End nears for suburban NRL grounds

[firechild]

I guess the other thing with cheap or free tickets is the potential for greater revenue through merchandise sales and food/drink sales. It might not be significant but a couple of beers is better than nothing.

 

[Ausguy]

I guess the other thing with cheap or free tickets is the potential for greater revenue through merchandise sales and food/drink sales. It might not be significant but a couple of beers is better than nothing.

Yeah there is a fine balance.

I would prefer to lean towards giving people who want to attend the game (families etc) value for money before giving one offs a good night out once a year.

All ideas are worth reading.

 

[The Elephant In The room]

Stop making sense, you are ruining the forum. :crazy:

Sorry. The Sharks should relocate to Darwin and call themselves the Northern Drop Bears. Better?

Taking my earlier suggestion further, the clubs could offer a "second half of the season" type membership for those shitty seats if they didn't want to risk diluting their main fan base. By that stage you'd have locked in all your usual members, and have a better idea whether the club was going well (ie likely to pull a regular good crowd) or struggling and needing some "special offers" to put bums on seats.

 

[Ausguy]

The sharks have a flexi 5, which allows GA admission into 5 games of the year for $115. You get a bag of Merchandise, hat scalf keyring etc etc with it.

I dont see this as good value as it only saves $10 on admission, yes you get the freebies but lets face it they arent great quality.

A better deal would be, 5 games for $100, no or very little free cheap merchandise (i can live without it), maybe just the hat or lanyard for your member card. Also throw in admission to the away game at gosford againt the dogs, encourage some fans to travel.

Just throwing ideas out there, each club can do their own deal on how they think they will attract fans.

 

[The Elephant In The room]

The sharks have a flexi 5, which allows GA admission into 5 games of the year for $115. You get a bag of Merchandise, hat scalf keyring etc etc with it.

I dont see this as good value as it only saves $10 on admission, yes you get the freebies but lets face it they arent great quality.

A better deal would be, 5 games for $100, no or very little free cheap merchandise (i can live without it), maybe just the hat or lanyard for your member card. Also throw in admission to the away game at gosford againt the dogs, encourage some fans to travel.

Just throwing ideas out there, each club can do their own deal on how they think they will attract fans.

All ideas are worth looking at if you ask me. The one trouble with a flexi five is that most people with this will probably end up going to the same 5 "Sydney" derby games. What they need is a "Non-NSW Five" for $50 to go to the Broncos/Cows/Tits/NZ/Storm games (I don't even know if they even play those teams at home this year, but you get the point).

 

[Ausguy]

Value for money. Its not hard to come up with ideas.

 

[franklin2323]

But as I said a couple of times, this shouldn't be a one size fits all solution. Not every game should be at a big stadium, just like every game shouldn't be played at a suburban ground.

All clubs should aim for 80-90% of members going to games. Most are no where near that clubs and the NRL should sort that out as part of the 20k crowd target.

If we are regularly getting Penrith 90% full. I could handle if we pencil in a game for a neutral venue and gauge which members would go give to a few weeks before and move it back if sales are poor. In 2004 we moved the GF replay to ANZ. We got 2k more then at Penrith.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Why don't the NRL :

1. Set up their own ticketing agency? They become their own Ticketmaster and off every ticket they sell, they take $2 and put it in a bank account. If they sell 1,000,000 tix per season, that's $2 million dollars without even trying. In ten years it's $20 million + interest. Just a thought.

2. Set up an NRL pass - 3, 6, 9, 12 games. All the money from these passes is pooled and divided amongst the 16 clubs and NRL. The pass also allows for casual fans (who may or may not support a team) to go to any of the NRL round matches of their choosing any time in the season.

For example, a person with a 3 game pass: his mate supports Saints, so they go to Souths vs Saints in Rd 6. Then he goes to the Bulldogs vs Broncos in Rd 12 and Saints vs Eels Rd 18.



And once the NRL have set up their ticketing agency, why not get in to bed with a hotel chain, an airline, etc and offer decent priced game packages so people who can afford it, can go away and watch their teams play in other regions? I know there are some people who go to all the games outside of Sydney. If the NRL and suppliers got in to bed, they'd get all these people on board. And the NRL takes their cut, banks it and divides the rest up 16 ways.

