Should we follow the AFL?

[hybrid_tiger]

leave Stadium Australia out of regular season games

Agreed.

 

[Knightmare]

Although the AFL averages higher crowds, you would find many of their fans who are jaded that they no longer have a 'home' ground. If teams lose their home ground, they lose a large part of their tradition.

 

[pcpp]

leave Stadium Australia out of regular season games

Agreed.

Nah, I think Stadium Australia has some place in the NRL regular season.

1st week double header (not easter one)
Bulldogs v Top 4

What Bulldogs really need is a 25,000 capacity stadium. They could fill it up every week.

 

[CC_Eagle]

 

[bartman]

Only if a team gets average crowds of 25,000 per game, and has to turn people away from their games should they consider moving extra games to Telstra Stadium.

In Sydney we're still a long way away from those good old days yet...

 

[Parra_Eels]

yes shark park needs to go up toabout 25,000
penrith to 27,000
bulldogs to anywhere but showground (oasis looked awesome)
parramatta to about 27,000
leichardt to about 22-25,000
campbelltwown to 25,000
kogarah to 20,000
win stadium to 22/23,000
brooky to 20,000

they're not huge upgrades but decent enough to get good crowds

 

[Kurt Angle]

Only if a team gets average crowds of 25,000 per game, and has to turn people away from their games should they consider moving extra games to Telstra Stadium.

In Sydney we're still a long way away from those good old days yet...

What are you talking about "Good old days" of 25,000 ?

The last 3 years have seen 3 out of the 4 highest averages in the history of RL in Australia.

There has never been a good old days of 25,000 crowd averages.

The point to moot, he is right.

It would be ideal that all grounds could be modern, but the simple financial realities are each team can't afford to do its own stadium up, they need to share.

Sydney sporting organisations can't afford to have 11 SFS's throughout the suburbs, it can only afford about 2, 3 or 4.

For location they have to border groups.

SFS already exists, serves Souths and Roosters.

Next best bet in Parra stadium, it serves the Eels, has the Penrith Line leading in, the Richmond line leading in and the Liverpool line leading in. Also the western line along Ashfield, Strathfield etc leading in.

I don't think the dragons in the long term will be a Sydney identity, but if they do, they should seriously consider a ground share with Cronulla.

Manly sort of, well they're f*cked. They don't have anyone north of the harbour to share, and don't warrant a brand spanking new stadium for themselves.

As much as all the fogies here like to celebrate meat pies, grass hills, 3,500 attendences where they knew everyone in the crowd on a first name basis.... every single sport in the world, and the AFL even here in Australia have shown the new stadiums attract bigger crowds.

Holding NRL back from this move is the surest way to kill the game of RL.

 

[pcpp]

If we follow this idea, we could see 8,000 crowd's at Telstra.

Wouldn't that be embarrassing.

 

[Kurt Angle]

There will be a painful transition period yes, as has happened before.

But it will then pick up again, as has happened before.

 

[olympic park]

i think the point being missed though is that in melbourne many of these clubs had to move from their spiritual homes because the costs to fix them and improve/expand them to a decent size etc was astronomical!! IMO the sydney teams should stay, just where possible to expand grandstands etc to bost capacity...

the only reason just one club (carlton) has retained their home ground is because back in the 70s and 80s they were rolling in the money and were able to expand their ground to 25-30k capacity. AND it provides a smaller stadium in melbourne!!

 

[bazza]

The other point to consider is that in Melbourne - all the the teams are essentially inner city suburbs - so moving their games to the city was not very far

In Sydney, most fans live in the area that the team is from e.g. I would expect at least 80% of Penrith fans live around Penrith. It would be silly for them to travel for "home" games

 

[t-ba]

yes shark park needs to go up toabout 25,000
penrith to 27,000
bulldogs to anywhere but showground (oasis looked awesome)
parramatta to about 27,000
leichardt to about 22-25,000
campbelltwown to 25,000
kogarah to 20,000
win stadium to 22/23,000
brooky to 20,000

they're not huge upgrades but decent enough to get good crowds

Brookie can fit around 25,000 as it is ;-) . They got 23,000 but had to let in around 5000 for free (So the crowd was officially listed 17-18ish)

 

[ByRd]

if the DOGZ ha a decent ground with a capicity of around 26000-30000 it would get over 20000 for most games. as my club already plays at Homebush i think it would be pathetic to move teams to just 2 stadiums. at telstra stadium we get over 20000 everytime we play but the atmosphere is still not there, just imagine if the tigers or whoever else plays out there infront of 8000= EMBARRISING

 

[greeneyed]

Carlton has just announced it has abandoned Optus Oval.

 

[Anonymous]

AFL tradition :arrow:

 

[t-ba]

Footscray will be playing at Their old ground again probably.

But they've done an excellent job of hoodwinking the Melbourne public over the last 20 or so years. Letting them keep their curio pieces (Jerseys), while steadily assassinatiing the games suburban origins! Hats off to them I say.

 

[greeneyed]

Fact is, this is why the AFL is so much better placed than the NRL today.

We need teams attracting large crowds in major stadiums and playing to national TV audiences.

How much do you think our game will be worth to the TV networks if we continue to limit the game to the suburbs of Sydney?

You think they will provide massive injections of cash, like the club CEOs were demanding this week (ie to cover their entire salary caps)?

We will end up like club rugby union if we continue down the path of suburbanism.

The people trying to keep our game played in suburban grounds will be the death of our sport.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

AFL is a basket case in NSW TV wise and it only rates in Brisbane when the Lions are playing.

Don't fall for the "AFL has more viewers" crap, it only has more FTA viewers because it has more FTA games.

When FNF makes the week's top 20 across OZTAM and the regionals, League has more viewers virtually every time.

Plus, all 3 SOO matches doubled the AFL's best for the year across OZTAM and regionals.

That doesn't mean we can't improve that next time the rights are up. Having the #1 and #3 markets in the country must pull enough weight for the NRL to get better coverage Australia-wide.

As far a crowds go, AFL has its problems there too, 11,000 were at a match at the MCG a few weeks ago and 16,000 at Docklands. The lowest crowd at a Melbourne suburban ground was 17k odd at Geeelong.

The Swans are due to play at Telstra shortly and they look likely to be disasters. They only drew 24k last week and if they keep losing, Telsta will be less than 1/4 full.

Copying the AFL is not the answer to the problem.

 

[Surandy]

Penrith is a lot further than 50k from Sydney

Penrith is a suburb of Sydney, am I not correct????

but it ain't really that much outside of 50kms outside of the CBD, maybe 60kms at tops.

Centre of Melbourne to Geelong's home ground is about 70km.

I can't really comment on Sydney and whether this idea would work there. I've been to Sydney four times, the last three times I've been to at least one NRL game. First time I went to Sydney I was only 7 or 8 years old and had never even heard of Rugby League.

 

[^ Pando]

Fact is, this is why the AFL is so much better placed than the NRL today.

We need teams attracting large crowds in major stadiums and playing to national TV audiences.

How much do you think our game will be worth to the TV networks if we continue to limit the game to the suburbs of Sydney?

You think they will provide massive injections of cash, like the club CEOs were demanding this week (ie to cover their entire salary caps)?

We will end up like club rugby union if we continue down the path of suburbanism.

The people trying to keep our game played in suburban grounds will be the death of our sport.

Last time I saw the Bulldogs play at Belmore, they were turning people away and had 27000+ .
This game was built on suburban grounds.
I'd rather have Belmore packed than half the crowd trying to see the game from 10 miles away at the Showgrounds.
In the Bulldogs case, the club is also missing out on revenue from people who may have gone to the Leagues Club after the game.