FFA upbeat despite crowd decline
By Liam FitzGibbon, 30 Oct 2008
- Tagged:
- Asian Champions League, Ben Buckley, Champions League, football, Football Federation Australia, Lawrie McKinna, North Queensland, Queensland, Socceroos
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Football Federation Australia is confident interest in the A-League has not waned despite a notable drop in attendances from last season. The league is averaging 11,854 fans per game after nine rounds, compared to 13,544 at the same time last season, with all eight teams experiencing declines in their average crowds.
There are concerns the league’s eight-team format has become tired, with many believing the addition of the Gold Coast and North Queensland next year will give the competition a timely boost.
But FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said today he was confident the A-League still had momentum and that this year’s competition was holding the attention of the public.
“The competition is very much alive, particularly with the prize of participation in the AFC Champions League for 2010 at stake,” Buckley said.
“The teams are close with less than two games separating the first and sixth-placed team.
“There is some real momentum in the competition, and there are some important matches this weekend for a number of teams.”
While Adelaide’s fairytale run to the Asian Champions League final is doing wonders for the A-League’s reputation, Buckley said it was a big factor in the decline in crowds.
“A significant proportion of the reduction in A-League crowds is due to Adelaide United, which has also had home games for the AFC Champions League,” Buckley said.
“So, while fewer people have gone to A-League matches, this is offset by the fact that more people have seen a A-League team in action this season than compared with any other season.
“In addition, we’ve had five Socceroos home matches this year which means around 1.2 million people have attended a first class football match in 2008 at either club or national level.”
Buckley was particularly encouraged by last weekend’s crowd figures (58,403 overall), the largest of the season which included more than 31,000 at Telstra Dome to watch Melbourne play Sydney FC.
Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna, whose Gosford-based side has seen home attendances fall from an average of 12,741 last season to 9,536 this season, said the global financial crisis was having an impact across several sports.
“Everybody’s crowds are down, rugby league, A-League, I think it’s just the times we’re facing at the moment,” McKinna said.
“I think as the season gets more exciting and tighter we’ll see the fans come back.”
McKinna believed next year’s expansion would help the competition attract more interest.
“I think the interest is fine now but obviously with the two new teams coming in those areas it’s going to be huge and new and fresh,” McKinna said.
“We can play more games, and if it’s more games against different opposition then all the better.”
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October 30th 2008 @ 9:55am
chris said | October 30th 2008 @ 9:55am | Report comment
i read a couple articles yesterday regarding a league ratings. One article had it at 24% or something and another at around the 7% mark. Dont know which one is correct, either figure is positive.
In terms of crowds, I predict that over the next ten years a league crowds will average between 10 and 17k. I think this season will perhaps be toughest for the aleague, acouple reasons why: 1)only 8 teams, old format 2) economic downturn 3)olympics 4)adelaides crowds being effected due their afc run. 5)sydney poor decision to appoint aloisi as marquee and queensland failing to win at home (what is the go there????????????????).
I think things will start picking up again next year, gradually?
ALthough lets not forget a-league crowds are still very respectable. Take out the Queensland teams out of the nrl and you would have an average similar to that of the aleauge if not lower.
October 30th 2008 @ 10:02am
Dave said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:02am | Report comment
So crowd figures are only one indicator and as mentioned above and rightly pointed out by the FFA (what are they supposed to do when crowd figures are down close the league until we can guarentee better attendances?) there are other indicators which point to a healthy comp – teams queing up to get in, TV ratings up, sponsorships at all time high, bigger comp next season, media mentions/interest up etc
Pip
l do enjoy most of your contributions but…the FFA bashing gets a little tiresome after a while. Sure they are not perfect and make mistakes but its all only 3-4 years old. By all means point out wrongs that need to be addressed but compared to what we had for decades before these guys deserve a medal. They have given me something that l genuinely didn’t think l would see in my lifetime…an Oz domestic football comp which is competitive, diverse, interesting, at a fairly high technical level and which is drawing good, sometimes fantasic crowds with increasing media attention and a link into leagues outside this country. My son has a pathway to elite football at the local level etc etc
redb
I take full responsibility for mentioning AFL and duly await my sentence…
Also thanks for your research although not really required…l did notice the AFL crowds dropped 400,000 in 2002 (MC will fill us in on the reason) and they all came back to play again the next season!
October 30th 2008 @ 10:03am
jimbo said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:03am | Report comment
Redb,
This is the article:
http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/87736,footy-ratings-hit-new-tv-highs.aspx
and I interpert that as referfing to all their football coverage and not just HAL. “Average audiences are up by 28 percent on last year,”
While in some respects falling attendances are of some concern, focusing just on attendances at HAL matches in a catastrophic global financial crisis (as Rudd puts it) is not a true indication of how the FFA and football are travelling.
October 30th 2008 @ 10:15am
Redb said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:15am | Report comment
Jimbo,
Article from the Australian yesterday.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24568706-2722,00.html
So the GFC is inadequte it should now be CGFC.
HAL crowds have levelled off, I think your right if TV ratings were dropping as well that would be a greater cause for concern.
Dave,
Taking responsibility is the first step towards redemption.
Redb
October 30th 2008 @ 10:28am
Michael C said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:28am | Report comment
The Sydney Swans were mentioned -
They actually had an increase in their SCG attendance average for season 2008 – - up from 25,222 over 8 matches to 24.076 over 6 matches.
Perhaps the ‘greedy’ move??, or at least testing the water – was to play 4 rather than three matches at Homebush.
in 2007, those 3 matches averaged 63,392 (noting that no previous year had the Swans averaged over 50,000 for their 3 annual Homebush matches.
