Recently on The Roar, Ryan O’Connell interviewed Roosters COO, Ted Helliar, who shockingly revealed what the NRL already knows: ticket prices are not the most important factor when it comes to attendances.
After CEO Dave Smith announced the NRL would be making increased attendances a major priority, critics said he was ignoring the ‘fact’ that high ticket prices were making the game too expensive for fans.
Here’s how Helliar addressed the issue:
“I suppose there is an argument for and against (cutting the cost of tickets). On games that traditionally draw smaller crowds, such as a Monday night, we will drive cheaper ticket offers and incentives… We haven’t seen instant success in slashing ticket prices and seeing an extra 10,000 people turn up.”
But while tickets may be cheaper, fans are quick to point out the high cost of food and drinks.
However, Wests Tigers have recently advertised a promotion offering a general admission ticket, a sausage sandwich and a drink for just $25 for their Friday night clash against the Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval.
Surely at such a competitive price, and at one of rugby league fans’ most celebrated grounds, tickets would be selling out fast.
This is what Tigers General Manager of Commercial Operations, Grant Mayer, had to tweet on Wednesday night:
“Sad to say that ticket sales for @Wests_Tigers game on Friday are shocking. Great pricing, great talent on show, is it just unhappy fans?”
These words say a lot.
In the hours following the tweet, Mayer received a barrage of tweets, each offering a number of reasons for such poor sales with bad weather and poor on-field performances proving the most popular answer.
What is obvious however, is that cheap tickets have not ensured bums on seats for the Tigers, or indeed the Roosters.
This is not to say that the high cost of attending NRL games is irrelevant.
There are many fans, particularly families, who choose to watch the game at home due to the costs involved and who would benefit from lower prices and Melbourne has also experienced recent success with 2 for1 offers on Monday night games.
However, what the NRL has identified (and what is proving to be evident) is that prices, weather and team performance (among others) are all relevant factors when it comes to crowds.
That is what underpins the NRL’s plan: to enhance the experience of going to a game, so that fans feel they are getting better value from attending than they are from watching at home.
This will differ from game to game and will involve a lot of research, trial and error. There won’t be a one-size-fits-all solution, but as long as everyone can get past Smith’s passing reference to jumping castles, I’m sure we’ll see plenty of growth in the future.
AdamS
Roar Guru
Denver has a population of 620,000
Cameron
Roar Guru
It's easier to stay at home and watch rather than go and watch in the wet.
Australian Rules
Guest
Attendances are definitely not shocking. In fact, by international standards they're pretty good. The NRL is in the top 20 for domestic football attendances in the world. It's just that they suffer in comparison to the AFL's, which are abnormally big. Also, the aggregate NRL crowds from 1993-2003 remained static, and from 2003-2012 saw only a small increase. Again by comparison, the AFL crowds had substantial increases throughout both these periods. Could NRL crowds be better? Definitely. But culture and infrastructure need to improve (in that order).
hutch
Guest
Marco, how are attendances shocking? It is the biggest domestic rugby comp on earth and is having its biggest ever season for crowds. Along with the A-league, it is the only sport in Australia that isn't dropping crowds by the thousand!
Von Neumann
Roar Guru
haha international douhble headers. that is using your noggin mate! lol . now over all to me tho jokes aside, for team sports, double headers are a fail. matches should get to the two hour mark by the time all is said and done. immerse people more. price is only one consideration. next tv deal. and of course better grounds. but thats only half the story - there must be 100 things. team performance, its no surprise that the tigers cant get people.
Johnno
Guest
$25 bucks for a dodgy sausage sandwich full of fatty butter and drink lol, a sugary soft drink, what a rip off lol. I could make the same meal at home for $2. Yes $2. Cook one dodgy sausage, how much is that if you buy a pack in bulk, maybe 40c, a bit of olive oil on the fry pan, a bread roll 50c, and a drink that you have bought in bulk like 80c, or just a glass of soft drink out of your 2Litre bottle. Really $25 buck's for that and some ticket to sit on soggy wet grass, with loud people, screaming away spilling beer on you, turn it up. Just stay home watch the game for free, and your sausage and a drink for $2, done. Why go out and pay $25 for an inferior experience. At least I know the sausage sandwich will be not dodgy cooked. And I can be a lazy sydneysider, enjoying the comforts of my indoor loungeroom with the heater on, and comforts of home not sitting out in the purring rain at Leichardt with strong westerly winds, on the wet soggy grass, no thank you.
