NRL Expansion: Google Trends data

[Bukowski]

You think a Perth-based NRL team will average 25k fans to its games. Not even @Perth Red is that delusional.

RU in Perth has 12k players.
RL in Perth has 4k.

TV ratings for regular season games in Perth on 9Gem range between 6-15k.

I said over 20k in its first year is possible.
Why do you get so offended by opinions?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

I said over 20k in its first year is possible.
Why do you get so offended by opinions?

Perth Rectangular Stadium has a capacity of 20,500.

Western Reds got less than 14k in their debut season. Western Force got 28k at Subiaco in their debut season.

 

[Bukowski]

Perth Rectangular Stadium has a capacity of 20,500.

Western Reds got less than 14k in their debut season. Western Force got 28k at Subiaco in their debut season.

That's why I said they may need to play their first season at Optus. League shits all over your boring union game.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

That's why I said they may need to play their first season at Optus. League shits all over your boring union game.

For the game's sake I hope you're right. There's never been a better time for RL to take on the Force in Perth. RU is in a very perilous position.

However, I'm reluctant to be as bullish as you because I'm old enough to know that sports can rise and fall very quickly. RL was in a great place in the early 90s. Then the Super League war hit our game hard and almost killed it. RU soared in popularity on the back of the Super League war. God knows how many people predicted the death of RL. Now we're back on top.

I'm a bit apprehensive about Perth because RU's problems began when they went from three Super rugby teams to four, about a decade after creating the Brumbies. The addition of the Force came just after the golden generation of the 90s retired. Local competitions in Brisbane and Sydney were picked apart by the Force. They never recovered. This coincided with RU growing at the professional level across Europe and Japan. Now the Wallabies are on the brink of becoming a tier 2 nation.

We need to handle expansion with caution and not force our hand. Let the game grow organically.

 

[Bukowski]

For the game's sake I hope you're right. There's never been a better time for RL to take on the Force in Perth. RU is in a very perilous position.

However, I'm reluctant to be as bullish as you because I'm old enough to know that sports can rise and fall very quickly. RL was in a great place in the early 90s. Then the Super League war hit our game hard and almost killed it. RU soared in popularity on the back of the Super League war. God knows how many people predicted the death of RL. Now we're back on top.

I'm a bit apprehensive about Perth because RU's problems began when they went from three Super rugby teams to four, about a decade after creating the Brumbies. The addition of the Force came just after the golden generation of the 90s retired. Local competitions in Brisbane and Sydney were picked apart by the Force. They never recovered. This coincided with RU growing at the professional level across Europe and Japan. Now the Wallabies are on the brink of becoming a tier 2 nation.

We need to handle expansion with caution and not force our hand. Let the game grow organically.

That's fine but dont push shit like union is bigger than league here.

 

[LimeRick]

You think a Perth-based NRL team will average 25k fans to its games. Not even @Perth Red is that delusional.

RU in Perth has 12k players.
RL in Perth has 4k.

TV ratings for regular season games in Perth on 9Gem range between 6-15k.

Participation isn't a direct correlation though, especially when the professional product is such poor quality.

Union has a greater participation than league in the ACT, but that doesn't translate to the Brumbies and Raiders.

The NRL holds more weight than Super Rugby, so participation isn't needed as much to win over the public.

 

[Bukowski]

Participation isn't a direct correlation though, especially when the professional product is such poor quality.

Union has a greater participation than league in the ACT, but that doesn't translate to the Brumbies and Raiders.

The NRL holds more weight than Super Rugby, so participation isn't needed as much to win over the public.

It's been explained so many times to him. But he hates PR so much that he just needs to 'prove' him wrong. He bad mouths league now just to try and win an internet argument.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

It's been explained so many times to him. But he hates PR so much that he just needs to 'prove' him wrong. He bad mouths league now just to try and win an internet argument.

I do not hate @Perth Red. For the past year I've been sympathetic to his call for a team to be based in Perth. I'm just sick of the selfishness and hypocrisy that oozes from his posts.

He's been complaining about "over saturation" in Sydney for years. Now he's claiming a third team in Brisbane will over saturate the market.

Yet he's fine with Hull having two teams!

WTF?

The demographics back me up on this.

Sydney has NRL nine clubs and 5,200,000 people. That's roughly 577,777 people per club.

