RLWC2017 Crowd Watch

[adamkungl]

I think that's why he resigned.He could see the writing on the wall, after he"stuffed' up the scheduling.
I don't consider Cairns a disaster crowdwise.But gee Townsville just didn't work IMO.
Feel sorry for Andrew Hill,who took over from Brown and had to clean up or stabilise what he could.

Let's see the financials at the end.If the event makes $5m plus, then prepared to accept the occasional crappy crowds.If a loss then that puts Intl rl ,two steps back and someone need a right real a*se kick.

On track for $7 mil profit when the bid team projected $12mil

 

[taipan]

On track for $7 mil profit when the bid team projected $12mil

Would have naturally preferred $12m profit,I'll settle for $7m(despite nearly;y 50% down) considering some of the crowds we've had.
BTW the $7m figure, has that been advised by the organisers of late?

 

[adamkungl]

Would have naturally preferred $12m profit,I'll settle for $7m(despite nearly;y 50% down) considering some of the crowds we've had.
BTW the $7m figure, has that been advised by the organisers of late?

That's what Mascord claims the organisers are predicting

 

[miguel de cervantes]

It won't be a loss. But Canberra, Townsville and Cairns will not be funding future World Cup games. They were probably promised masses of travelling fans that just haven't eventuated.

The prices for most of these minor, relatively poor quality games in Australia are clearly way over what is reasonable. Combine that with rugby league fatigue in Australia and that is the primary reason for the poor crowds here and realtive success in league starved NZ and PNG.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

In a roundabout sort of way, if the poor crowds lead to high TV ratings in Australia, and this in turn leads to Ch 7 taking the NRL rights off Ch 9 it would be a fantastic result!

 

[titoelcolombiano]

I think we've discovered some valuable things crowd wise at this WC:

1. The Kiwis need to play at home more and the Polynesian sides are commercially viable opponents
2. The Pacific tests between Samoa and Tonga can be commercially viable when played in NZ
3. The Kumuls are a commercially viable option to host test matches
4. A Pacific Cup would be a hit on TV and with attendances at the right venues (mixture of Aus, NZL and the home Pac nations)
5. As T-Boon said, minnow games should be played in regional towns in Australia and will pull full-houses of around 8 or 9 thousand, would be a good story for the game, give importance to Country RL and look better on TV than large empty stadia

I also loved the 2013 semi-final double header at Wembley. I think that could have worked at this world cup at either Eden Park, Auckalnd (would most likely sell-out at 50 odd thousand) or ANZ Stadium, Sydney (we could push 55 - 60k I think which is a larger crowd that you would get in any other city in Aus or NZ).

 

[Warriors Fever]

the minnow games should be played in places like Maitland, Cessnock, Mudgee, Tamworth, Toowoomba, Melbourne.

Agreed these regional areas would sell well and the teams could properly engage these league starved areas like the 2013 world cup

 

[PARRA_FAN]

the minnow games should be played in places like Maitland, Cessnock, Mudgee, Tamworth, Toowoomba, Melbourne.

The last world cup here we took a game to Rockhampton. I think it was around 6,000 fans but still looked packed, plus I think it was one of the hottest November days up there.

I reckon it would've looked pretty good at some of those country venues.

Unfortunately NSW got snubbed by the government but if they didn't they should've taken games to those places.

And in Queensland, instead of Townsville for 3 games, maybe Mackay or Rockhampton again.

 

[adamkungl]

No regional cow paddocks

 

[adamkungl]

My predictions for week 1


Fri Oct 27
Aus v Eng @ Melbourne =29k

Sat Oct 28
PNG v Wal @ Port Moresby =15k
NZ v Sam @ Auckland =18k
Fij v USA @ Townsville =14k

Sun Oct 29
Sco v Ton + Ire v Ita @ Cairns =15k
Fra v Leba @ Canberra =13k

Average =17.3k

Haha.. oh dear. crowds 30k short of estimates here.

Well.. my predictions for week 2 will have a nasty dose of reality to them after massively overestimating week 1.

Australia v France in Canberra : 11,000
New Zealand v Scotland in Christchurch: 13,000
Samoa v Tonga in Hamilton: 10,000
England v Lebanon in Sydney: 11,000
PNG v Ireland in Port Moresby: 13,000
Italy v USA + Fiji v Wales
Double Header in Townsvile: 10,000

Actual crowds exceeded (deliberately pessimistic) estimates by about 8k here.

I'd be pretty happy if the 2 Sydney games got 15k and 25k.

Aus v Lebanon needs 30k to be a pass mark (imo) for Sydney now. Hard to see it happening. Pray to the weather gods people.

