A very simple solution to NRL attendance issues

To much gambling sponsorship for me to watch it again.

I think it has a lot to do with the whole game day experiance starting the minute I step outside the door to the minute I return. Typically this is what I find - Have to start out at least 3 hrs before the game, delayed trains / trains replaced by coaches due to track work etc - OK I have some contingency in my 3 hrs. Get to stadium, I'm a member right should just walk in - wrong - hassled by security searching for cans, food etc - pulled up because I have a camera with > 200mm lens - what am I - a criminal ? - hassle what do I do now ? - no where safe to store it so I smuggle it in - hassle searching for cans etc again - get in side - hungary - search for something eat - lots of stalls - all the same - food that looks like plastic and been cooked for 2 days, finally buy something - way overpriced - tastes like crap - dump it in the bin - pay way over the odds for a weak beer - no full strength because it is passed 7pm and council has decreed - what am I a child ????. Find my seat - not very good view but all I can afford especially after throwing money away on food & drink - watch the game - enjoy that - now the ordeal of getting home again - finally open the door at midnight. Then you wonder why I no longer go to games!

Stop blaming the fans! Fact is League is a far better product on TV, ergo a poor product in the flesh.

Just will add to this. You could make these doubleheaders kids in get free days, so ensure that families are well catered for. It's the kids who are the generation of fans coming through that you want to love attending live footy. Having great experiences of big crowds and lots of excitement etched into there heads via these sorts of vehicles is what will ensure the next generation signs up as club members.

What's preventing him from sitting in the terraces anyway once he enters the ground? We do it all the time at Canberra Stadium. I've got an allocated seat, but if I want to sit somewhere else, I do, as long as it's not in someone else's allocated seat. Obviously this doesn't apply to the grandstands, which normally have security checking your tickets.

Mate of mine got season tickets for the Eels as a present. The ticket is for the Cronin stand If he wants to go with mates on the terraces, he is unable to transfer his ticket to the terraces, meaning he effectively pay twice if him and his mates want to sit in the terraces. If he is already a season ticketholder, shouldnt that give him the ability to chose where he sits?

It doesnt suit regional supporters either, I bought a Membership for 2011 but i didnt get a chance to use my tickets becuase i couldnt plan it in enough time. My wife is a nurse and works weekend shifts and needs to give nearly 3 months notice for her to be accomodated on the roster. And lets face it, if im going to spend $900 to go to the footy for a weekend i want to go to a game against somelike the Storm not the eels or panthers.

I totally agree with mds1970. It is hard to plan ahead when you don't know when the game will be. Even though I am a member, I cannot make all Storm games because of prior commitments, which I would have re-organized with a specific year long schedule.

If the NRL want to increase attendances, one obvious thing they need to do is lock in the dates and times of the games when the draw is released. If people know when the games are, they can commit to memberships and can organise their life around it. The current system of only allocating the dates and times a few weeks in advance, although delivering blockbuster TV ratings for Friday nights, acts as a disincentive to membership - at the moment, fans are asked to buy tickets to games without knowing if they'll be at a date or time when they'll be available to attend.

What about making the teams responsible for their efforts. I go to every warriors game I can and sometimes when they play absolutely rubbish I feel I should be getting my money back or get free tickets to their next game. Teams that are performing well will get good crowds eg the sharks, doggies, broncos at the moment. It is the teams that are playing rubbish eg the panthers at the moment that will get poor crowds as their fans do not want to see them getting belted weekin weekout. My point is if the team plays well the players get a bonus, if they play poor the money goes to repaying the fans in the way of free or discounted tickets to the next game.

Nailed it NF. Simple.

In a way, these Sydney fans reminds me of the reigniting-the-spark-with-a-disinterested-spouse cliche. "If there was better public transport, I'll go..." "If ticket prices were better, I'll go..." "If parking was quick and easy, I'll go..." "If the venue's facilities were better, I'll go..." The NRL should ideally adopt the NFL's blackout policy. Less hassle.

Simpler solution: less Sydney teams. Roosters, Sharks, Panthers and Eels all have poor crowds despite no long travel to their home grounds. They should either consider a merge, relocation or simply be forced to shut up shop in time. Its just not sustainable.

Thats "ticket" memberships, season ticket memberships.

I think membership drives have been very good, but I also think the NRL needs to look at things like tonights doubleheader in Brisbane, and replicate that in Sydney. 4-5 double headers every year at the SFS and Stadium Australia are things that will get people to go to a game as there is value, and hopefully with a good 30-40K turn out, and once they realise how cheap membership is for those clubs, especially if the clubs make an effort on those days to sell say 3 game passes. You will get return visits. But why would clubs do double headers? Well in Sydney you see enough games like Panthers vs Cowboys, Cronulla vs Gold Coast etc which don't attract many punters. But if you put some value in how you combine these games, say a Manly vs Cowboys & Cronulla vs Broncos on a Friday night at the SFS, you get two things out of it. A way to ensure that you are on TV, which for teams like Cronulla must be good in attracting sponsorship money, as well as getting 2 games which may attract 12K each at most, into potentially a much more improved atmosphere which such a large crowd (I'm thinking 30K at a min). Not to mention it's not hard to get combinations of teams which fit together to be involved in these doubleheader games, Penrith and Parra, Bulldogs and Souths, Tigers and Roosters, Manly and Cronulla who could give up one game a season to be involved in a double header like this, and the game itself will benefit with larger crowds, and hopefully more people signing up to be part of the action. Another benefit is if the NRL does move to a fixed scheduling draw, TV exec's would have some control over which game to show first on a Friday night, or if scheduled on a Sunday, which one to show on the day (and thus the order of games), which then allows a little flexibility that wouldn't exist otherwise.