Future home game model

[Valheru]

I am sure you have all seen the report, according to Rothfield the roosters are looking at 3 home games a season in Gosford, 2 at the new Parramatta ground and 1 in Adelaide leaving only 6 at the SFS.

First question, is this completely made up by Rothfield, a negotiating tool for the roosters when renewing the SFS deal or is there some legitimacy to this?

Secondly, what do you think of the plan or something similar?

I think 6 games at the SFS is too few but I wouldn't be unhappy with 8 IF a few caveats were agreed to. Below is a model I think could achieve the clubs goals of engaging western Sydney and CC fans more effectively whilst not abandoning our traditional home base.

* 8 home games per year at the SFS against our highest drawing opposition (Souths, Dragons, Dogs and Tigers every year plus 4 others). In a perfect world the likes of Souths and the dragons would play their home game against us at the SFS as well with reciprocal rights.
* 2 home games (not 3) per year at Gosford against lower drawing opposition (Canberra, NQ, Titans, Warriors etc.) during the middle part of the season.
* 2 home games at the new western Sydney venue. This could be ok IF it is included in the ticketed season memberships AND we get reciprocal rights for any away games played there (2 a year I would think) for a total of 12 games included in the ticketed packages.
* I don't think Adelaide should be a yearly thing. Once every few years in lieu of one of the WS or CC home games.
* A preference that any home finals games will be at the SFS unless the NRL believe a bigger venue (ANZ) is necessary.

Sometimes less is more and I think 8 games at the SFS against the right opposition in the right timeslot is a good number and is probably around the number I attend now. All WS games (home and away) have to be included in member packages though.

 

[adamkungl]

Absolutely not.

Any less than 10 at the SFS and I would be seriously considering ceasing membership.
6 and it would go straight in the bin without a second thought. I will not financially support a trend-chasing, 4 home ground Wests Tigers wannabe club. I will not support cynical cash grabs in Western Sydney after bagging South Sydney for years for selling out their home region.
I have nothing against Western Sydney, I grew up west of Parramatta, but I support an Eastern Suburbs club.
The Western Sydney market is already spoilt for NRL matches.

The 20,000 at Gosford is an outlier in a series of shitty crowds at the place, and our onfield results there are even worse.
1 game in Adelaide, Perth or Christchurch per year I would support and quite likely attend.
I'll accept 1 at Gosford or some other country area for the good of the game.
Taking games into existing NRL clubs home regions however is not something I will get behind.

If the club put half the effort into marketing and investing in the East as it has into Adelaide and Gosford we wouldn't be having this discussion.

If the survival of the club was absolutely dependent on a full relocation to another major city without an existing NRL team, I would accept it. This is not the case here at all.

 

[Valheru]

Fair enough

I think this is likely a combination of Rothfield making things up and the club trying to bargain a better deal with the SFS anyways.

Agree re: CC crowd being an outlier but apparently the club has been putting a heap of effort there over the last few years so I expect 2 home games there to be the norm sooner rather than later. We will see if we can regularly get 15k there or not.

 

[Liberate Souths]

I think the strategy should be a slow and steady expansion as Rotho has foreshadowed

There are a lot of rooster fans in sydneys west and south west and it is very difficult and expensive to get into the city on a regular basis. Tolls make it even more so.

The other benefit of this and cc can be seen in the large league nurserys around these areas which some kind of prescence could only inspire. I mean the panthers have a large excess of junior players they either cant manage or miss and you would want these kids feeling some kind affection for the tricolour.

Into the future, I think the games will be played in only a couple of purpose built venues as revenue from attendances slides in proportion to cuts in real wages and the decline of net family budgets- especially the margins of the traditional supporters of the game.

We might have to face the fact that what suits us individually is no longer the best for the club etc.

Turn and face the strain I guess.

 

[adamkungl]

Fair enough

I think this is likely a combination of Rothfield making things up and the club trying to bargain a better deal with the SFS anyways.

