For the price of one ticket to an NRL game fans can watch all the games at home. I'm not saying that's a good attitude, but unfortunately it's a fact of life, and in the present financial climate people opt not to attend.
I also think league has deeper running problems than just that. Don't discount the fact that the image of the game in recent times has taken a pounding, and that is having an effect on crowds. Don't under estimate that suggestion.
We have issues sure, but I still believe much of it is apathy and lack of genuine passion for our teams. It's not everyone, some fans are unbelievably passionate, but look how hard we had to try to sell out SOO in Sydney! If a game should have been sold out in minutes, that would be it surely? We can't blame the financial issues for that one, because we've struggled to sell it out in previous years when the financial climate was much stronger too.
It highlights apathy, and sure, some of that may have been caused by the image of the game.
As for the TV coverage, you'll find that across the world, in my sports, live coverage does not come at a cost at all , and like here, most major events are broadcast on FTA channels.
Here, our PAYTV is a cost for sure, but if we wanted to go to the game live, we would. Anyone who has been to a live game knows how much better it is to watch a game unfolding live than just the mere width of the TV camera on a plasma. You can't beat it.
Possibly a solution is PAYTV ' blacking out ' local regions until after the game is completed to encourage people to go to the games, but unsure if they have the technology to do that yet?
In the states local regions are often ' blacked out ' of local coverage of a live event while the rest of the country sees it live. It happens especially in baseball ( where each team has 81 home games ), and Channel 9 actually do a similar thing here with the cricket when the games are not sold out in Sydney. They prevent it from being telecast in that city until later in the day.
Foxsports could possibly look into that, but watch the ' fans ' call for someone's blood if they blackout a Knights game in Newcastle...
Its a solution though if crowds at games are a priority - which I don't think they are.
In general , I truly believe NRL fans are fair weather overall, because rain and weather has such a drastic impact on the crowds.
A quick look at the EPL soccer crowds, and other sports such as NFL in mid winter in America shows that regardless of weather, truly passionate fans will turn up to support their teams rain, hail or shine.
The same can apply with live television broadcasts.
