Brisbane Roar’s 2-0 victory in the first leg of the major semi-final over the Central Coast Mariners was a good result for the Roar and their fans. What wasn’t such a good result was the crowd of 15,000.
It was a shadow of the 25,000 that turned up for the same event last year.
Now, Brisbane football fans are a fickle bunch, but they will show up for finals.
This was evident in the 1996/97 season of the NSL, when the Brisbane Strikers, after failing to get a decent crowd all year, sold out Lang Park with 40,000 fans suddenly turning up to watch them win the Ericsson Cup against Sydney United.
Similar scenes were repeated last year when the Roar, who had averaged around 10,000 a game over the season, suddenly hosted 25,000 in the major semi final and then drew 53,000 for the grand final.
Significant progress has been made since the days of the Strikers, and the last two years has seen a steady increase in fans at Roar matches this season.
So why did only 15,000 turn up on Saturday to the semi final between the top two sides, who have developed such a great rivalry?
I believe ticket prices had a major impact.
Last year in the lead-up to the finals series, I made comment on the steep increase in prices that had occurred, and how I believed this was unfair price gouging by the FFA.
The high prices created a situation where people who had supported the Roar all season were faced with what were unaffordable prices to see the finals series.
The matter was highlighted publicly by Courier Mail journalist Marco Monteverde. This issue has also been observed elsewhere, with complaints about fans being priced out of the Champions League final in Europe.
I received a range of responses to my comments – many disagreed with my view, claiming that the prices were on par with NRL or AFL finals tickets and that the finals were the FFA’s opportunity to make money out of the A-League.
When I attended the semi-final and the grand final and observed the crowd numbers, I thought maybe I had grasped the wrong end of the stick.
But after seeing the relatively low attendance at the game on Saturday, I think the issue is still there to be discussed in the current context.
I don’t believe the A-League finals series is in the same category as the finals for the NRL and AFL. The competition is much younger and the fan-base and community engagement is still growing. This needs to be recognised in pricing decisions.
It has always been my view that it would be far better getting 20,000 people to a game at $30 than 10,000 people at $60.
With an extra 10,000 punters in the ground you’ll have 10,000 more chances of selling drinks and food and merchandise, all of which give the club gets a percentage. It creates a far better atmosphere, and you end up with 20,000 advocates for the game. If they have a good time they are more likely to come again.
Economists have a term called ‘price elasticity’. It is a measure used to show the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good or service to a change in its price. If something is inelastic it takes a fair increase in price to see a significant change in demand. Petrol is a pretty good example. By contrast if demand for a product is more price sensitive, then it is elastic.
For most people, A-League finals tickets are elastic. This was clear when I sent an email round to organise the tickets for a group of blokes that have become regular attendees at Roar games this year.
We usually sit in ‘regular season’ category C seats located adjacent to the six-yard box at a cost of $25. For the finals series, these seats were repriced at $70. The response from mates was emphatic – sorry, I’m not paying $70 to go.
Two of us ended up going, but we relocated into the section behind the goals for $28 – this section, which is not the best location to view the game, was packed. There were still plenty of seats available in other areas of the ground.
People obviously made one of two decisions. They either paid the much lower price so they could attend, knowing they’d be sitting in an inferior part of the stadium to watch the game or, they simply chose not to come because they weren’t prepared to pay the additional $50+ being asked for to sit anywhere but behind the goals.
It appears that around 10,000 people chose the latter.
The FFA has to decide what it is trying to achieve. Should it try and make as much money as it can out of the finals series and risk alienating the very people who have supported the game all year? Or try and engage with the grassroots of the community and encourage as many people to attend what is the premier spectacle of the Australian domestic football season?
The policy makers must recognise that in the current economic climate where discretionary spending is limited, releasing tickets at a price that reflects what is reasonable for people is likely to result in a much better outcome all round.
You can’t just take people for granted, hit the autopilot button and jack the prices up all around the ground because it’s the finals series.
As we saw on Saturday, when you do this a lot of fans just won’t turn up for the flight. Surely this isn’t the outcome that FFA or the clubs are looking for.
Bianca
Guest
I don't understand where the ticket price of $70 comes from. I sat a couple of seats away from the half way line and my ticket was nowhere near $70.
RT
Guest
A lot of local fixtures were rearranged because of the game. The prohibitive ticket prices and the lack of awareness seem more likely reasons. And further when is the final? I'd like to make arrangements.
Raghu
Guest
Plus the $5 booking fee ticketmaster charges on top of the ticket prices
Ryan
Guest
I thought the crowd was much bigger than 15,000
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Just watching the ACL match CCM v Seongnam and thought I'd check the crowds in the K-League Match Day 5: 8 games played Average crowd: 9,190 Lowest: 1,886 Highest: 45,192 Total: 73,522 The big crowd was at Suwon Bluewings v Seoul. Take that crowd away and the K-League averaged 4.4k for the other 7 games last w/e! I haven't checked other figures and, perhaps, that was just a bad week in the K-League. But, maybe we need to ease up in our worry & concern about HAL crowds?
Roarfan
Guest
I can't see any reason for a complaint about the pricing. Based on concessional rates we paid $ 40 for pretty poor seats at Skilled Park the week before and only $ 28 for our usual seats at Suncorp. Certainly not excessive in my view.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Grrrr said, that article is very aggravating. And what kind of numbnut tells his daughter and her friends they have the athletic talents of headless zombies?
