The Game Future NRL Stadiums part II

[Perth Red]

It really doesn't help that the head of the ARLC seems determined to keep telling the media how bad the game is and how rules need to be changed to fix it. Until the most recent round, there was an opportunity to talk up the game with how close games were and how games were unpredictable, etc. Instead, our great leader talks down the game.

This does seem a trait of a lot of our leaders over the years. I remember the infamous centenary year when we should have been talking the game up and celebrating and instead Gallop continuingly talked about the dire financial situation of clubs and how they might not all make it to another season!

Sydney clubs will die, warns Gallop

www.smh.com.au

 

[The Great Dane]

Eels give kids free memberships with adult GA sold and Storm give registered vic payers 3 game memberships. Panthers apparently give out thousands of free tickets every game to registered Jnrs and no doubt some other clubs are doing similar promotional activities.
No problem at all with that, great marketing strategies to get people into the habit of going to games. But it is an example of how number of members does not always equate significant revenue. At least to start with unless they can then get converted to full paying memberships.

Basically every club gives free memberships or tickets to juniors, or have in the past, but unless something has changed those aren't counted in their membership tally. At least they weren't at the Raiders.

Again things may have changed, but it was my understanding that only memberships that were sold (i.e. where money changed hands) counted to the tally.

However the Raiders have in the past got sponsors to buy thousands of memberships as part of their sponsorship deal to boost numbers, and those definitely counted to the tally.

BTW, the Storm only giving their juniors three games is pretty tight. It's not like there isn't space in the stadium to accommodate season tickets lol.

 

[Captain Apollo]

Not all club "memberships" equate to also being season ticket holders.

 

[Perth Red]

Not all club "memberships" equate to also being season ticket holders.

Few do it seems. Probably around a third for a lot of clubs looking at crowd numbers v membership numbers.

 

[Iamback]

Not all club "memberships" equate to also being season ticket holders.

Yep. Plenty of even single game memberships floating around

 

[Iamback]

It really doesn't help that the head of the ARLC seems determined to keep telling the media how bad the game is and how rules need to be changed to fix it. Until the most recent round, there was an opportunity to talk up the game with how close games were and how games were unpredictable, etc. Instead, our great leader talks down the game.

As for why fumbleball draws, since I've lived in Melbourne for just under 5 years now, my experience has shown me:

- It has nothing to do with status and class. Virtually everyone outside of a few imports have a team and follow it closely. They're support has come through generations and they continue that.
- The game (which I think is dumb) is much more suited to watching live than on TV. Whilst the ball is the focus of play, there is so much movement off the ball that can't be captured on screen. You get more of an appreciation for the game being there.
- Access to stadiums is much better. The Melbourne teams play out of two stadiums which are not far from their heartlands. Both stadiums are right by the CBD and easily accessible by train and trams. It's also usually the one train to get there. The NRL can't use the central stadium policy since the clubs homelands are much further from the major stadiums.

On the generational thing.
I can still remember in the late 90's when actual membership being low. Older people were leagues club members to do their bit.

Only now is it changing as people my age are having kids who are now getting to the age to buy their own

 

[bazza]

Not all club "memberships" equate to also being season ticket holders.

main thing is that "membership" gives the club your contact details so they can do direct marketing to members which is a lot more effective than general marketing campaigns. Also a lot easier to convert a member into a ticket holder

 

[Perth Red]

main thing is that "membership" gives the club your contact details so they can do direct marketing to members which is a lot more effective than general marketing campaigns. Also a lot easier to convert a member into a ticket holder

Yes that is a biggie. I'm always surprised how little the NRL uses this data though. I've bought tickets for club games, origin and internationals in Perth yet never had any marketing follow up afterwards.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Not in my experience in perth, it seems more like soccer in uk where it draws from all socio-economic groups. Part of what’s holding nrl back is the working class status it seems to want to stick with despite the fact much of the working class is much nearer middle class these days compared to 50 years ago.

Fumbleball never had a competitor like onionball. Rugby league's existence was born out of rebellion by the working class against the affluent establishment who controlled the RFU. Onionball fans from the upperclass hate our game because they think they're superior to the working class. It must really piss them off to see RL rake in so much money from broadcast rights while onionball is thrown a pittance.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

It really doesn't help that the head of the ARLC seems determined to keep telling the media how bad the game is and how rules need to be changed to fix it. Until the most recent round, there was an opportunity to talk up the game with how close games were and how games were unpredictable, etc. Instead, our great leader talks down the game.

As for why fumbleball draws, since I've lived in Melbourne for just under 5 years now, my experience has shown me:

- It has nothing to do with status and class. Virtually everyone outside of a few imports have a team and follow it closely. They're support has come through generations and they continue that.
- The game (which I think is dumb) is much more suited to watching live than on TV. Whilst the ball is the focus of play, there is so much movement off the ball that can't be captured on screen. You get more of an appreciation for the game being there.
- Access to stadiums is much better. The Melbourne teams play out of two stadiums which are not far from their heartlands. Both stadiums are right by the CBD and easily accessible by train and trams. It's also usually the one train to get there. The NRL can't use the central stadium policy since the clubs homelands are much further from the major stadiums.