Brisbane has 2,500,000 people and two NRL clubs. That's roughly 1,250,000 people per club.

According to the Hull City Council, there's 260,000 residents within its boundary. So that's 130,000 per each of its ESL clubs.

It is projected that Hull’s population will increase very slightly from 260,600 in 2018 to 261,000 by 2028 (an increase of 0.15%), and to 262,100 by 2035 (an increase of 0.57%).

Population Projections

www.hulljsna.com

Brisbane and Sydney are projected to grow at a far faster rate than Hull.

 

[Bukowski]

I do not hate @Perth Red. For the past year I've been sympathetic to his call for a team to be based in Perth. I'm just sick of the selfishness and hypocrisy that oozes from his posts.

He's been complaining about "over saturation" in Sydney for years. Now he's claiming a third team in Brisbane will over saturate the market.

Yet he's fine with Hull having two teams!

WTF?

The demographics back me up on this.

Sydney has NRL nine clubs and 5,200,000 people. That's roughly 577,777 people per club.

Brisbane has 2,500,000 people and two NRL clubs. That's roughly 1,250,000 people per club.

According to the Hull City Council, there's 260,000 residents within its boundary. So that's 130,000 per each of its ESL clubs.

It is projected that Hull’s population will increase very slightly from 260,600 in 2018 to 261,000 by 2028 (an increase of 0.15%), and to 262,100 by 2035 (an increase of 0.57%).​

​

Population Projections

www.hulljsna.com

Brisbane and Sydney are projected to grow at a far faster rate than Hull.

Seriously? I don't hate PR but here's a long post about him and his English team that has nothing to do with NRL expansion.
Seek help fella

 

[The Great Dane]

Maybe the Canberra afl fans aren’t counted cause they don’t have internet ?

Had you actually looked at the data you'd have seen that interest in the AFL was actually higher than the NRL until the early 2010s, then things are roughly equal until the NRL has a spike in 2016, then things go back to being roughly equal until 2019 when RL has another jump in interest and then starts to pull away a bit.

Those jumps in interest correlate directly with the Raiders making their first prelim since 97 in 2016, which was also the first prelim to be played in Canberra, and making the GF in 2019. It's not really all that surprising that the NRL would see a jump in interest given that is it.

It'd be interesting to see what impact the introduction of a local AFL side would have on the numbers, and I reckon that the NRL's numbers will slowly start to trend back down a bit if the Raiders aren't competitive on the field for a an extended period again.

BTW, you see a similar trend when comparing the Raiders and Brumbies as well. The Brumbies regularly trend higher than the Raiders until the Raiders have their spikes in 2016 and 2019.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Seriously? I don't hate PR but here's a long post about him and his English team that has nothing to do with NRL expansion.
Seek help fella

You're throwing a tantrum because I highlighted the shortcomings of a Perth bid. Grow up.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

That's fine but dont push shit like union is bigger than league here.

I decided to test the validity of your assertions on ChatGPT. Here's the response I got:

According to the web search results, rugby league is **less popular** than rugby union in Perth. Rugby league is mainly popular in the eastern states of Australia, such as Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT¹. Rugby union has a larger fan base in Western Australia, where the Western Force team competes in the Super Rugby AU competition⁵. Perth also hosted the State of Origin match on 31 May 2023, which was expected to bring an estimated $15 million into the state’s economy and attract fans from all over the country⁴. However, this does not necessarily mean that rugby league has a strong following in Perth, as many of the fans may have travelled from other states to watch the game. Rugby union is still more widely played and watched in Perth than rugby league.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 1/10/2023
(1) How popular is rugby union compared to rugby league in Australia .... .
(2) Analysing the state of rugby in Australia - The Roar. https://www.theroar.com.au/2018/04/03/analysing-the-state-of-rugby-in-australia/.
(3) State of Origin and the low down on League vs Union - The Post. https://thepostsa.au/events/2023/05/26/the-difference-between-league-and-union/.
(4) Popularity of Rugby League compared to union : r/rugbyunion - Reddit. .
(5) What is Australia's most popular sport? - The Roar. https://www.theroar.com.au/2022/12/06/what-is-australias-most-popular-sport/.​

Looks like you're full of shit.

 

[Wb1234]

Yeh

Had you actually looked at the data you'd have seen that interest in the AFL was actually higher than the NRL until the early 2010s, then things are roughly equal until the NRL has a spike in 2016, then things go back to being roughly equal until 2019 when RL has another jump in interest and then starts to pull away a bit.

