Sports Prophet

£32 for a GA ticket in the standing terrace?

I attended this game around 2010 and it was a sellout. About 50k I reckon. I think 37k, whilst likely to be the biggest regular season crowd for the season, I think it should have been better. There sure is. Be it tennis and cricket in the summer, or most winter sports, there really does seem to be less enthusiasm to get out. Terrible weather has not helped RL crowds and reduced capacities will have an affect on strong AFL crowd figures in WA, so avg numbers in both sports are taking a hit. The cost of living as raised by @Deranged Drunk Guy seems true. The initial boom in spending after 9 months of COVID, when drastic numbers of home owners took repayment holidays on the mortgages and other debts, those repayment pauses have come back to bite them, with banks asking for clients to catch up their arrears. It feels like people are bunkering down again.

I hear what you’re saying @The Rocket, but there is no tackling to age 10 and more a two handed grab up to age 12, so there is an existing no tackle and minor contact versions of the game for children aged to 12. There is also AFL 9s which can be played as touch or tag. It’s exists, is played by juniors and adults and is popular, no where near as popular as touch footy. Kids to that age are not running into contests for the ball on the ground like the adults are either. Head knocks very much are an issue in both sports, I think to age 12, the other guys have a version deemed much safer, which is supported in the dramatic climb in junior registrations in the sport above the old Barrassi Line over the past 20 years.

I assume it’s accurate

Where was that played at?

Both sports can be reasonably cheap with GA membership offers. Sharks for example any three games GA for around $55 IIRC. Those three tickets could even be used in the same game, so three mates and one gets a free hat. I had about 5 memberships in one single season that way. Gave the new signing member famous names. My delight you can only imagine when in the following pre-season I would get letter from the Sharks about renewing memberships posted to Bruce Springsteen and Bill Clinton to my home address. Still got the letters somewhere I digress… I think you can still pick up a walk up to the MCG for about $15. Not surprising when your stadium holds over 100k. Although a walk up for the Swans would be no less than $45 last time I checked a couple of years ago, so definitely not cheap at the SCG. I maintain for any elite winter sport in Australia (outside club games at the MCG and Stadium Australia) that anything less than a 75% filled stadium is a failure in any, or all of, marketing, profile, ticket pricing, community engagement, comforts and entertainment.

I found it odd that they had to go all the way to Bristol to find a school interested in attending.

A great site to get a look at each game attendance for the year ahead… https://www.austadiums.com/sport/rugby-league/results

I know the Sharks have some really cheap GA membership options for as little as three tickets for about $50. You can use all three in one game. I think that is pretty good value for money. In saying that, I totally agree with you on the rest of the match day. Costly and unimpressive would be my description of food and beverage services at games I have attended at all venues in Sydney.

Yep, I agree totally. Entertainment for targeted new audiences must include supplementary options for those up to 5, maybe even a little older. All the things you say, jumping castle, passing/kicking challenges, face painting, mascots, cheerleaders, show bags and other kids merch really are mandatory in my mind if you are to entice the whole family on a regular basis.

Well for NRL clubs in Sydney, none of the club revenue would include the millions in turnover generated by match day attendances utilising the respective leagues club facilities both pre and post match. Those leagues clubs then distribute further funding to the club as their constitution will allow. So for me, in the NRL, live match day experience is still just as important as television distributions, with more room to improve.

Yeah that looked really good. Great club, great supporters and lots of them.

For a global competition like the Premier League, sure. For a competition like SL, no way. Television is a fantastic vehicle to present the sport to those that can’t attend, but simply neglecting the revenue opportunities on match days is not prudent. Television shouldn’t be a replacement for attending. 2021 Brisbane Broncos revenue from memberships, ticketing, corporate sales and other match day revenue represented >25% of the clubs 2021 $50m turnover. That was in another COVID affected year. The NRL grant was in the region of $15m. Before COVID, in 2018, the NRL grant represented 25% of Brisbane Broncos revenue. A long way from being the primary source of income. Then there is the intangible benefits of a reasonably full stadium, such as the visual appeal of the sport to new, potential customers. Neither NRL or SL are in a position to neglect their crowds.

Exiled Wiganer does. See his post above mine. I wasn’t sure of it’s relevance either, but he seemed very interested.

Sorry @Mr Frisky, I thought it was obvious my post above was a response to the ramblings of @Exiled Wiganer.

take a break EW, you don’t have to be one all the time. https://www.austadiums.com/sport/australian-football/results As you are so obsessed, there’s a link to show you the AFL crowds this year. Swans pulling bigger crowd than any Sydney NRL game this year is a concern. Except that it’s the norm. Their 25k is the Sydney benchmark so far and not a very high one. How long do you think until an NRL game in Sydney draws more? Back to RL, it was great to see the Sharks back playing at home. Good turnout considering the restrictions due to the development. The atmosphere more resembled some of the great SL matches I’ve attended. Prime Minister was there in support of the win as well. Good to see.