Damn Straight
Roar Rookie
With some flying pigs in silk hats to complete the fantasy.
Exocet
Guest
League is designed for TV like NFL. I'm not sure of this RL Saints idea of letting crowd keep the balls when they go into crowd. Crowds at other venues will demand the same (or make their own law), there will be fights in the crowd, safety issues - I cant believe Saints only discovered this after seeing baseball recently. It will end in tears...BTW as an ex goalkicker you get used to kicking the one ball and a new one although the same specs is different....
clipper
Guest
so what you're saying is the best product to watch on TV but not the best product to watch live, therefore the reason for the crowd figures.
Exocet
Guest
Mothers Day and the team gets belted every week - perhaps same thing happening to Wests Tigers who are fielding an under 20 team at the mo. Interesting League commentator on Roar today "Rugby league clubs are constantly accused of massaging crowd figures to suit their own purpose. Sometimes you’re left to wonder just how many people are in the bathroom or lining up for a beer and a drink because you swear you can’t see that many in the stands." Consequently you should go easy on the veracity of SFS and SCG numbers as there are many bars from which to watch the game and as I get older this looks more attractive. Warriors and Titans include season ticket holders in numbers even if they dont turn up. On slow days Carlton used to give away freebies at princes park to appease caterers to boost atmosphere so before you start throwing stones, some of it goes on in many places although I think Super league were world champions....
GoGWS
Roar Guru
mate ..they're not even 'free' tickets... not really...not unless signing up to Auskick is free (which it isn't)... and there isn't even very many tickets... 4 tickets for an Auskick family...do you really think there are thousands of people there at each game with these 'free' auskick tickets... mmm... look it's just a little benefit for Auskick families who sign up and pay for their kids to go through and play Auskick... get over it... it's certainly not able to account for anywhere near HALF the crowd... and it ain't confetti... "my relatives get free tickets"... yeah sure they do... Giants are giving away all these free tickets yet strangely enough they somehow still also manage to get 12K signed and paid up members...that's a bit weird isn't it!?... all these paid up members are suckers where all they need to do is get these free confetti tickets.. what bollucks...
Pot Stirrer
Guest
go away with your AFL crap. Seriously if the AFL was that good you wouldnt be getting 5000 suppoertrs to GWS games with only 1 other AFL team in Aust largest stat after the multi millions invested.
Pot Stirrer
Guest
+1
bbt
Guest
My relatives who have kids at school near Toongabbie, have kids enrolled in Auskick - free tickets are given out like confetti even if kids are not playing on the game day. Why not - good marketing.
clipper
Guest
Yes, shot himself in the foot there.
Australian Rules
Guest
I think that is what GoGWS was refrerring to bbt. Half-time at every AFL match features kids playing practice matches on the ground under the banner of "Auskick" - that's what your link refers to. (this is different to the usual Auskick at schools and ovals on weekends) So if a kid is lucky enough to play an Auskick game at the MCG or Skoda on AFL Match Day, he gets free tickets for his parents.
bbt
Guest
http://www.aflauskick.com.au/aflgameday - and that is just the beginning.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
Through Auskick the AFL gives away half the tickets to Giants games!?...c'mon now....Auskick parents don't get free tickets - it's just untrue, though parents of kids playing at the ground (Skoda, SCG or ANZ) get a free ticket to come in and see their son/daughter play...so that accounts for less than 0.1% of the crowd..it's still a mystery to me where all these free tickets are...actually it's not a mystery at all is it..the claim that their are thousands of free tickets is just total BS...why would 12K people sign up and pay for Giants memberships if there were all these free tickets circulating around!? ...they wouldn't... for some weird reason it might comfort some RL supporters to believe that half the Giants fans are there with free tickets but its just nonsense..
Epiquin
Roar Guru
I like the idea of international double headers! Thats using the old noggin. Perhaps a double header in Sydney each week would be a winner!
jonesy
Guest
true, sometimes less is more. addition by subtraction. that's it, i'm outta cliches.