to show why the AFL is a joke - the NRL can have an even competition without needing to rig it
2. Not 19k -- for 2016 it's 17074.
3. From 1998 to 2004 their crowd rose every year up to 33,619 -- it's now 17,074 -- so they've halved their fan base
4. Some sources say they've been averaging $1 million+ operating losses since then each year
5. Apart from 2009 (6th) they've ranked 10th to 17th -- there are other clubs who had a similar poor decade and haven't shed fans nowhere near the extent of the Lions
6. You can't honestly tell me that if the Melbourne Storm - or frankly any other NRL club - had halved their fan base like that, that there wouldn't be serious repercussions and condemnation.

It is far more likely that the AFL will have a second team in Brisbane than that the Lions will implode.
I am so pessimistic about the NRL and big decisions that if I had to bet I would bet on AFL having a second Brisbane team before NRL.

I don't think the Lions will implode but there's a clear downturn trend in their crowds that no reasonable statistician would simply dismiss offhand.

Your pessimism is likely clouding your objectivity.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

The RL product is far superior to AFL.

Get the following right and RL will win:
Ticketing / attendances / stadia
Scheduling / television
Membership / fan engagement
Corporate / advertising / promotion
Player behaviour
Expansion


Easy.
But we've had our hands tied for nearly 20 years.

 

[Nerd]

They won't because the AFL will see that they start winning shortly. Their crowds have bottomed out at about 19k average after ten years of horror on the field (thats actually pretty good). It won't get lower than that. When they start winning they will go back up to 30k'ish.

It is far more likely that the AFL will have a second team in Brisbane than that the Lions will implode.
I am so pessimistic about the NRL and big decisions that if I had to bet I would bet on AFL having a second Brisbane team before NRL.

Not a chance in hell there will be another Brisbane AFL team any time soon. The introduction of the Suns has had a dramatic effect on the Lions crowds. Another Brisbane AFL team would be a massive disaster for the AFL.