Nathan of Perth
Guest
"the lower intellects in the USA (that’s really a tautology!)" Grrrrrrr...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Kasey I just came across this article and nearly fell off my chair! You replace "America" with "Australia" and you can see the SWP mentality thrives amongst the lower intellects in the USA (that's really a tautology!) An article that could easily have been written by Rebecca Wilson: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577309930226957316.html?KEYWORDS=JOE+QUEENAN
Bondy
Guest
jb. Interesting I think Ch 9s policy up the east coast is to not show the sport period, I notice Sydeny F.C in Sydney never get air time by that company or recently National team news now gets wiped also unlike the past . Although on the Central Coast the local broadcadter N.B.N give a comprehensive angle of the A League and a wrap of the Champs Lge action as well .
Bondy
Guest
Crashy, I think your hearts in the right spot but what you've got to remember with football it's a 10 month season including the National team, the A League cant close for other sports,what would you think if I said to you Kewell hasn't played a game for two months it's insane and were about to face Japan in three days time. To the best of my kowledge we didn't move for arl or nfl our season last year was too congested and a big portion of midweek games, we need a domestic league that runs for no less than seven and a half months per season regardless of other sports with respect .
Kasey
Guest
You are right on the mark there Fuss, those of us that watch the HAL week in week out have realized a long time ago that the upward swing in quality of the HAL has continued for 7 years now. Of course there are always noisy malcontents who compare what we have now to their rose-coloured memories of eras past, but I think you could quite reasonably take a foreign visitor from a country where football is the #1 sport to an A-League game and not be embarrassed. You would get the occasional stand out (good or bad game, just as the AFL gets its boring 100point deficit at HT thrashings) The simple fact is there is less and less of an excuse for the Euro-snob to turn his/her nose up at the local product now unless they are just being a Euro-douche. Getting the Euro-snob to take an interest in the local league, seeing as they re already partial to the world game is critical to growing the attendance metric IMO. I’m not concerned with the generation of Sokkah-haterz who have been bred to think Sheila’s Wogs & Poofters play/watch the game. They are mostly a lost cause. In 20 years time when its considered cool to follow ‘ Soccer’ they might have a look, but until then, we should be concentrating our efforts on influencing those who already list Soccer as a game of interest, but are yet to take an emotional involvement in a HAL team.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Let's not forget the HAL is a very young league and, in sport, once the novelty period wears off and the theatre-watchers have moved on to the next thing that tickles their fancy, the spectator-base for sports clubs are loyal fans, who feel a sense of ownership & belonging to their sporting club. This takes time and requires patience - two factors that are lacking in our modern, "we want it now"-society. In today's SMH, Sasa Ognenovski give his views on how the HAL is progressing and, as far as I'm concerned, Sasa's views matter more than any Aussie journalist, analyst or member of the public - from within or outside the football community. Why? Well, Sasa has actually played in the HAL, he currently plays in the K-League, he's won the ACL, he scored in the ACL final, he captained his team as they became Champions of Asia & he played in an Asian Cup final. So, when Sasa speaks about football ... we all should listen. Source: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/a-league/in-leagues-of-their-own-but-not-worlds-apart-20120402-1w8rb.html
Kasey
Guest
Lucky I'm busy watching the excellent football on offer and the size of the crowd doesn't determine the excitement level for me, just as the numbver of goals scored is not an accurate ilustration of the entertainment factor of the game. Size of the crowd is a nice indicator to the development of the league over its 7 year lifespan, but it in no way determines the value of the event for me.
j binnie
Guest
Axelv -What about Brisbane Roar.????????. Using your logic, and with what one would say a very successful 2 seasons behind them, if we used their first home gate of 2010/11 season,10500 v Sydney,by now they should be building extensions on to Suncorp to get their crowds in. Unfortunately public behaviour does not work like that and you should not have to be reminded again of the publicity problems facing any club in the HAL. Last night on Channel 9 news,the King,our Wally, chose to ignore completely the fact that a team representing Brisbane (and Australia) was on it's way to Korea, but we did get told that the players were all enjoying training at Red Hill !!!!. Remember it is a "news" program we are watching. The other thing to remember is that in the area of paid advertising it is the FFA that is in total control of the finals series so a dig at the lack of paid publicity is in fact a dig at the FFA. Is this another facet of Palmer's complaints ???. jb
stu
Guest
Never cheapen your product. People pay what they pay in AFL/NRL as they have nothing in those sports to compare with. Soccer people will generally compare the competition to leagues overseas and make a judgement not to pay the money. To a large degree, the fact that the game is global hurts the local competition. Crowds will continue to waver for years to come until the comptition matures to the stage where the kids who have grown up with the league will become the passionate one-eyed supporters as adults and will be at the games even if their team is at the bottom of the league.
Axelv
Guest
What about Brisbane Roar, compared to Brisbane Roar? 15,000 vs 25,000
EvertonAndAustralia
Roar Pro
As a student and a Den member my seat was actually cheaper than the normal season prices. Den student normal season $19, finals $14.
j binnie
Guest
Don't know what all this debate is about. The first 3 games in last season's final series pulled 23,472 fans. The first 3 games this series have pulled 37,700 which to me signifies an increase of 60%!!!!!. Now before all the analysts start to pull those FACTUAL figures apart telling me the teams involved etc etc etc lets wait until the Grand Final is completed before we start to tear apart attendance figures. One of the favourite "corrections" will be "GCU the worst supported team, played in last years finals", my argument to that would be simple,what would this years figures have shown if Victory had managed to reach the final stages.Get the point? jb
Neil
Guest
Complete lack of publicity must hold much of the blame, the media up here don't give football hardly any free space unless there is a controversy attached to it, so it has to be paid for.