Anyway with that all in mind, week 3 crowd predictions

Fiji v Italy in Canberra : 9,000
NZ v Tonga in Hamilton : 20,000
Samoa v Scotland in Cairns : 7,000
Australia v Lebanon in Sydney: 18,000
PNG v USA in Port Moresby : 14,000
Double Header in Perth : 16,000

 

[Billythekid]

In a roundabout sort of way, if the poor crowds lead to high TV ratings in Australia, and this in turn leads to Ch 7 taking the NRL rights off Ch 9 it would be a fantastic result!

This has been one of the major successes of this world cup. The ratings have been damn good despite the minimal amount of promotion and being on a secondary channel. I don't think it will make 7 want to buy the NRL rights but it could increase the interest in the international game. Surely mid season tests and post season matches are looking more appealing with ratings like this.This is something we need to work on.

I think we've discovered some valuable things crowd wise at this WC:

1. The Kiwis need to play at home more and the Polynesian sides are commercially viable opponents
2. The Pacific tests between Samoa and Tonga can be commercially viable when played in NZ
3. The Kumuls are a commercially viable option to host test matches
4. A Pacific Cup would be a hit on TV and with attendances at the right venues (mixture of Aus, NZL and the home Pac nations)
5. As T-Boon said, minnow games should be played in regional towns in Australia and will pull full-houses of around 8 or 9 thousand, would be a good story for the game, give importance to Country RL and look better on TV than large empty stadia

I also loved the 2013 semi-final double header at Wembley. I think that could have worked at this world cup at either Eden Park, Auckalnd (would most likely sell-out at 50 odd thousand) or ANZ Stadium, Sydney (we could push 55 - 60k I think which is a larger crowd that you would get in any other city in Aus or NZ).

I just don't think double headers are worth it for the most part and are rarely better than just having the 2 games seperate.

I agree with most of you points. Lets just hope this leads to more international matches outside of the world cup because that's what truly needed to make the game grow. Having countries only really play once every 4 years will never lead to anything.

No regional cow paddocks

Does having a crowd of 5K or so in a place like rockhampton,Tamworth or some other regional centre look worse than 500 people to the first game of a double header in Townsville? I agree that overall our game needs to be moving past playing games at places like this but frankly few are willing to pay to go and watch Fiji smash the USA. It's a great chance to showcase the game to some of our biggest fans and get a big crowd to a match that would otherwise be deserted.

 

[Billythekid]

Anyway with that all in mind, week 3 crowd predictions

Fiji v Italy in Canberra : 9,000
NZ v Tonga in Hamilton : 20,000
Samoa v Scotland in Cairns : 7,000
Australia v Lebanon in Sydney: 18,000
PNG v USA in Port Moresby : 14,000
Double Header in Perth : 16,000

Yet again i can see every single Australian game failing to meet any of those predictions. NZ v Tonga will go close to a sellout and PNG will sellout yet again. Every other match will likely end up a disappointment.

 

[adamkungl]

Does having a crowd of 5K or so in a place like rockhampton,Tamworth or some other regional centre look worse than 500 people to the first game of a double header in Townsville? I agree that overall our game needs to be moving past playing games at places like this but frankly few are willing to pay to go and watch Fiji smash the USA. It's a great chance to showcase the game to some of our biggest fans and get a big crowd to a match that would otherwise be deserted.

I think despite some hiccups we should be aiming higher not lower.
If the concern is perception, we're chasing our tails. Haters (include our own fans) are gonna bag it either way.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

It's a moot point. There won't be another World Cup here and if there was it would be so far into the future that anything that happened this year won't be relevant.

 

[Billythekid]

I think despite some hiccups we should be aiming higher not lower.
If the concern is perception, we're chasing our tails. Haters (include our own fans) are gonna bag it either way.

I agree and was stating that prior to the tournament. We've really sold short some of our biggest matches. Having said that it's hard to aim lower than we already did. We've had 2 double headers that drew sub 10K and first match of the Townsville double header would have been lucky to 1000 people there. I'm pretty sure we could have got more than 7K people by moving those matches to different venues.

Some of our biggest matches have been totally sold short. Having 3 separate double headers was a poor call as well IMO. I don't really disagree with you all that much, pretty sure we were both making these same arguments months ago. It was clear as day how poor the scheduling was then.

It's a moot point. There won't be another World Cup here and if there was it would be so far into the future that anything that happened this year won't be relevant.

I agree. The earliest we will get another world cup is 2029 and i wouldn't be that surprised to see it later than that. Really anything we learn from and attempt to implement from this tournament should be based around whatever other international matches are played. Lets hope that at some point during that time we'll see more international games start being played so we don't have to wait for 4 years to actually see international league being played (especially outside of the big 3).

