- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
In this first part of NRL survey results, we look at the universal issues of sport and the issues regarding NRL competition size and team transfer contracts.
We had 247 survey responses – 135 of which did not reach the end of the survey. I’ve added recommendations based on these survey results.
First, let’s look at the universal nature of sport – the issues that all sports fans have. The recommendations in this section are for all sports not just for the NRL. An overwhelming 93 per cent of respondents said the number of people in a venue watching events is more important than how big a venue is built.
Recommendations
1. Host events in venues with a capacity that matches your average attendance.
2. Build new venues to a capacity that supports the average attendance of all proposed permanent tenants that plan to host regular events there.
3. Upgrade existing venues if sell-out crowds are becoming a consistent occurrence with a permanent tenant that hosts events there regularly.
Why do people support teams? Simple – location, location, location. From State of Origin to the FIFA World Cup, geography is what makes a great sporting spectacle and drives passion in sports fans. In all, 57 per cent of respondents said the main factor in choosing a team to support is either being ‘local’ or the ‘closest geographically’. No one said they support a team because of a particular coach.
Recommendations
4. New teams should be based in areas which have supporters of that sport.
5. Host home games in areas which have most of the supporters of that team.
6. Do not appoint a manager with the opinion that it will boost supporter numbers.
Can’t get to the game? Well television or more recently, internet streaming, is the way to go. If you are required to pay to view it through these mediums, the fans though say make it cheaper but not any more expensive. In total 72 per cent of survey respondents agree with this.
Within those survey respondents that agreed, 56 per cent of them say it should be free while the other 44 per cent say it should be cheaper but not free. Only 1 per cent thought it should be more expensive.
Recommendations
7. Increase free coverage.
8. If through subscription services, make it cheaper than what it currently is.
9. Do not increase prices to view sporting events through a visual medium.
The above was based on questions universal across all sports but in our survey, 92 per cent were followers of NRL – the code which this survey and the rest of this article focuses on. The following is based on questions answered by NRL followers.
Our survey respondents supported all teams but the most popular were the Warriors (7%), Rabbitohs (7%), Bulldogs (9%), Cowboys (10%) and Broncos (20%). While three non-Sydney teams appeared in the top 5 most supported teams, Sydney teams (56%) were more supported compared to non-Sydney teams (45%).
So what about expansion? How big should NRL be? Well it is currently a 16 team competition. 63 per cent of respondents think there should be more teams, 26 per cent think it should stay as 16 teams while 11 per cent want less teams. The most popular choice was ‘18′ (38%).
Recommendations
10. Expand to an 18-team competition.
11. Do not downsize the competition.
So downsizing the competition is clearly a no go in the opinion of the fans. However, if it had to occur, the most popular choice was that the least financially viable team should go (33%).
So what teams should join? This question was answered by both NRL and non-NRL followers and the most popular choices overall was a Perth or Western Australian team (41%) and a second Brisbane team (15%). But as we mentioned earlier, people mainly only follow teams based on their location.
The one thing we could not tell from this survey is whether the 56 per cent of people who chose Perth or Western Australia and Brisbane are actually from there. The table below is the closest thing to finding out though (figures rounded):
| Expansion Team | Support based on: Location | Other Reasons | Difference |
| A second Brisbane team | 10% | 5% | 6% |
| Perth/Western Australia | 22% | 19% | 2% |
| A second New Zealand team | 5% | 3% | 2% |
| A combined New Zealand/Fiji team | 5% | 3% | 2% |
| Central Coast Bears | 5% | 3% | 2% |
| Ipswich Jets | 4% | 2% | 2% |
| Adelaide/South Australia | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| Central Queensland | 5% | 4% | 1% |
| Illawarra Steelers | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| North Sydney Bears | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| None | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Papua New Guinea | 0% | 1% | -1% |
Recommendation
12. The next teams should be from Perth or Western Australia and Brisbane, providing there are rugby league fans there to support those teams.
A controversial issue in the NRL lately is that of team transfer contracts and the latest date to sign that contract. Currently it is no later than June 30th but a majority 65 per cent of survey respondents say contracts should be negotiated from start to finish post-grand final until January first.
Recommendation
13. Players should only be allowed to negotiate team transfer contracts no earlier than the end of the grand final and no later than January first.
Thank you all for your time and patience in completing the survey! I hope you found this article insightful. In Part 2, we look at the experience, choices and treatment of NRL venues.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.