Agree re: CC crowd being an outlier but apparently the club has been putting a heap of effort there over the last few years so I expect 2 home games there to be the norm sooner rather than later. We will see if we can regularly get 15k there or not.

Be nice if they put a heap of effort into the Eastern Suburbs.

 

[Lambretta]

I support Easts and will only retain my membership if we keep 10 games a year at the SFS
I have no interest in going to Homebush or Parramatta or any other f**king area of Sydney already serviced by other clubs

If Roosters fans out in Penrith want to see the Roosters they get chances to do so without travel when we play Penrith, Parramatta, Souths and the Bulldogs away. We don't need to take our home games there.

Penrith to Central is a 50 minute train ride. BTW - what's the problem with people in Sydney having to travel by car everywhere? (it's bloody expensive and massively inconvenient) - Drive to a station, park and catch a train. It's not hard. I don't live in the East yet I get to nearly every home game. It's not a strain.

I have been away to Canberra, Manly, Cronulla, Kogarah, North Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith and have travelled to Gosford on three occasions. None of these were difficult to get to.

I like the Gosford games - even if we have poor results there. It's a good day out and this time we filled it. Sure we were shit, but that's not the venues fault. It's a fun day out and they're our feeder area. I am happy for them to keep this as an annual fixture - once a season.

I am also happy with an expansion / Country game or even a second Gosford game - but that's it. No more than 2 games away from Allianz EVER.

 

[Valheru]

What if, as part of your membership package, you get 10 games at the SFS but two of them are away? It would rely on souffs/dragons playing home gamed at SFS but would that be palatable?

 

[Foreign Legion]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...s/news-story/d1cbb93ef0cfcff3b021ea6b6040159a

NUMBERS DON’T LIE
THE “official” Roosters-Rabbitohs crowd posted at Allianz Stadium on Friday night was 16,245. Nowhere near that many were paying customers.

Under the Roosters’ ground-hire agreement, SCG members are included in the attendance figure. None of it goes to the Roosters. This is another reason why the foundation club is considering three matches each season on the Central Coast, two at the new Parramatta Stadium and one at Adelaide.

Other NRL clubs should be looking at ways to maximise their income like the Roosters, to help them survive against one-team, one-city organisations like the Brisbane Broncos.

 

[adamkungl]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...s/news-story/d1cbb93ef0cfcff3b021ea6b6040159a

NUMBERS DON’T LIE
THE “official” Roosters-Rabbitohs crowd posted at Allianz Stadium on Friday night was 16,245. Nowhere near that many were paying customers.

Under the Roosters’ ground-hire agreement, SCG members are included in the attendance figure. None of it goes to the Roosters. This is another reason why the foundation club is considering three matches each season on the Central Coast, two at the new Parramatta Stadium and one at Adelaide.

Other NRL clubs should be looking at ways to maximise their income like the Roosters, to help them survive against one-team, one-city organisations like the Brisbane Broncos.

Negotiate a better rental agreement then ya clowns.

 

[adamkungl]

I support Easts and will only retain my membership if we keep 10 games a year at the SFS
I have no interest in going to Homebush or Parramatta or any other f**king area of Sydney already serviced by other clubs

x100000

 

[Lambretta]

What if, as part of your membership package, you get 10 games at the SFS but two of them are away? It would rely on souffs/dragons playing home gamed at SFS but would that be palatable?

Yep - that would be palatable to me
A game at the SFS is a game at the SFS - as long as we get 10 a year included in the season ticket, I don't care which team is calling them a home game.

 

[Lambretta]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...s/news-story/d1cbb93ef0cfcff3b021ea6b6040159a

NUMBERS DON’T LIE
THE “official” Roosters-Rabbitohs crowd posted at Allianz Stadium on Friday night was 16,245. Nowhere near that many were paying customers.

Under the Roosters’ ground-hire agreement, SCG members are included in the attendance figure. None of it goes to the Roosters. This is another reason why the foundation club is considering three matches each season on the Central Coast, two at the new Parramatta Stadium and one at Adelaide.

