Goulds article on playing at big stadiums

[Panther Pete]

Interesting.....
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...d-to-play-at-big-stadiums-20140315-hvj4a.html

 

[TeamSatan]

Always the people that have cushy seats in corporate boxes push to play at "big"stadiums.

Suncorp is a "football" stadium for a start.....ANZ is terrible to watch a game at. Might as well stand on my roof here at Penrith,seems just as close.

Gus doing the sums for the club is one thing....notice he didnt do the sums from the fans side.

Yep we all know the story...parking or public transport, traffic, crap seats. outrageous prices for food...
time spent travelling....Sydney is a complete mess to get around..

Ok so for the extra time and expense for me to go to ANZ...My sums are about $4000 extra per season.

Should I wait for Gus to send me a cheque to help with the losses from MY pocket.?

Or just stay home and watch it on foxtel.....?

 

[franklin2323]

We play at Homebush they lose me as an every home game attendant. Kids Bday party was last week. Was able to leave at 230 & still get to the game in plenty of time.

Move to Homebush suddenly the pre game game stuff you get made do makes only watching on TV possible.

 

[Pantherjim.]

I understand where Gus is coming from, but quite simply a comparison with the Broncos is useless. They have a bigger fan base because they built up a dynasty of on-field success and back to back premierships.

The sad fact is; one premiership every 10-15 years won't achieve much, especially amongst the fair-weather fan base.

 

[Dogs Of War]

But if it's 3-4 games a year in a bigger stadium that will give you guys a lot more cash, and possibly attract more fans (anz membership?) I can't see it being a bad thing. I don't think you should abandon penny park because I think your like manly in that you guys are far enough away from the big stadiums that you should always keep a surburban presence. How to get money to upgrade the stadium is the real question. More corporate facilities etc are the key keeping the majority of your games in the area.

 

[murraymob]

bottom line not enough people in Penrith care about the team staying there.Gould is right how can they survive on crowds off 10 k .The cost to put a team on the field rises every year.
Simple fact we have what 10 corporate boxes competing with say souths and roosters who may have 100.We need more people from Penrith to get to games.The rest will fall into place and Penrith will always play out of Penrith

 

[Dogs Of War]

You think that's true? I don't. It's not like penrith can't draw a crowd, it's just working out how to get those people to games all the time and having facilities that are fairly modern.

Anyway can't wait to hit penny park next week. I'll be in the bulldogs jersey

 

[Panther_Daz]

I think we may need to move 1-2 games to survive long term.

Play Dogs or Souths there. We will then get a couple of extra games for memberships as our away game we will get in too.

 

[murraymob]

You think that's true? I don't. It's not like penrith can't draw a crowd, it's just working out how to get those people to games all the time and having facilities that are fairly modern.

Anyway can't wait to hit penny park next week. I'll be in the bulldogs jersey

they are not going anywhere.The panther group have refocused back on where there charter started rugby league.We have money

 

[Dogs Of War]

they are not going anywhere.The panther group have refocused back on where there charter started rugby league.We have money

Not sure what you think I said. You said panthers can't draw a crowd. I said hogwash. It's just about bringing the facilities up to scratch so that you can get that corporate money which is so important. Each corporate box is like having another 30 premium members each game for the bulldogs. Not to mention any other money they might be giving the bulldogs via sponsorships etc. you nedd to accommodate that, this why 3-4 games at anz each year. In the meantime upgrade your stadium so it too can generate that sort of income.

 

[darkbloom]

they are not going anywhere.The panther group have refocused back on where there charter started rugby league.We have money

That's an interesting perspective of focus.

The only reason we have money is because assets are being sold, assets that are owned by Panthers because of a focus on a much bigger picture than Rugby League.

Having a focus only on Rugby League almost sent the club to the wall on two or three in the period up to the mid 80's.

On the stadium question, though I have not yet read Gus's article yet, I can't imagine much benefit in Penrith moving to ANZ

- unless both attendances and sponsorship levels increased considerably or
- there were big changes in the structure of the game in Sydney.

Saying that playing out of ANZ will bring more supporters may be true but I suspect it would be less true for clubs like Penrith, Manly (for example) where really the club is representative of a specific geographic region that is a fair distance from ANZ.

Undoubtedly, more corporate facilities would be able to be sold and that would bring in more revenue.

 

[Shire Panther]

The real problem with ANZ it's shit!!! It's the wrong shape for starters.

When they make it rectangular maybe we can talk business, until then they can shove the white elephant!!

 

[darkbloom]

Just finished reading the article. It is not one of his best. Doesn't say much at all really just hints. I am afraid Phil's columns are best when he is bagging of someone he hates or when he just sticks to football.

 

[franklin2323]

In my area alone we lost 6 members due to Sat arvo games. We move the rest won't renew. We refuse to pay $300 odd for worst seats & an hour to get to games. Stay at home so much easier.

2nd year in arow we get all interstate clubs. It's hardly a surprise the fans aren't coming when you add that to our form.

 

[franklin2323]

Another thing don't aren't we on track to make a profit this year? So therefore there is no need to move the team

 

[darkbloom]

Another thing don't aren't we on track to make a profit this year? So therefore there is no need to move the team

Yes there was an announcement that this year the football club would not need a great from the licensed club.

Interesting that the 2012-13 Annual report shows $4.3m ($1.5m MORE than the previous year) in revenue from something they have called trust revenue which I imagine is Mulgoa Rd Trust and is vehicle that has been used for decades to support the football club. I don't think I would be wrong in saying that is the largest amount ever needed to come from the source.

An extra $2.5m in revenue from NRL grants.

It will be a big turnaround if they don't need that "money from trusts". Though my guess the so-called profit is inclusive of that.

Interesting that the wages bill since 2011 has grown from $8.7m to $12.2m. That is $3.5m additional in wages.

Revenue in 2011 was $19.2m and in 2013 it was $20.7m. That's an increase of $1.5m.

They can't keep doing that for too long.

 

[Blues Riff]

The article is pretty vague, but the way I interpret it is - he wants to emulate the professionalism of the Broncos and eventually grow too big for Penny Park.

 

[franklin2323]

Yeah but we wouldn't be too big if we moved. We would have half our members if we moved.

40mins in the car $20 parking if you drive. Train - 10mins or so to get to the station. 10mins to get to Lidcombe upwards of 20mins for connecting train. 40min train trip home x 12 home games a year

would keep fans away.

 

[TheFrog]

The sad fact is; one premiership every 10-15 years won't achieve much, especially amongst the fair-weather fan base.

In a 16 team comp 1 premiership every 16 years is par.

I would suggest its not so much how often you win the comp, but where you are on the table in those years you don't win. That is our problem. We are in the bottom reaches of the table year in, year out. People like to support winning teams.

 

[Panther_Daz]

I don't think the plan is to move EVERY home game. If we don't average 13-14k this year we will take another home game elsewhere.