Crowd Watch 2012 Mk II

[Timmah]

Actually, the Tigers don't play at ANZ Stadium (as a home team) and haven't done so for years.

 

[juro]

Turnstyles at Skilled counting number of legs again (yes I'm sure there is a one legged patron at the game).

Or Jake the Peg maybe...

 

[juro]

You'd think you'd play Easts at SFS to attract as many of their fans as possible.

And it would still be your home game because you have twice the fans they do. But still. Easily would have got 25k at SFS.

And I understand people like attending Leichhardt. I've been to a game there once. I appreciate history more than most. But there are plenty of teams that you wouldn't get 20k+ at a big stadium. You can play them there as you do. But Easts are a team you could have attracted a few more to.

This argument makes no sense at all. I know, I know. I shouldn't be surprised...

You want the tigers to take one of their rare games at Leichhardt and play it at the opponent's home ground. Leichhardt gets great crowds because it is special to its supporters. Play elsewhere and thousands wouldn't bother attending. And you want them to do this to attract a few more opposition fans, who you acknowledge are rare anyway. That is brilliant!

 

[bazza]

Hypothetical time.

wests v easts @ leichhardt 20k plus
wests v easts @ anz 15k
wests v easts @ allianz 17k
Wests v easts @ campbelltown 16k


now

dragons v dogs @ the gong 16k
dragons v dogs @ kogarah 17k
dragons v dogs @ anz 30k

It's all about putting the right games on at the right grounds.

Wests v Easts shouldn't go anywhere near ANZ, whereas dragons v dogs should.

dragons v dogs @ SFS also gets 30k

 

[Raiderdave]

all of Sydney's NRL teams should be playing at least 4 of their traditional cross town rivals at either the SFS or ANZ
provided clubs get a great deal to do so from both venues & its economically viable

Souths & the Bulldogs already play nearly all their games at ANZ , & the Roosters at the SFS they're all fine
Tigers already play 4 at the SFS ( the other 8 split between their other 2 venues)... although I'd put the Broncos easter game out to either Leichardt or campbelltown as its not drawing more then either of those grounds capacity
Souths .. Parramatta .. Bulldogs & Dragons for the Tigers all at the SFS

Dragons should have a 4-4-4 split between Kogarah .. the Gong & probably the SFS as its closer to the Dragons area
Bulldogs .. Tigers .. Souths & Parramatta for their 4 at the SFS


Parra ... 4 at ANZ & 8 at Parra stadium
Bulldogs .. Tigers .. Souths & the Dragons at ANZ

Penrith the same .. 4 at ANZ 8 at Penrith
Parra .. Tigers .. Bulldogs & probably the Dragons

Manly 4 at the SFS .. 8 at Brookvale
Tigers .. Parra.. Dragons .. Souths ... ( lots of sat arvo 5.30pm games & Sundays in that lot to attract families)

Sharks ... 4 at the SFS & 8 at Cronulla .. & plenty the same 5.30pm sat games & Sundays so families aren't going home from the city at 9.30pm at night
Dragons ..Souths .. Tigers .. Manly

yeah we're taking some big traditional games out of the suburbs .. big local derbies & people may not like it ... but we must grow as a sport or we tread water & wither

the strategy on top of clubs nearly getting these venues for free

1)fix the season schedule with these games & venues locked in
2)promote the hell out of them with
cross membership deals ... family deals .. all junior passes from all districts honoured ... TV news papers .. radio ...

offer a blockbuster membership ... with just these 4 games at a great price & you can win a car or a holiday or something with one of these memberships

the sky is the limit
we have to make these Sydney games " events " that people want to attend .. & slowly build the culture of attending games

we can do it
I don't expect 40K crowds at the Sharks & Panthers games as they are small clubs with small supporter bases ... but eventually we will get bigger crowds across the board for them too

lets stop talking about it
lets do it;-)

 

[Perth Red]

Good post, Sydney crowds should be driving the sport forward, at the moment they are not.

To add to your list they should schedule these games in the most favourable time slots, either Friday night or Sunday afternoon to maximise attendances.

 

[Frailty]

The fact of the matter is the retail industry is struggling as people do not have (or perceive themselves) as not having as much discretionary spending as they had in the past. This has the same affect on people willing to pay money to attend games, especially for families and what not. It is actually a good achievement to maintain pretty stable crowds the last few years whilst other sports have dropped a fair bit.