Other NRL clubs should be looking at ways to maximise their income like the Roosters, to help them survive against one-team, one-city organisations like the Brisbane Broncos.

Yes, us playing in front of 4,000 people in Parramatta will be much better than playing in front of 16,000 at the SFS with 3,000 of those as SCG Trust members.

I can see why the club would be dead keen to do that

 

[Valheru]

Yep - that would be palatable to me
A game at the SFS is a game at the SFS - as long as we get 10 a year included in the season ticket, I don't care which team is calling them a home game.

Yep and that is what I am proposing in my OP.

I can see a time when we take 4 'home' games away each year, whether that be Gosford, WS, Adelaide or elsewhere remains to be seen but the club would aim to get 2 back through away fixtures with reciprocal rights included in the season ticket under my model.

This is a model that has worked for the likes of Hawthorn in the AFL to great affect. It relies on a more centralised stadium model in the NRL and I know Sydney isn't Melbourne and all the rest of it but souths and Dragons (at least a few games) and possibly wests are teams that should be playing at the SFS anyways.

 

[Lambretta]

I can't for the life of me understand why clubs don't do reciprocal tickets in memberships

Buy a season ticket and get given 3 bonus NRL Game Passes to be used at games of your choice away from home

Games in Sydney would attract bigger audiences if season ticket members got bonus tickets to away game. Fans would then buy food / drink etc - the crowds on TV would look better which makes for a better viewing experience and drags in more viewers

I go to the odd away game, but I have mates who don't because they have to pay an extra $20 to $30 per game. They'd come along to a couple of away games if they thought they were getting something for free,

 

[adamkungl]

On a side note Friday was pretty f**ked.
I know it was a 6pm game which was the main deterrent, but 7000 is a dogshit crowd. And the club was giving away free tickets!
Some supposed fans need to take a look at themselves - I can guarantee that if the club or NRL did do something as drastic as relocation, some of the loudest sooks would be ones who don't even go to games anyway.

 

[morley101]

On a side note Friday was pretty f**ked.
I know it was a 6pm game which was the main deterrent, but 7000 is a dogshit crowd. And the club was giving away free tickets!
Some supposed fans need to take a look at themselves - I can guarantee that if the club or NRL did do something as drastic as relocation, some of the loudest sooks would be ones who don't even go to games anyway.

I thought the 9500 against the Cowboys was worse....it was a better timeslot and much better opposition.

 

[adamkungl]

I thought the 9500 against the Cowboys was worse....it was a better timeslot and much better opposition.

Not wrong.
I've been critical of the club in this thread but not sure what more they can do if our supposed fans refuse to show up. No worries I'm sure they'll all be there in September in brand spanking new jerseys.

 

[Lambretta]

I thought the 9500 against the Cowboys was worse....it was a better timeslot and much better opposition.

It was piss poor wasn't it?
My group was missing 2 but 5 of us rocked up

I thought we'd be close to 15,000 - but no Cowboys fans = no decent crowd
Seems we have 10,000 of our own fans and have to rely on the other team to make up the numbers half the time

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

I thought the 9500 against the Cowboys was worse....it was a better timeslot and much better opposition.

Outside semis, do we ever get a good crowd against the Cowboys?
This should've been the Gosford game, not Cronulla. No excuses though, our fans have a passing interest at best.

 

[adamkungl]

It was piss poor wasn't it?
My group was missing 2 but 5 of us rocked up

I thought we'd be close to 15,000 - but no Cowboys fans = no decent crowd
Seems we have 10,000 of our own fans and have to rely on the other team to make up the numbers half the time

That's it.
We probably have 5000 who show up week in week out.
10000 more who might show up if the weathers nice and the timeslots perfect and the phase of the moon suits their whims.
And 20000 who will show up once a year or for a finals game, otherwise they're watching on TV.

Then 150,000 odd who like the facebook page and claim to be Roosters fans but are nowhere to be seen ever