Crowd Watch 2014 part 2

[The Voice of Reason!]

Vor

It was bad when reds outdrew broncos 2 years straight, it was worse when the lions outdrew broncos in the early 00s by a fair margin. It should never ever happen again in a strong league heartland in Brisbane, must be no.1 attended at all time imo. Bandwagon Brisbane is a common to hop on it seems based on the fluctuating attendence numbers of all codes there. At one point, Brisbane look like afl city compare to broncos back then in 00s. Please explain how this occur vor and other broncos fans.

You've already hit the nail on the head. The bandwagon. From 2000 - 2005, the bandwagon effect was much stronger because:

- superleague (which alienated a shedload of people notwithstanding the Broncos role in the whole tihng)
- we were playing at ANZ which everyone hated
- rugby league in general was on the nose then. Stories like Coffs Harbour, the Bulldogs salary cap scandal etc etc had the sport portrayed as a joke back then, and that was the popular perception in Brissie at the time with many

Now, as someone else has pointed out, even when we are on the nose we are managing over 30k, which is good.

As for the bad old days after SL, I lived through the lot of them. Some very ordinary crowds for years at ANZ. I remember going to see Wests play on a cold night in our lowest attended game. Four figures. Sheesh.

There's always going to be a bandwagon effect. The trick is to have strong and sustainable crowds that will keep you going in the years between good times (of which we have admittedly had a lot). Our early 90s growth wasn't sustainable, any more than the Reds growth in the last five is IMHO. I think our current crowds are.

Edit: And look at the Lions now. AFL crowds half what they were a decade ago. And they are bleeding money. Happy times.

 

[CowboyFuriousFury]

Thanks vor, swings and roundabout hit hard in Brisbane and the swing hit hard for other codes. Eg the lions and eventual reds. Real test of attendence for broncos is a wooden spoon year if that even occurs.

 

[The Voice of Reason!]

Just an interesting aside when talking about Brisbane crowds, here's what the average Brisbane sporting crowd (across Broncos, Reds, Lions and Roar) have been since 2006:

2006: 24444
2007: 24071
2008: 24583
2009: 23832
2010: 24116
2011: 23394
2012: 25332
2013: 24317

This should confirm the size of the Brissie Bandwagon to you. The number of people attending matches every year isn't really changing. It's the same core year after year. It is just the distance from this mean that can help you measure the success or otherwise in attracting the "swinging voters" every year.

 

[The Voice of Reason!]

Real test of attendence for broncos is a wooden spoon year if that even occurs.

Agreed. We've had a couple of lean years and held it together, but a wooden spoon would hit hard.

That said, one of my favourite seasons was 1999. We lost quite a few games on the trot, and Alfie quit etc. We basically reached a point where we had to win every game to make the finals. And they pretty much did. And the crowds grew and grew through the season, culminating in something like a very rare 45k or so against the Knights (?).

We were then bundled out of the finals straight away, but what a ride.

(I actually have fond memories of ANZ!)

 

[Brutus]

Reds played half the amount of home games as the Broncos during 2012 and 2013. Were the Reds' finals crowds included in their average for 2012 and 2013?

 

[oldmancraigy]

MNF crowd average is 15.8k,if you take out the 50k from the Eels/Tigers game its 10.8k

Parra were right in the middle tonight

That was 4pm... hardly night???

 

[Panther_Daz]

Hopefully Cowboys fans show up again this week after last week's turnout. Their game against the Roosters will be a cracker!

 

[Dogs Of War]

Vor

It was bad when reds outdrew broncos 2 years straight, it was worse when the lions outdrew broncos in the early 00s by a fair margin. It should never ever happen again in a strong league heartland in Brisbane, must be no.1 attended at all time imo. Bandwagon Brisbane is a common to hop on it seems based on the fluctuating attendence numbers of all codes there. At one point, Brisbane look like afl city compare to broncos back then in 00s. Please explain how this occur vor and other broncos fans.

This is why you need two Brisbane teams. There is an appetite for a different entity in the city, and Rugby League needs to provide it.