5k probably is good for Salford. As far as I am concerned, it’s not good enough for SL. I concede, there may have been capacity restrictions in Brisbane, so whilst in normal circumstances, 32k for a season opener is poor, there may have been a better reason for the low crowd other than complacency. The logic that 32k being poor for Brisbane yet 5k being good for Salford is what Albert would refer to as relative.

Hearing your feedback @Dave T on promotion for Wire matches is a little depressing. I can’t say that the RL boffins in Aus are much better. It really irritates me to know that the 2022 season opening round was a record round for viewership of any other round, ever, yet, the only club that could crack 20k were Brisbane, who themselves had a pretty poor 32k turnout for a season opener against a big draw like Souths. Watching the Warriors V Cas game, if there were 10k fans there, then maybe I can expect the real Easter Bunny to make an appearance this year. I’m not sure if it is the same in the SL, but I definitely think the NRL clubs rest on the laurels because they get such a high share of television revenue. A truly mindless attitude to earning an income and delivering entertainment that grows the number of financially committed supporters. I get panned on here because I am a fan of more than one sport. One such sport I follow opened their season this weekend and have delivered crowds of 40k, 72k and 58k in its first three games. Funnily enough, I think those two smaller crowd numbers are low. There may well be a stadium 75% crowd limit that limited the 40k crowd from being nearer the 50k mark. The membership and attendance culture within this sport are unrivalled in Australia. Back to SL, I feel like the game is not focused on attendances at all. With the exception of a few clubs. Fixtures on at the same time. Thursday nights. Most others on a Friday night. I expect Wigan to draw no less than 15k for a home game all season.

I think the NRL have benefited from a vastly superior financial television deal. It’s been a while since I have watched Sky, but I even feel like Fox are presenting better coverage of all their sports than anything I remember Sky doing. There is a sad reality that for the moment, the NRL and SL are not partners. Whilst they may not be competitors to the level that each are with AFL and RFU respectively, they are still competitors for the number one commodity that any professional sport has, the players. This brings favour to the idea many have around the NRL being the governor of the game globally. Another of the great advantages that the NRL has over SL is the power balance is firmly in favour of the NRL, whereas in the UK, the clubs are still very much steering the ship. This helps the sport to be delivered towards a single objective. Any dreams of the hemispheres working in partnership for the betterment of the sport’s fortunes are going to be dreams for some time to come. So for me, the best thing we can all do, is appreciate both leagues for what they are, whilst the RFL need to focus on their own backyard, because the NRL will put its remit before anything else, for which SL and the RFL feature very lowly.

Excuse me Martin, I was simply talking about from a club name perspective. Examples of other All Blacks have been demonstrated as well. We shouldn’t neglect RL’s very own Redfern All Blacks either. Not sure how that trademark applies to other sports or sports clubs.

I’m surprised it wasn’t Leeds McLeedsface

There is no way a moniker on its own can be trademarked. Not even the All Blacks.

Good question. To the best of my knowledge, it was once attempted in Aus by the North Melbourne Kangaroos. At one stage they ditched the N Melbourne. Since the removal merger of Fitzroy and Brisbane as well as the (tremendously successful) name change of Footscray Bulldogs to Western Bulldogs, the Kangaroos have long been “the next relocation” club from Melbourne. They unsuccessfully dropped the North Melbourne part of their name to gain traction interstate, but yielded little success and appeased their fans and brought their geographical history back to the club name. In saying that, in American sport where franchises rule, many sports are littered with examples where the moniker was far more pertinent than a geographical location. However, for a club to rely on this in its introduction to the highest level, like The Dolphins have, to me, is a baffling decision.

Funny enough, I used to hate Blue Sox for them, but it is much better than Panthers. I have grown to actually not mind it, but it is very American and I understand why locals would hate it. I understand where you are coming from @Damien and it is a very Baseball sounding name. I feel like they would have done much better simply calling themselves the Blues. A good name, representative of their colours and with lack of a handy grasp of the Queen’s… it sounds good and when cheered my many in unison has a very strong, deep sound. Whatever the English word for that is, “Blues” has it (maybe @unapologetic pedant knows a word for this)

Expansion teams seem equally can find it hard to come up with a good mascot. Brisbane Bombers was universally panned. Not because it’s a bad one. It’s just a bad one for that club. Western Reds with their red kangaroo was a great one. Now they instead use Perth Pirates. A very poor version. I prefer them when they have an attachment to the area the club represents.