Those jumps in interest correlate directly with the Raiders making their first prelim since 97 in 2016, which was also the first prelim to be played in Canberra, and making the GF in 2019. It's not really all that surprising that the NRL would see a jump in interest given that is it.

It'd be interesting to see what impact the introduction of a local AFL side would have on the numbers, and I reckon that the NRL's numbers will slowly start to trend back down a bit if the Raiders aren't competitive on the field for a an extended period again.

BTW, you see a similar trend when comparing the Raiders and Brumbies as well. The Brumbies regularly trend higher than the Raiders until the Raiders have their spikes in 2016 and 2019.

yeh I saw rugby league dominating in Canberra and afl doing badly

the opposite of what you said

good you had another look though

 

[MugaB]

Seriously? I don't hate PR but here's a long post about him and his English team that has nothing to do with NRL expansion.
Seek help fella

He is not wrong though, double standards seem synonymous with you guys in Perth, grotd bring up the hulls and you all get defensive as if the NRL next three licenses depend on how we LU expansion reading folk take on your argument, it doesn’t.
again ive said many times Perth does not, I REPEAT, NOT!! offer the other voting clubs anything in return, that they cant get from another expansion area, if anything it takes from them via their collective player pool depth, and as as successful as the perth franchise wants to be, all profits will go to its own pocket, none of it will boost the other NRL clubs, none.. at least the other bids as failed as they might look offer a return in poaching competitive juniors, that boost that said player pool

 

[Bukowski]

I decided to test the validity of your assertions on ChatGPT. Here's the response I got:

According to the web search results, rugby league is **less popular** than rugby union in Perth. Rugby league is mainly popular in the eastern states of Australia, such as Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT¹. Rugby union has a larger fan base in Western Australia, where the Western Force team competes in the Super Rugby AU competition⁵. Perth also hosted the State of Origin match on 31 May 2023, which was expected to bring an estimated $15 million into the state’s economy and attract fans from all over the country⁴. However, this does not necessarily mean that rugby league has a strong following in Perth, as many of the fans may have travelled from other states to watch the game. Rugby union is still more widely played and watched in Perth than rugby league.​

​

Source: Conversation with Bing, 1/10/2023​

(1) How popular is rugby union compared to rugby league in Australia .... .​

(2) Analysing the state of rugby in Australia - The Roar. https://www.theroar.com.au/2018/04/03/analysing-the-state-of-rugby-in-australia/.​

(3) State of Origin and the low down on League vs Union - The Post. https://thepostsa.au/events/2023/05/26/the-difference-between-league-and-union/.​

(4) Popularity of Rugby League compared to union : r/rugbyunion - Reddit. .​

(5) What is Australia's most popular sport? - The Roar. https://www.theroar.com.au/2022/12/06/what-is-australias-most-popular-sport/.​

Looks like you're full of shit.

Lol, Google as much as you like. Union sucks everywhere in Australia. The ratngs for the gf against the Wallabies will show that.

 

[Bukowski]

He is not wrong though, double standards seem synonymous with you guys in Perth, grotd bring up the hulls and you all get defensive as if the NRL next three licenses depend on how we LU expansion reading folk take on your argument, it doesn’t.
again ive said many times Perth does not, I REPEAT, NOT!! offer the other voting clubs anything in return, that they cant get from another expansion area, if anything it takes from them via their collective player pool depth, and as as successful as the perth franchise wants to be, all profits will go to its own pocket, none of it will boost the other NRL clubs, none.. at least the other bids as failed as they might look offer a return in poaching competitive juniors, that boost that said player pool

I know nothing about hull, nor do I care. It's got nothing to do with a team in Perth.

 

[docbrown]

To clarify rugby league vs rugby union in WA:

 

[Bukowski]

To clarify rugby league vs rugby union in WA:
View attachment 80183
View attachment 80184

Not even close.
Cheers Doc

 

[Colk]

Lol, Google as much as you like. Union sucks everywhere in Australia. The ratngs for the gf against the Wallabies will show that.

Exactly. Why as a League fan in Australia would you be scared or worried about Union of all games.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Lol, Google as much as you like.

1. I didn't use Google.

2. You're the one who used data from "Google Trends" and claimed it was evidence. Now you're ridiculing Google.