 

[Dogs Of War]

That was 4pm... hardly night???

And there was a Monday night game the Easter weekend, so the Eels v Tigers game wouldn't be counted in it.

 

[Desert Qlder]

I am so sick of hearing how the Reds outdrew the Broncos.

They play half the amount of games FFS!

 

[guyver78]

THE QRL has publicly called on Maroons fans to save the 100th State of Origin game from the sight of empty seats at Suncorp Stadium, with almost 10,000 tickets still unsold

QRL chairman Peter Betros said 10 days ago that 10,000 tickets remained for sale and it is believed not much progress has been made since with ticket prices increased on 2013 levels.

If they're struggling to sell these tickets in QLD what are the chances of ANZ selling out at those ridiculous prices? Looks like a lot of Rugby League fans are giving the middle finger back to the NRL now which is all they deserve in this case.

 

[Canard]

THE QRL has publicly called on Maroons fans to save the 100th State of Origin game from the sight of empty seats at Suncorp Stadium, with almost 10,000 tickets still unsold

QRL chairman Peter Betros said 10 days ago that 10,000 tickets remained for sale and it is believed not much progress has been made since with ticket prices increased on 2013 levels.

If they're struggling to sell these tickets in QLD what are the chances of ANZ selling out at those ridiculous prices? Looks like a lot of Rugby League fans are giving the middle finger back to the NRL now which is all they deserve in this case.

Its the $220+ seats that are the issue, that is just on the border of too much. They will sell of course.

The only seats cheaper than that left are obstructed view ones.

For the first time in my lifetime that I can remember, except the 1995 series, I can still get on and buy a ticket to Game 1. With plane ticket prices from Melbourne pretty cheap, Im thinking of doing it.

I can't imagine what Game 3 tickets sales must be like.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Passion.

 

[insert.pause]

The problem is at those prices and with two games in Brisbane people are deciding between which game they should go to, rather than just going to both. If there was only one game it would be sold out, even at those prices.

 

[guyver78]

Its the $220+ seats that are the issue, that is just on the border of too much. They will sell of course.

The only seats cheaper than that left are obstructed view ones.

For the first time in my lifetime that I can remember, except the 1995 series, I can still get on and buy a ticket to Game 1. With plane ticket prices from Melbourne pretty cheap, Im thinking of doing it.

I can't imagine what Game 3 tickets sales must be like.

As passionate as the Queenslander's are sometimes you just have to put things into perspective and come to your senses which is what I think a lot of people have done in this case. In the end it's just a 2 hour footy game and $220 to sit behind the dead ball line is just robbery.

 

[Springs]

I thought tickets always sold out in half an hour for Suncorp games?

 

[Canard]

I thought tickets always sold out in half an hour for Suncorp games?

In the last 20 years of so they have in less than 30mins.

Just coincidentally this year this year the average ticket price has risen substantially.

 

[papabear]

lol at QLD

 

[juro]

Comparing games between 2 teams over the years, we are actually up 75k on the average from 2009 to 2013. For example, Eels hosting Sharks has averaged 10,354 over 2009 to 2013, but last night got 12,541, an increase of 2,187.

However, as we know, there is a bit of a pattern to crowd sizes based on when the games are played. There are event weeks early in the season (eg season kickoff, Easter, Anzac Day), which are followed by a lull when top players are missing due to rep games, followed by some big games at the end of the season as teams fight for finals positions.

So, how does 2014 stack up compared to other years? At this stage in 2013, we were up 120k on the average from 2008 to 2012. During State of Origin, our crowds plummeted though, and never recovered.

Here is a graph of the last 5 years.

We started the year slower than previous years, but did very well over rounds 7 and 8. Round 9 was slightly positive. We are currently sitting just behind 2012 in 3rd place. The test will be how crowds go over the next couple of months. Will we plummet like 2013, or hold our ground like in 2010-12?

 

[Yosemite Sam]

20K for the Dragons game was not too bad.

I still can't work out why Bulldogs members couldn't get in for free.
Hopefully they will include reciprocal rights in future seasons, would easily add another 5K+ onto the crowd.