Fumbleball doesn't have a class divide because its existence wasn't born out of a schism based on socio-economic standing. Rugby League is the only game I know that was created because of class divide between the governing body and a section of its players. Other sports had disputes between players and the governing body that resulted in rival sporting competitions being created, but they reunited under better payment options before they had the chance to become different sports.

Eels give kids free memberships with adult GA sold and Storm give registered vic payers 3 game memberships. Panthers apparently give out thousands of free tickets every game to registered Jnrs and no doubt some other clubs are doing similar promotional activities.
No problem at all with that, great marketing strategies to get people into the habit of going to games. But it is an example of how number of members does not always equate significant revenue. At least to start with unless they can then get converted to full paying memberships.

And bringing it back on point, that's the beauty of having a 30k stadium. It means you can do all sorts of marketing strategies to fill it when you have redundant capacity, like free or very cheap kids tickets, reciprocal game membership agreements with other clubs, bring a friend for $5 deals etc. If your stadium is 15-20k you dont, or bloody well shouldn't!, have the capacity to be able to do those sorts of deals.

Foxtel does this by having loyal customers pay full price while offering all sorts of concessions to new customers. It's led to older customers who've been there since day one getting angry and unsubscribing.

 

[MugaB]

Lol they used to ( dunno about now ) count pet memberships ..lol yep .
& I think one day memberships .
Aflol were king of the bullshitting when it come to memberships.

"Are"

 

[LeagueXIII]

I'll never understand why fumbleball draws such high attendances. My only guess is it has more fans from the upper class who see it as a status symbol to attend fumbleball matches. I'd imagine they're the sort of people who will pay hundreds of dollars to see Origin but couldn't care less about the NRL because they think it isn't trendy. The way the media talks up AwFuL and Origin while talking down the NRL would lead herd following wankers to think it's "uncool" to be seen at an NRL game

Um no, it is an exciting sport.

 

[bazza]

Yes that is a biggie. I'm always surprised how little the NRL uses this data though. I've bought tickets for club games, origin and internationals in Perth yet never had any marketing follow up afterwards.

I remember getting some texts from the Bulldogs after buying some tickets for one of their games (to see them play Parra)
Get plenty of emails from the Eels though

 

[The Mad Hatter]

New York City has more traffic congestion than Sydney, yet it doesn't stop their two NFL clubs from drawing massive crowds at a centralised stadium just 8 km west of the CBD.

20,000,000 metro population and an 82,500 stadium for Jets/Giants… you’d like to think they’d fill it out each weekend.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

20,000,000 metro population and an 82,500 stadium for Jets/Giants… you’d like to think they’d fill it out each weekend.

If the NFL doesn't put 9 teams in a metro area of that size then maybe the NRL should ask themselves why they persevere with 9 in a metro area of less than six million?

Canada has about 35 million people and just 9 CFL teams across the country. They have an average over 30k.

If we want to grow our crowds to 30k+ then maybe we'll have to relegate the NRL to second tier status and create an elite 8 Super Premier League?

 

[Timbo]

If the NFL doesn't put 9 teams in a metro area of that size then maybe the NRL should ask themselves why they persevere with 9 in a metro area of less than six million?

Canada has about 35 million people and just 9 CFL teams across the country. They have an average over 30k.

If we want to grow our crowds to 30k+ then maybe we'll have to relegate the NRL to second tier status and create an elite 8 Super Premier League?

Well, that's not quite true. The last CFL season pre-COVID in 2019 had an average crowd of 22,000. Only one team (Saskatchewan) averaged more than 30,000 and even then it was barely 30,000. 4 of the 9 teams play out of stadiums that seat fewer than 25,000 as well.

 

[Vee]

As for why fumbleball draws, since I've lived in Melbourne for just under 5 years now, my experience has shown me:

- It has nothing to do with status and class. Virtually everyone outside of a few imports have a team and follow it closely. They're support has come through generations and they continue that.

Was in a Melbourne cab a few years ago and asked the driver why the mexicans are so crazy about their game. His reply surprised me, he reckoned only half the population were crazy about it, the other half (including him) couldn't care less. First time I'd ever heard a Victorian indifferent to Awful.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Well, that's not quite true. The last CFL season pre-COVID in 2019 had an average crowd of 22,000. Only one team (Saskatchewan) averaged more than 30,000 and even then it was barely 30,000. 4 of the 9 teams play out of stadiums that seat fewer than 25,000 as well.

My bad. I wish we could average 22k. The CFL does that despite not being the most popular sport in Canada.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Was in a Melbourne cab a few years ago and asked the driver why the mexicans are so crazy about their game. His reply surprised me, he reckoned only half the population were crazy about it, the other half (including him) couldn't care less. First time I'd ever heard a Victorian indifferent to Awful.

I know people who were born n raised in Melbourne, or have moved there, and pretend to have a team just so it’s easier. It really is cultish.

 

[Perth Red]

Was in a Melbourne cab a few years ago and asked the driver why the mexicans are so crazy about their game. His reply surprised me, he reckoned only half the population were crazy about it, the other half (including him) couldn't care less. First time I'd ever heard a Victorian indifferent to Awful.

Same with sport in general probably. Its not that AFL has more fans, just they have more committed fans. Tv audiences and other stats would suggest in general the fan base numbers are very similar. Just most NRL fans are couch potatoes it seems.