There needs to be better marketing, and planning to help increase these crowd figures in the current time. The Sharks had women free with a paying ticket on the weekend, but this was not advertised (only on their twitter and facebook page) until late Thursday and did not apply to prebooked tickets. Good idea, but horrible implementation.

We should be looking at these sort of things, but more frequently and with better planning & implementation.

Other ideas:
- Reduce entry costs, especially for Children under 12.
- Have heavily discounted tickets for away team members, i.e. 25% for visiting members.
- Heritage Round have free entry for seniors.
- ANZAC weekend have free entry for veterans and serving members.
- Increase 'event' feel of games. Have competitions for kids outside the ground (passing competitions, etc.) where they can win prizes (team balls, shirts, hats, etc.)
- Encourage local business participation at the grounds - stalls inside or outside the ground (depending on the contracts between club and ground).
- Supply free club disposable wet weather ponchos on rainy days

 

[M2D2]

Theres no point taking games away from home grounds until that home ground sells out on a frequent basis.

 

[Perth Red]

I would add a ticket subsidy to the NRL grant for each club that allowed the following, could be on a % value of avg crowd size so would motivate clubs to increase crowds:

Free entry for away club full ticketed members
$5 entry for under 16's any seat
Walk up of $15 GA and $25 other seats
Reduced costs full ticketed memberships
Free give aways for kids on game day such as wigs, flags etc
Free entry for special event games such as women in league - free for women,
National seniors week, free for seniors
Anzac, free for armed forces personnel
NZ day, free entry for Kiwi passport holders etc etc

there are so many things that we can and should do when the game finally has some money to invest. Fixed scheduling, big game at big stadia, time slots, price, lobbying Govt to get public transport included, marketing, better game day experience etc etc. The list is endless and could comfortably see us crack the elusive 20K avg by the end of this Tv contract.

 

[Raiderdave]

Theres no point taking games away from home grounds until that home ground sells out on a frequent basis.

they'll never sellout on a regular basis ... not with most suburban grounds having 75% with no cover from the weather .. & only between 25 to 50% seated

we're not abandoning them altogether
however they are no longer viable as the only venues we use ... we need to move to bigger stadia more regularly for big games if we are to grow our sport

 

[Perth Red]

I am hearing that this is almost guaranteed and the ARLC are currently in negotiations with stadiums and clubs to make this a reality.

 

[Big Sam]

That is probably one of the best posts regarding stadium strategy I've read Raidersdave. Similar to what the AFL has already done but at the same time allows clubs to still play 6-8 games at their traditional home ground(s).

You could also offer 16/18 game ANZ/Allianz memberships for Souths, Dogs and Roosters supporters.

 

[Teddyboy]

Day package ticket for single and family which includes transport/entry/food and drink/program etc.

 

[M2D2]

not with most suburban grounds having 75% with no cover from the weather .

Have you Been to ANZ or the SFS. They have f**k all cover either.
Until there is a reason to go to the ANZ/SFS. There is no point taking the games away from their home grounds. False pretence of "growing the game" is a load of bullshit. Youre not growing the game, youre simply making it more standardised.

 

[Perth Red]

Above would seem to be a bit of a myth. I went to ANZ to watch Bulldogs v Sth's a few weeks ago, sat just about halfway from the front in the first section and stayed dry all game. Maybe it is different when the wind is blowing it in but you would need a pretty big roof to mitigate for that.

 

[Frailty]

ANZ stadium holds 80,000 so 30,000 crowds look pretty pathetic in there, and the SFS provides no cover as demonstrated by the Roosters-Broncos '9000' crowd recently.

 

[cleary89]

How does 30k at anz grow the game? Zero atmosphere, still looks shit on tv. Shit house match day, only inflated by clubs giving away free tickets because 0 chance of a sell out.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Good post, Sydney crowds should be driving the sport forward, at the moment they are not.

To add to your list they should schedule these games in the most favourable time slots, either Friday night or Sunday afternoon to maximise attendances.

Dont see why saturday evening and night at a major stadium shouldn't be well attended. No work/school on the day or next day, really SNF has underacheived in terms of crowds.

I disagree on your sydney crowds comment. One club towns Canberra, Townsville and Gold coast are far from spectatular and if you look at the figures sydney crowds of recent years are picking up the slack from the regional clubs who seem to have tailed off a bit overall

 

[Cumberland Throw]

The fact that this game cannot sell out a 16k stadium is true testament to the parlous state of nrl fixturing

The fact that gallop let tv stations set the schedule is enough to see him sacked

 

[cleary89]

Looks like a very good crowd at brooky, especially for a monday.