Fitz: "League should merge with Union"

[LeagueXIII]

[QUOTEAre they responsible for images of near empty stadiums? yes. Merge or relocate.][/QUOTE]

Oh, like St.George and Illawarra did? What was the attendance vs Melbourne? 6500. Now that was a success wasn't it?

Canterbury got 9000 last night how about they merge or relocate?

How about clubs don't play in 80,000 capacity stadiums but develop there own grounds. This is league culture. Plan to build grounds with decent corporate facilities over the next 10 years. What would the Bulldogs be averaging at a modern redeveloped 25-30,000 Belmore?

 

[yappy]

Even 25 thou is too big. You'd make more money in a tight 15 thousand seater designed to maximise the atmosphere and every seat close to the action. Considerably cheaper to build too. Just need to make sure most of the seats are in the Western Stand (to make a full house look great on TV) and tip top corporate facilities on the Eastern Side. You'd fill a ground like that more often than not and so the demand for the best seats can allow you to charge a nice premium whilst keeping things affordable at the ends. Far better from a profitability point of view to have 16,000 people trying to get into a 15,000 seater, than a 20,000 seater.

 

[Mr Saab]

Even 25 thou is too big. You'd make more money in a tight 15 thousand seater designed to maximise the atmosphere and every seat close to the action. Considerably cheaper to build too. Just need to make sure most of the seats are in the Western Stand (to make a full house look great on TV) and tip top corporate facilities on the Eastern Side. You'd fill a ground like that more often than not and so the demand for the best seats can allow you to charge a nice premium whilst keeping things affordable at the ends. Far better from a profitability point of view to have 16,000 people trying to get into a 15,000 seater, than a 20,000 seater.

15k? Thats way too small. Parra stadium and the new stadium for the Titans are perfect.
With 15k we will have people missing out on tickets and standard "little jimmy and sally cant see their football team" stories from the telegraph.

 

[yappy]

15k? Thats way too small. Parra stadium and the new stadium for the Titans are perfect.
With 15k we will have people missing out on tickets and standard "little jimmy and sally cant see their football team" stories from the telegraph.

Yep - and guess what, it ain't a charity no more. If the clubs don't make the coin then little jimmy and sally won't be goin to the footy anyway.

Like I said the ends behind the sticks should still be affordable. Leave them as hills or open terracing for the free passes/families etc. But the whole point is the old supply and demand. If the supply of seats outstrips the demand (as it clearly does at the moment) then you can't make good money, and you're constantly beating up your bottom line offering incentives to get more people to your games. Empty seats = lack of atmosphere also so it's harder to get people back next time.

On the other hand having little jimmy and sally (and a whole bunch of others who don't get in early) missing out means they'll do what ever it takes to come next time. You won't lose them from the game because they'll see the full crowd on the TV and wish they could have been there. Demand outstrips supply so the keenest fans get in early to buy up the season tickets and pay top dollar for it. The full houses and great 'event' atmosphere makes sure those who go want to come back, and those who miss out try harder to get there. Clubs shouldn't be afraid to charge as much as the market is prepared to pay. Limit the supply and the market will pay more = profitable clubs.

It's all about profit - nothing else matters. We don't have to compete with AFL on the raw numbers of people going to the game. It doesn't help a Nth Melbourne to have 36,000 people going to their home games if they lose $millions each year. The other important thing is the corporates. Basically tickets sales aren't going to be the silver bullet. The difference in actual profit between a 15,000 crowd and a 20,000 crowd (if you could actually get such a thing regularly) is probably not much and could even be in favour of the smaller crowd if the larger crowd is filled with freebies and the larger ground is meaning you don't get as much per ticket. That's why the Eastern Side should be basically handed over to 5 star corporate and media facilities. These are what are going to drive the real big money. You can be sure business people are going to pay a premium to have their brand associated with a team that consistently sells out it ground (no matter how big) with fantastic match atmosphere and where they get to enjoy it all from the plushest facilities.

 

[Brutus]

Keith "Yappy" Holman

What a player & ref!

 

[yappy]

Keith "Yappy" Holman

What a player & ref!

All that and one of the nicest gentlemen you will ever meet.

 

[Teddyboy]

Yet ANZ has a very big crowd for a meaningless Soccer fixture yet the jewel in the crown Rugby League State of Origin can not even get close to the crowd of tonights sh*t boring Soccer.And the same goes for Rugby Union's Bledisloe Cup where there having trouble shiffting tickets.
These are hard times for the once looked up country of Australia for both Rugby codes and now it's time to put the past behind and think about the future.

Mind you Ireland is a small country but the trad irish sports of Gaelic Football and Hurling are still hugly popular despite Soccer being a very popular game on tv with the english premier league and alongside irish Rugby Union getting bigger and bigger but all that could change if Dublin ever had a team in the english premiership.