The 2007 figures were well and truely out of the box – so to speak – - the 2007 Homebush figures were a 40.9% rise on 2006. The drop from 2007 to 2008 was -27.7% to an avg of just under 46K (still very healty, and the 3rd best for the Swans at that venue over 2002-2008). The reality is that taking 2007 out of the equation – the 2008 crowd avg figure for Homebush (for 1 extra match) was the bettered ONLY in 2003.
That’s the importance of understanding the context – relative to the previous year, or the longer term trend.
Generally – I’ve steered clear of ‘finals’ matches in crowd comparisons – - and we know only too well the danger of a large venue for an interstate finals match – - there’s no need to rush out and buy tickets – - and when the weather forecast is ugly and it goes crap in the immediate lead up – then, people won’t bother buying tickets to NOT turn up………….as we saw with the Socceroos at Suncorp recently………the crap weather plays a fair part in scaring off those who HAVE bought tickets, let alone anyone who hasn’t yet.
btw – the Swans this year dropped overall -7.87% (as indicated though, they didn’t drop at the SCG – only at Homebush)
The previous 3 seasons increased by over 10% in total – the position the Swans crowd average is at is an interesting one……..normally it’s been upwards or downwards from the 32K figure – - however, Homebush vs the SCG will play a part going forwards, as will the redevelopment of the SCG as that has impacted SCG crowds (presumably) to a degree.
October 30th 2008 @ 10:33am
jimbo said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Redb,
classic examples of the difference in media coverage of football, depending on your commercial interests.
442 is in the same media stable as the owners of Foxtel and they don’t focus on crowd figures – they put a positive spin on the overall growth in Pay TV for all their Aussie football coverage, including the Socceroos and Adelaide in the ACL.
The Australian is owned by the media scrum that have invested heavily in NRL in the eastern states and AFL in the southern states – their focus is a negative spin on falling HAL attendances and mention only the modest increase in HAL TV coverage and ignore the tremendous interest in the Socceroos and Adelaide in the ACL.
October 30th 2008 @ 10:35am
Redb said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:35am | Report comment
Re Suncorp and the 30K crowd due to the poor weather, where is Oikee lately? He’s always banging on about Suncorp, if the game was played at Docklands we would have closed the roof and got 50,000.
Redb
October 30th 2008 @ 10:41am
Michael C said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Dave –
2002 and 2003 were interesting times – -
there was some heavy ‘political’ impact on fixturing as the AFL effectively sacrificed crowds by conducting big games at Telstra Dome rather than the MCG to effectively force the MCC into agreeing to a flexible compromise around the finals MCG matches that allowed the AFL to effectively ‘bank’ games and allow interstates sides to ‘earn the right’ to host interstate preliminary finals.
That was a very frustrating phase, as the AFL was playing their own game………that in truth was of it’s own (previous administrations) making.
2003 – interestingly, this was the season that the MCG Olympic/Ponsford stand redevelopment was in full swing – the year of a sub 80K Grand Final.
why was 2003 up 400K on 2002? More to the point, why was 2002 the low point? btw – Redb provided the total figure including finals.
—- btw – - – why the focus on attendance?
on the SMH flog, people generally in the first 3 years would tip result……….and crowd……..gleefully anticipating the rise and rise of soccer and the HAL…….suddenly, the crowd tipping seems to have lost favour.
In the early days on the SMH flog, they would often refer to the AFL and NRL etc – - it seems that soccer folk from the outset have been seeking to benchmark themselves………….so…………why stop now?
October 30th 2008 @ 10:41am
Millster said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Jimbo and others – even though as you all know I am a football fan, we can’t be complacent about the crowd numbers and just assume an upturn again based on external factors. Yes ratings are gradually rising on Fox as more and more people become familiar with the game and “into” it. But a key part of football is the atmosphere that live attendance brings.
I think Sydney needs a community investment and plan that guarantees 20K to each and every game. Any less is a disgrace. Not the least of which because Melbourne beats us hands down in terms of the attendance of Victory crowds – even on a bad day. We should work towards the aggregate of Sydney and Melbourne crowds bringing a total 50K each week as the crowd ‘backbone’ of the league. I don’t think that’s an unrealistic target.
Perth and Wellington also need a “fan plan” for different reasons. They are very remote and only get a couple of games each month at home, with the next closes in each case being over 1000km away. So if a new fan goes to a match that is a dud on field or in terms of low/boring crowds there is nowhere to go in terms of redemption for the code for those guys. The problem is compounded because those cities are each dominated by another code. Each and every interaction with the HAL in those most remote of places needs to be a good one. Same will apply to Townsville when it joins.
The same applies at a lesser level for the other centres, but to me there needs to be a concerted addressing of the Sydney issue, and of the most remote HAL cities as the starting point for a live audience plan. The near-term (seasons 5 to 7) objective should be to aim for a normal-round average of 15K with no single match falling below 10K.
In any case, while Redb and MC might not always bring up crowd numbers in the spirit of helping ourr code achieve its great destiny
I do think they highlight an issue that we can and should work on as a game. We’ve had a good start but we need to capitalise on that and not be complacent in terms of the next steps for growth.
October 30th 2008 @ 10:43am
True Tah said | October 30th 2008 @ 10:43am | Report comment
Why would FFA be worried about crowds – the government will not let FFA fail, nor will the FFA let any club fall over. It makes a lot of money from Socceroos matches, and I dont think there is any doubt that Australia will qualify for 2010.
It would be interesting to see as a % of total revenue, how much government grants are for each code. The FFA Financial Report should be coming out soon and I will be interested to see the improvement which I expect there to be.