Brisbane Lions can get 31,000 in pouring rain

[Dutch Oven]

yet the broncos get 6,000 less on a fine Saturday night.

The Lions' game was also live on free to air tv and at the undesirable time of 1pm. They hadn't won at home for five weeks either. I think rugby league as a week to week sport is losing its grip in Brisbane to AFL. The Lions don't seem to get under 30,000 anymore and will be increasing the capacity of the gabba to 44,000 in the future. This will further dwarf the broncos crowds. The horses have won 10 in a row and are leading the rugby league and can only average 27,000.

This is a worry.

 

[League Freak™]

They played the Tigers, a team that isnt really going well and doesnt draw to many extra fans to away fixtures.

 

[c_eagle]

But why do they need extra fans? It's a one city team! I'm sure whoever the Lions played didn't bring that many extra fans either.

 

[TinghaInMotion]

They have won 3 or 4 premierships in a row and have built up a pretty big supporter base through that time. They just won't go away that easily.

You cannot compare the current Broncos team to the one in th early 90s. That was a super star team.

Having said all that, it is a worry.

 

[TinghaInMotion]

They played the Tigers, a team that isnt really going well and doesnt draw to many extra fans to away fixtures.

Yes but i remember them getting something like 55k to a game against Souths, but i have heard that they used to give away lots of free tickets back then. They apparently do not any more.

I'm not sure what the Lions do as far as free tickets go.

 

[t-ba]

I'm not sure what the Lions do as far as free tickets go.

It's not so much free tickets as it is fixturing.

Bruno Cullen is forever bleating about the 5 week match plan. The lions sell a majority of tickets for matches before the actual start of the season which locks people into attending the matches. Clearly he thinks an established fixture before the season begins will help. Have to wait and see I suppose.

 

[Thomas]

A ticket to a Lions match is a hard thing to get. The Collingwood-Lions match at the Gabba has been sold out now for 2 months...the match is in August or something. The Lions used to give away tickets (6 or 7 years ago), but now they are hot property.

The Broncos are starting to push more...there's a marketing scheme going on now saying that if you show your ticket to the game you can get free public transport. Its a good move.

 

[League Freak™]

When I said extra fans...I meant people that dont turn up every week. The more neutral person thats looking for something to do on the weekend as opposed to the fan that turns up every week.

 

[MONY]

3 rugby league teams in qld to 1 afl team..... if gold coast and the cowboys had never even been in rugby league im sure the broncs could average about 40,000 to their games.

 

[Graf Vynda-k]

when will you league fools accept reality.........se queensland belongs to the lions.

stop grasping at straws like drowning sailors clinging to flotsam.......it's pathetic......your giving our great game a bad name.

what do you think would happen if a passing surfer happened to stumble into this site??........and he saw all these supposedly hard, tough league guys blubbering on like little school girls in their pretty school uniforms........he would think that league was a sport for cats!!!!

you guys are the public face of league so pull yourselves together and start acting tough.

 

[Twizzle]

I think its also an indication of how many Victorians are moving up here each year.

I'd say a fair few of that 31,000 came from the gold coast.

I have a lot of mates that are ex Victorians, and some of them have converted to League and alot of them tend to follow both codes.

Another reason why the Gold Coast RL Team was justified.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

when will you league fools accept reality.........se queensland belongs to the lions.

stop grasping at straws like drowning sailors clinging to flotsam.......it's pathetic......your giving our great game a bad name.

what do you think would happen if a passing surfer happened to stumble into this site??........and he saw all these supposedly hard, tough league guys blubbering on like little school girls in their pretty school uniforms........he would think that league was a sport for cats!!!!

you guys are the public face of league so pull yourselves together and start acting tough.

Was it the Donkey's day off?

 

[wittyfan]

TV ratings still strongly suggest though that League is comfortably no.1 in Queensland.

SE Queensland is League heartland, Becky.

 

[Thomas]

I think its also an indication of how many Victorians are moving up here each year.

I'd say a fair few of that 31,000 came from the gold coast.

