The AFL in its wisdom decided to risk playing a high-profile game on a cold Sunday night and see what the response was like.
The turnout? Not particularly great. A crowd of 40,000 turned up for the match, which was below average according to Eddie McGuire. What does this all mean?
Much has already been said on this topic, but I thought I would wade in with my two cents, even though I don’t know a lot about AFL. But my knowledge of other sports gives me an opinion on the crowds and ratings debate.
State of Origin is soon to be played at the MCG, Super Rugby is expanding to Argentina and Japan and cricket has announced a day-night test to be played next year. Australian sports at the moment are in experimental mode as they battle for the viewer dollars, whether on TV or at the ground.
I think it is a classic battle between differing priorities. There are many stakeholders in the game – the fans, the players, the clubs, the AFL, the broadcasters and others I can’t think of right now.
It is the relationships between these priorities that define how the game will be played and viewed.
Imagine you have a choice to grow the game or to consolidate it. An ‘attendance’ system would see the biggest clubs play each other in the biggest venues at the highest attended timeslot – and crowd figures would probably be very high.
A ‘growth’ approach would allocate clubs, times and venues with the objective of ensuring every club received the fairest of time-slots and venues to ensure fair remuneration. There are advantages and disadvantages with both and the competing objectives can leave us stuck in the middle sometimes. Luckily the designers at AFL HQ are pretty smart chaps and take into account both ‘attendance’ and ‘growth’ into the draw.
But where does that leave us on the Carlton-Collingwood match last Sunday? Compare the 40,000 that attended the Carlton-Collingwood match with the 28,500 that attended the St Kilda Richmond game the previous day. By reversing those two matches it is not a far stretch to assume that those 28,500 fans could have been made up through ticket sales for the Saturday afternoon Carlton versus Collingwood and thus ‘better’ for the AFL if only one lonely spectator had turned up on Sunday.
Certainly not better for St Kilda and Richmond, but overall the numbers attending AFL matches that weekend would have been higher – once again assuming the crystal ball was right.
What was the thinking behind that decision? Probably the growth side of the model, you take a small hit here to encourage the growth of the game, a calculated risk to get a foothold in the door of Sunday night sport. If the AFL can retrain the way we enjoy the sport they stand to make more money.
However, did it work? The result was neither particularly encouraging nor discouraging. A crowd of 40,000 is a good number for a cold Sunday night, but poor considering historical figures. The crowd was not bad for an unimportant game in the grand scheme of ladder position, but not very good for a traditional local derby.
Without TV figures it is hard to say conclusively, but if I was a consultant to the AFL, I would definitely recommend having another go and hope for a warmer night.
MJ
Guest
Usually the AFL schedules a game in Perth that is definitively a night fixture either on Easter or ANZAC (depending on when April 24 is) for Sunday night, but they usually are also Fox games rather than FTA affairs.
Milo
Guest
Rich & NM played on Sun night b4 Queens Bday Monday. There was a twilight match on Easter Sunday with WB V Carl. Neither had massive crowds but given form probably about right. The point here is that there is no public holiday (only school hols) and its not working. There has also been about 15 matches this year in total played at twilight or night without pub holidays next day and none has been a resounding success. The Carl Coll match is the final nail in the coffin and proves the concept isnt being accepted by the general punter.
Andrew Kennard
Roar Pro
Thanks Jacques, when I said they were pretty smart chaps, it was meant in that it is the most successful sport in Australia, so they must be doing something right. Out of interest how does the pricing work at the MCG? Your comment on blockbuster games leads me to think they are more expensive than a bottom of the table clash - just seeking some clarification.
Andrew Kennard
Roar Pro
Andrew Kennard
Roar Pro
Follow up question, when there is a public holiday on a Monday, do they play a night game on the sunday?
Jacques of Lilydale
Guest
Well thankfully you're not a consultant to the AFL Andrew. Enough damage has been done to the fabric of the game tis year in its heartland. Supporters are staying away, voting with their feet. They can crow all they like about TV ratings, growth modelling, bringing it in to line with US style timeslots and telecasts. This is not the US, its Australia and the implementation of variable ticketing etc etc has started to disenfranchise the average supporter who support their club through memberships. A membership ticket commitment is not enough any more for the AFL, they want a lot more and in their greed for the dollar have seriously compromised their brand to the very crowd they need support from. I as a club member, refuse to go these so called blockbuster games anymore as its a pain in the ars. to purchase tickets on line, pay a 2% ticketing credit card levy and a $6.00 booking fee on top of the ticket price and I'm already a member who has paid up front in good faith. ""The designers at AFL HQ are pretty smart chaps"? give me a break Andrew. You're right, you dont know much about AFL and obviously never attend any games and dont financially support .a club. Thanks for your input, its an insight in to the thinking on how AFL HQ have hijacked the game.
Olivia Watts
Roar Guru
Andrew, kudos for an excellently written article. Whilst I have no doubt that the weather played a significant part in the low crowd, I feel that Sunday night football is, simply, not as demographically attractive to families as other time slots are. For most folk the working week begins on a Monday and weekends are the time of maximum inter-familial interaction. This means the social usage of Sunday is most often the time of 'last rest' before work begins again; a time (in the mythical 'perfect world' at least) of relative quietude where homework is done, uniforms and work clothes prepared and some last family togetherness experienced in a welcoming, comfortable and stress free environment attained. I doubt many families wish to disrupt this time battling traffic, weather, expense, tired children and the like, and then still have to go home to homework, uniforms et al., when they can enjoy the game on television and avoid the negative aspects. It would be fascinating to see a demographic breakdown of the crowd and discover what percentage of attendees were families with young children. I would imagine the ratio would be far lower than at, for example a Friday night or Saturday game. No doubt the Sunday night television ratings were pleasing to the AFL but I would think that the greatly reduced direct income stream at the gate impressed no one. You are right in saying that it is necessary for us to explore all these possibilities in the interest of keeping our great game dynamic. This move, though, has proven itself a failure. It has been tried, did not succeed and has now been discontinued. That is how things are done, in life and in business, and the criticisms of Mr McGwire and the Collingwood faithful neither alter the result of the experiment nor make the experiment one which should not have been tried. The Pies get a gilt edged gift each year with the ANZAC Day game; the lack of a huge pay day this time is disappointing for them but let's be realistic about this - had it been a raging success they would not be offering to give money back to the AFL to spread the largesse to other clubs. Some you win, some you lose. On this occasion they lost - tough luck Pies, now suck it up, stop whinging and move on like big boys.
Milo
Guest
Not sure about the comparison with Richmond StKilda. Last year at 4.40pm on a Sunday twilight/night they drew 52000 at the G. 7pm is just getting to the too late stage of the weekend regardless of school holidays - most parents still have to go to work. If the time slot was ever going to work, this was the game that would do it. Sure, weather contributed, and Carlton has been down, but these two teams shouldve pulled at least 55000 even with those factors. It doesnt work for now, move on. Thursday on the other hand has worked. Play a few more of those next season and I think we're on a winner.