 

[beave]

This is actually a great idea (NRL ticketing company)

 

[The Elephant In The room]

Why don't the NRL :

1. Set up their own ticketing agency? They become their own Ticketmaster and off every ticket they sell, they take $2 and put it in a bank account. If they sell 1,000,000 tix per season, that's $2 million dollars without even trying. In ten years it's $20 million + interest. Just a thought.

2. Set up an NRL pass - 3, 6, 9, 12 games. All the money from these passes is pooled and divided amongst the 16 clubs and NRL. The pass also allows for casual fans (who may or may not support a team) to go to any of the NRL round matches of their choosing any time in the season.

For example, a person with a 3 game pass: his mate supports Saints, so they go to Souths vs Saints in Rd 6. Then he goes to the Bulldogs vs Broncos in Rd 12 and Saints vs Eels Rd 18.



And once the NRL have set up their ticketing agency, why not get in to bed with a hotel chain, an airline, etc and offer decent priced game packages so people who can afford it, can go away and watch their teams play in other regions? I know there are some people who go to all the games outside of Sydney. If the NRL and suppliers got in to bed, they'd get all these people on board. And the NRL takes their cut, banks it and divides the rest up 16 ways.

I like the thinking outside of the square, but after costs I suspect the NRL would be left with bugger all of that $2m

 

[CC_Roosters]

Why don't the NRL :

1. Set up their own ticketing agency? They become their own Ticketmaster and off every ticket they sell, they take $2 and put it in a bank account. If they sell 1,000,000 tix per season, that's $2 million dollars without even trying. In ten years it's $20 million + interest. Just a thought.

2. Set up an NRL pass - 3, 6, 9, 12 games. All the money from these passes is pooled and divided amongst the 16 clubs and NRL. The pass also allows for casual fans (who may or may not support a team) to go to any of the NRL round matches of their choosing any time in the season.

For example, a person with a 3 game pass: his mate supports Saints, so they go to Souths vs Saints in Rd 6. Then he goes to the Bulldogs vs Broncos in Rd 12 and Saints vs Eels Rd 18.



And once the NRL have set up their ticketing agency, why not get in to bed with a hotel chain, an airline, etc and offer decent priced game packages so people who can afford it, can go away and watch their teams play in other regions? I know there are some people who go to all the games outside of Sydney. If the NRL and suppliers got in to bed, they'd get all these people on board. And the NRL takes their cut, banks it and divides the rest up 16 ways.

That is a fantastic post. Call it NRL travel or something along those lines. I would love and certainly use a package deal to an away game say annually.

Copy this post and paste it in the NRL's inbox! Do they have a suggestion box??

 

[Timbo]

The Raiders do the flexible membership thing too. 3 Matches + a merchandise pack for $90.

Great for fans like me who don't live in Canberra and can't get to every game.

 

[Perth Red]

How many week night games are played in Sydney? Depending on what happens with the Thursday experiment it will likely be two at most, between 10 teams that could be spaced out so in reality any centralised plan meant around 2 week night games a season out of 12. So all this I can't get home for work excuse would only possibly occur twice a season? They could move one of those interstate if they wanted and reduce the occurrence even more.

Any centralised stadium model would also need a scheduling rethink to minimise the impact on fans. It can be done if there is a will from both clubs and the NRL. Free transport, friday night sydney game of the round at sfs with free entry for both teams members and $10 entry for everyone else, decent schedule that minimises Monday night games for centralised teams, expansion to help cover the unwanted time slots by teams in other time zones etc can all be part of the master plan. More realistic than finding $300 mill to upgrade Brookie, shark park and Penrith to decent standards.

 

[newman]

How many week night games are played in Sydney? Depending on what happens with the Thursday experiment it will likely be two at most, between 10 teams that could be spaced out so in reality any centralised plan meant around 2 week night games a season out of 12. So all this I can't get home for work excuse would only possibly occur twice a season? They could move one of those interstate if they wanted and reduce the occurrence even more.

Any centralised stadium model would also need a scheduling rethink to minimise the impact on fans. It can be done if there is a will from both clubs and the NRL. Free transport, friday night sydney game of the round at sfs with free entry for both teams members and $10 entry for everyone else, decent schedule that minimises Monday night games for centralised teams, expansion to help cover the unwanted time slots by teams in other time zones etc can all be part of the master plan. More realistic than finding $300 mill to upgrade Brookie, shark park and Penrith to decent standards.