 

[T-Boon]

No regional cow paddocks

Cessnock and Maitland home grounds are way better than the suburban Sydney grounds.
Modern 1000 seat stadiums, nice hill, beautiful field. Maitland Sports ground you could put up a cheap temporary stadium opposite the new main stadium. It would look almost as good as that PNG ground.

 

[Jim from Oz]

Haha.. oh dear. crowds 30k short of estimates here.



Actual crowds exceeded (deliberately pessimistic) estimates by about 8k here.



Aus v Lebanon needs 30k to be a pass mark (imo) for Sydney now. Hard to see it happening. Pray to the weather gods people.

Anyway with that all in mind, week 3 crowd predictions

Fiji v Italy in Canberra : 9,000
NZ v Tonga in Hamilton : 20,000
Samoa v Scotland in Cairns : 7,000
Australia v Lebanon in Sydney: 18,000
PNG v USA in Port Moresby : 14,000
Double Header in Perth : 16,000

I reckon more like:

Fiji v Italy in Canberra : 4,000
NZ v Tonga in Hamilton : 22,000
Samoa v Scotland in Cairns : 4,000
Australia v Lebanon in Sydney: 12,000
PNG v USA in Port Moresby : 14,800
Double Header in Perth : 14,000

My total is 70,800
(Adamkungl's total is 84,000)

I hope it's closer to 84,000 than 70,800 !

 

[Warriors Fever]

Cessnock and Maitland home grounds are way better than the suburban Sydney grounds.
Modern 1000 seat stadiums, nice hill, beautiful field. Maitland Sports ground you could put up a cheap temporary stadium opposite the new main stadium. It would look almost as good as that PNG ground.

Screw Maitland you may as well play in Newcastle, if they can get up for their underperforming team they can get up for World Cup games.

 

[Jim from Oz]

This may explain (a bit) about lower-than-expected attendances at games like Samoa v Tonga:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/leagu...ns-warned-to-buy-tickets-from-official-outlet

Rugby League World Cup fans warned to buy tickets from official outlet

New Zealand fans are being urged to buy tickets through the Rugby League World Cup's official ticketing outlet to avoid the risk of being over-charged by alternative sellers.

Tournament officials have become aware of issues resulting from spectators purchasing tickets from third-party sellers and other marketplace websites.

"We'd strongly urge fans to make sure they are purchasing their tickets via the official tournament platform at www.rlwc.2017.com," said the Rugby League World Cup's (RLWC) New Zealand general manager Andrea Nelson.

"This will ensure spectators avoid being over-charged and receive the correct information regarding ticket availability."

Anthony Au-Yeung
Players from Tonga and Samoa acknowledge each other with hugs prior to their 2017 Rugby League World Cup match.


READ MORE:
* Tony Smith: 'League needs a Pacific Cup series
* Nothing beats Tonga-Samoa rivalry
* Tonga party stays in Hamilton
* Pacific teams unite
* Tonga outclass Samoa
* League supporters turn out

Stuff understands some supporters have been caught out by websites indicating only a limited number of tickets were left, leaving some buyers to assume the games had been sold out or were close to capacity.

Some punters are understood to have ended up paying more than the official ticket price for matches in Auckland and Hamilton despite seating still being available through the RLWC website.

The Tonga-Samoa game drew over 18,000 fans last Saturday to Waikato Stadium, which has a capacity of 25,800.

The Kiwis' first round win over Samoa drew 17,857 to Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium, which can house 30,000.

Nelson said the simplest, safest way to buy tickets was to visit the official tournament website, "find the fixture you wish to attend" and click on the "get tickets" tab.

"Tickets are selling fast following two great weekends of matches with outstanding crowds ... so we really urge fans to jump online to avoid the disappointment of missing out on a seat," Nelson said.

"The atmosphere at the matches has been incredible and has everyone talking. And we have drawn the two biggest crowds to attend rugby league in this country this year which is a great endorsement of the tournament."

Quarterfinal venues


Organisers have confirmed New Zealand will play their quarterfinal in Wellington and Tonga will play theirs in Christchurch on November 18.

The winner of the NZ-Tonga match this weekend will finish on top of Pool B and face the third-placed team in Pool A - likely to be Lebanon. The loser, will finish second in Pool B and will play the winner of Pool D.

If successful in the quarterfinals, the Pool B winner (either NZ or Tonga) will play their semifinal at Aukland's Mount Smart Stadium; while the Pool B runner-up will play at Brisbane Stadium (November 24).

- Stuff

 

[parrawentyfan]

Great advice if the Ticketek website didn't f..k people over anyway