If Soccer ever becomes the no.1 code in Australia it's not because League,Union or i be nice AFL are crap it's just that people are like sheep and follow anything thats in or big,McDonalds is more then likely the most consumed food in the world but it's not the best(well it's pretty sh*t just like alot of Soccer).
Another example is 3 weeks ago a reality show called 'Britains Got Talent' got 11 million people watching the over used and poorly presented pile of sh*t with sad f**kers dancing with dogs,while Eastenders with it's poor scripts verging on slapstick (unfunny)comedy which is on 3 times a week week in week out ,every month, year blah blah yet DR.Who got only 5 million yet has excellent special effects,twisty clever storylines and is on once a week for 2 and a half months,yet the tools in britain can not only not think for themselves but would rather watch crap and not think then watching something decent.

 

[LeagueXIII]

Agreed, the "in factor" is what is missing from league, has been since SL killed it off.

 

[Brutus]

Yet ANZ has a very big crowd for a meaningless Soccer fixture yet the jewel in the crown Rugby League State of Origin can not even get close to the crowd of tonights sh*t boring Soccer.

70,000 for the Soccer one-off and 67,000 for origin 1. Origin 3 will be around 80,000.

Most of the tickets sold for the soccer occured when it wasn't a dead rubber. Ticket sales stalled once it was seen as a dead-rubber.

The jewell in RL's crown is the NRL Grand Final.

 

[bobmar28]

[QUOTEAre they responsible for images of near empty stadiums? yes. Merge or relocate.]

Oh, like St.George and Illawarra did? What was the attendance vs Melbourne? 6500. Now that was a success wasn't it?

Canterbury got 9000 last night how about they merge or relocate?

How about clubs don't play in 80,000 capacity stadiums but develop there own grounds. This is league culture. Plan to build grounds with decent corporate facilities over the next 10 years. What would the Bulldogs be averaging at a modern redeveloped 25-30,000 Belmore?[/quote]



In answer to your comments above. The Steelers weren't merged they were taken over, the team is still known as Saints even by commentators. Wollongong should have a team of their own.

How about the Tigers, they have good crowds and a lot of support.

If the Dogs were merged with another Sydney team I could go along with that.

Your solution to the small crowds in Sydney is ........ build smaller stadiums???

 

[NthKnight]

In answer to your comments above. The Steelers weren't merged they were taken over, the team is still known as Saints even by commentators. Wollongong should have a team of their own.

Im from Wollongong and have got to say that the Dragons are well supported down there but the area at this stage doesnt have the corporate backing or the facilities for a full time team.

How about the Tigers, they have good crowds and a lot of support.

How bout the Nthern Eagles?

If the Dogs were merged with another Sydney team I could go along with that.

You would be in the vast minority if what your saying is true. Any mergers in this day and age would meet with a massive backlash from fans there is no doubt.

Your solution to the small crowds in Sydney is ........ build smaller stadiums???

I believe he called for better and smaller stadiums unlike the soulless monstrocity that is ANZ

 

[yappy]

Your solution to the small crowds in Sydney is ........ build smaller stadiums???

Yes, read it again. All this talk about AFL has this much larger average crowds is just so much of a biggest dix contest. Who the funk cares? As I said, what good is it North Melbourne averaging 36,000 whilst they not so slowly go broke? What matters is the profitability of a club. If a club can be profitable with a 15,000 crowd how are they worse off than North Melbourne?

The point is we don't get 36,000 crowds to League games in Sydney (and the Broncos only do once in a blue moon). So do we sit around wailing and crying that we can't compete (even though league is clearly the dominant sport in NSW/QLD)? We could say a little prayer and hope that by some miracle 80,000 people are going to turn up to games at ANZ (or even 30,000 consistently), and whilst we're at it we should also hope for an insatiably horny naked supermodel to drop from the sky and land in our beds. Much better to accept that 15,000 is a good and realistic size crowd and if we played in stadia that were specifically designed to maximise the atmosphere, comfort and profitability of such a crowd the game would look so healthy no one would be having these discussions.

 

[Teddyboy]

as a dead-rubber.

The jewell in RL's crown is the NRL Grand Final.

Yes but thats one game,with Soccer it was a international against China (mind u it's not like Sydney doesn't have any chinese living there so it must of been a bit of a chinese celebration there yesterday).
I bet if Brazil,Argentina,England,France,Italy,Greece played at ANZ it be a sell-out and how many jewels in the crown will australian Soccer have by then.

 

[VictoryFC]

Did not help we played a completely 2nd string side in the soccer last night - was a boring game. The 70,054 people should feel ripped off, I felt for them. But you have to remember that the FFA had the luxury of that possibly being the clash to decide whether we get through to the next round or we drop out. Fortunately it didnt get to that, but for the people that paid prior, it wasn't the best scenario. Its stupid to compare WC qualifiers to any rugby league game though