Or they could, you know, not. That'd keep just about everyone happy. Except you.

 

[dangerousdave]

How many week night games are played in Sydney? Depending on what happens with the Thursday experiment it will likely be two at most, between 10 teams that could be spaced out so in reality any centralised plan meant around 2 week night games a season out of 12. So all this I can't get home for work excuse would only possibly occur twice a season? They could move one of those interstate if they wanted and reduce the occurrence even more.

Any centralised stadium model would also need a scheduling rethink to minimise the impact on fans. It can be done if there is a will from both clubs and the NRL. Free transport, friday night sydney game of the round at sfs with free entry for both teams members and $10 entry for everyone else, decent schedule that minimises Monday night games for centralised teams, expansion to help cover the unwanted time slots by teams in other time zones etc can all be part of the master plan. More realistic than finding $300 mill to upgrade Brookie, shark park and Penrith to decent standards.

Should be free public transit irrespective of where the game is.

Plain and simple...cronulla, manly and penrith will fail in bigger stadiums whether they upgrade their current grounds or not

 

[betcats]

How many week night games are played in Sydney? Depending on what happens with the Thursday experiment it will likely be two at most, between 10 teams that could be spaced out so in reality any centralised plan meant around 2 week night games a season out of 12. So all this I can't get home for work excuse would only possibly occur twice a season? They could move one of those interstate if they wanted and reduce the occurrence even more.

Any centralised stadium model would also need a scheduling rethink to minimise the impact on fans. It can be done if there is a will from both clubs and the NRL. Free transport, friday night sydney game of the round at sfs with free entry for both teams members and $10 entry for everyone else, decent schedule that minimises Monday night games for centralised teams, expansion to help cover the unwanted time slots by teams in other time zones etc can all be part of the master plan. More realistic than finding $300 mill to upgrade Brookie, shark park and Penrith to decent standards.

Except the NRL doesnt pick what night the games are on you clown, channel Nine and fox sports do.

I mean you want to re arrange the whole season and somehow break our billion dollar tv deal so you can get our teams playing in bigger, emptier stadiums. Just f**king stop it.

 

[bobmar28]

exactly .
my generation is the one with young kids.
If they turn us off the game we wont take our kids and they will grow up not really interested in it.

But if your team has no fans it will be cut from the competition.

 

[carcharias]

But if your team has no fans it will be cut from the competition.

Mate you have to do a lot to get cut.

You can systematically rort the cap, be accused of gang rape have the most violent anti social farkwits as fans and still stay in the comp.

 

[Valheru]

Nothing wrong with modern stadiums, provided they are close enough for most supporters to travel to. The fact is the NRL have decided to make the majority of games at times that are not family friendly and then fans are expected to travel long distances, often on weeknights to games. All they will achieve is reduction of crowd numbers, not increases.

So your major concern is the timing of games rather than where they are played?

Do you actually think they will get more people going to watch them in the SFS or Homebush?

Homebush shouldn’t be in the conversation when talking about the sharks. As you have mentioned with the sharks/cowboys example I can’t see it being realistic to move every shark’s home game to the SFS but I do think Sydney derbies would see a significant increase in attendance at the SFS rather than shark park. I don’t think the SFS by any means is a perfect solution for the sharks, it is merely the best available option in a centralised model at the moment.

I do think, whether they like it or not, the sharks will have to seriously consider relocating home games in the next 20 years. IMO if they are still playing full time out of shark park by then they will have fallen behind the ball big time in terms of crowd averages.

Why cant you see the development increasing averages if the capacity is increasing?

You could increase the capacity to 30k and I don’t think you would see much of an increase. The reason being the sharks pretty much maximise their attendances as it is IMO. Dragons fans aside, shark park is not convenient for anyone else and no one wants to travel to the shire to watch a game. Of course in years of success the average might be higher but as a competition we can’t have success as part of the strategy to increase crowds as there will always be clubs that struggle.

 

[firechild]

So your major concern is the timing of games rather than where they are played?

It is a concern but the major concern is the combination of the 2 issues. Fact is if big stadiums were so great, the Roosters would have one of the best crowd averages in the game but clearly that is not the case. Moving clubs away from their traditional areas will do nothing but drive people towards Foxtel as a more convenient alternative.