I don't know about that. Yes a few would come up from the coast for the game, but not a majority of the 31,000. Just look at how many Lions stickers you see on cars around Brisbane.....its kinda weird

 

[Graf Vynda-k]

Was it the Donkey's day off?

please explain

 

[Graf Vynda-k]

TV ratings still strongly suggest though that League is comfortably no.1 in Queensland.

SE Queensland is League heartland, Becky.

look sport, tv viewers aren't real genuine fans.......their just fat lazy slobs sitting in their lounge room watching telli because their too lazy to do anything else.

it doesn't matter what's on the telli.......they watch anything and it just so happens that league is on so that's how they gets the high ratings.

genuine fans make the effort to attend matches......even in torrential rain......so it's clear to any intelligent person that afl owns se queensland.

you cant argue with logic.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

look sport, tv viewers aren't real genuine fans.......their just fat lazy slobs sitting in their lounge room watching telli because their too lazy to do anything else.

it doesn't matter what's on the telli.......they watch anything and it just so happens that league is on so that's how they gets the high ratings.

genuine fans make the effort to attend matches......even in torrential rain......so it's clear to any intelligent person that afl owns se queensland.

you cant argue with logic.

Oh, I beg to differ.

The vast majority of sporting fans do do it from the comfort of their own home.

How do you explain that SOO #2 can rate over 1,000,000 in Sydney, yet"only" 83,000 went to the game.

Or how do you explain 1.2 million Melbourne viewers for the AFL GF, yet only 70,000 at the game?

The facts are that AFL isn't popular in Qld or NSW, the Lions are popular and the Swans are, well, the Swans are a basket case.

The Lions' crowds have been good, no argument but that was actually an orchestrated push by the AFL at a time when League was vulnerable that did the trick. They gave the Lions a $600,000 cap advantage, the best coach in AFL and basically forced them to be the best team in the AFL. You make 4 GF's in a row and win 3 and in most sports you'll pull bumper crowds.

But.... AFL games not involving the Lions get sh*t ratings. League games have always rated well in Qld, no matter who is playing.

For the past 4 years the Lions have been in the GF, the Broncos haven't yet the League GF still rated higher than the AFL GF. It could be interesting this year if the Broncos make the GF and the Lions don't.

They don't follow the code, just the team.

SE Qld is Rugby League heartland. And when the Gold Coast team hits the ground running, that point will be hammered home.

 

[ibeme]

look sport, tv viewers aren't real genuine fans.......their just fat lazy slobs sitting in their lounge room watching telli because their too lazy to do anything else.

it doesn't matter what's on the telli.......they watch anything and it just so happens that league is on so that's how they gets the high ratings.

genuine fans make the effort to attend matches......even in torrential rain......so it's clear to any intelligent person that afl owns se queensland.

you cant argue with logic.

You can't ignore logic either. Ask people in SE QLD to name the West Coast Eagles players, then ask them to name the Canterbury Bulldogs players, and see what the results are.

The Lions are a bigger version of the Swans. They have a core group of supporters, many of whom don't follow AFL outside the Swans or the Lions.

TV ratings are the true indication of interest. That's where the big money comes from. Quite a few people in SE QLD don't support the Broncos. In fact, many despise them, but they follow rugby league. They follow other teams. They know what's happening in the league world. You only need to have a look at how big crowds are when the Broncos play a team like the Bulldogs, and how much crowd support there is for the Bulldogs.

The Lions are AFL in SE QLD. There's far more to Rugby League in SE QLD than the Broncos, and Rugby League definitely owns SE QLD.

 

[Thomas]

The Lions are AFL in SE QLD. There's far more to Rugby League in SE QLD than the Broncos, and Rugby League definitely owns SE QLD.

Very true. What is also apparent is that Queenslanders are more open to other sports and that many will follow the Lions as well as the Broncos. I know plenty of people who follow rugby league, afl and union in Brisbane.

 

[smeghead]

With crowd numbers you must also remember that the Lions are the most successfull club of recent years. In many ways it is alot like the GP in Melbourne, about 30% of the people are there for a social occasion and not to watch the event. It happens when you are successful, it becomes the place to be seen