The NRL is doing great – I am enjoying the games, and my team is doing well so everything is fine. This seems to be the attitude of some rugby league fans.
I draw different conclusions, so I decided to do a bit of research and see just how the game is faring.
The average crowd figures for home-and-away games have fallen by almost 500 per game since 2010. That equates to 4000 people per week.
Even at $10 a ticket, that is $40,000 in revenue a week and over a million bucks per year. Not to mention the secondary income derived from food and beverage sales, increased marketing etc.
TV viewership seems to be the priority of the NRL lately, so hopefully the midseason average has improved. Unfortunately I have found it difficult to come up with these statistics. If anybody does know, I would be fascinated. But according to the data I could find, AFL games rated higher than NRL throughout May and June (not including Origin), at least for homes with pay-TV.
One argument is that the billion dollars received from the TV deal means crowd attendances are meaningless. But this is easily disproven.
Take 2013’s total match attendance of 3,345,248 and multiply it by an average ticket price of $20 and you get $66,904,960. Do the same calculation with AFL’s total crowd attendance and you get $108,976,140. That is without including any of the increased advertising revenue, food and beverage sales, premium tickets, etc.
During this same period of time AFL crowd attendances have also decreased, although this can be partially attributed to the expansion of two new teams into growth areas.
So where are all the sports fans going? Football may be the answer, having increased their average attendance figures by over 3,000 per game since season 2009/10.
One club in the NRL makes a profit. Out of sixteen. Almost every solution to fixing the problem that people come up with is to dilute that one club’s ability to do so. Two to four more clubs can probably pay for themselves. That leaves twelve or so clubs that face the stress each year of having to secure funds from leagues clubs and wealthy backers.
This is not healthy. And it needs to be addressed before there are serious consequences for the teams in trouble.
My fear is that the money from the TV deal has been a band-aid to a very serious health issue for the NRL.
Jay C
Roar Guru
You're right about that fiver I think. No offense to the oldies at all, but I think that one hooked child is alot more valuable than a senior. Commercially. you don't see crack dealers hanging round at nursing homes after all.
fiver
Guest
Old fans will continue to walk away while new younger fans get on board, and while fans of all age groups should be valued and treated equally I would say the NRL would be targeting the younger generations with its cheap marketing and "ugly jerseys".
Poppy
Guest
I think you hit the nail on the head there Kingboy. People would rather surf the web than endure the contrived nonsense served to us each week by NRL officials. The Jersey's are ugly and inconsistent, the telecasts look cheap and largely paid for by the insidious gambling and fast food industries and all along the NRL has forgotten it's core Australian audience in a desperate effort at social engineering on behalf of their desired benefactor, the Federal Government. These issues however are merely cosmetic and disguise a larger issue for sports generally, one that Kingboy touched upon. With a proliferation of Entertainment and more specifically media options people are no longer confined to that which old media once served up. I like many have a new large scale TV and would rather watch a High Definition broadcast of the Tour De France on a cold winter's night. I don't much care for the race so much as the vivid and beautiful scenes that are on display on the new tv and if that doesn't work for me I always have the Apple TV, Chromecast, Fox, Kindle, I view, Roku, a good old fashioned book or a quick half at the Local, etc. Sure some on this thread may question my motive for stressing all of this but I wish to point out that I don't follow football or AFL, i have no agenda, I grew up nuts for Rugby League, Kevin Hastings was my favourite player and never once back then did I question the veracity of the game, I never suspected that games could or would be engineered. As a boy, I loved watching Easts, my local team.I loved watching players that I could relate to. I would wear their colours and dream of being Kevin Hastings throwing a dummy 5 out from the Newtown line and would attend every game, every week, forlornly for the most part. That I don't follow it anymore is not my problem but Rugby League's.
Carcass
Guest
No problems in A-League soccer, they bring in overseas 'stars' to make up for the skill shortages.
Bee bee
Guest
Hilarious. Your Hadley impersonation is priceless. Seriously though. Zane Bojak is twice the caller that Hadley is and would cost half as much. Who runs channel 9 and is he or her or it in need of a concussion time out. Maybe Hadley has dirt on a channel 9 exec and will release the wrath of his looney listeners upon channel 9 if he doesn't get to hang with Wal every Friday.
duecer
Guest
No - clubs can't outline these deals at the start of the season - no one would pay full price and people would put off buying a membership. These deals spring up when tickets aren't selling well or they don't think it will be a big game - it may get more people to the game, but after the reduced price and the deal site taking their cut, it's not really a financial bonanza.
Bakkies
Guest
So the new mentality is to write off stadiums 20 years after they have been built. Canberra Stadium's de-throes have been written 14 years after it was rebuilt in to a proper rectangle stadium. It's a 10 minute free bus ride from the City and it's been criticised for being to far out. Nuts and there isn't a bottomless pit of money to be spending on new stadiums every 20 or so years. The lazy attitude about travelling to stadiums and sitting out in the cold. This isn't America.
AR
Guest
"I like the way the the AFL owns all the clubs it’s almost like a franchise type scenario" That's not right. AFL clubs are not owned by their members, not the AFL.
Rumor
Guest
Okay, not really meaning this to turn into a code war, like I said, don't at all care for the AFL, just thought the topic was about improving league beyond the TV dollars. Can't really say anything with out hearing all about this anti- other code crap.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Yeah. I was joking. In Queensland we have Ray Hadley doing his impression of an idiot every. Single. Friday. It's awesome. He has it down pat. He has this bit where he tries to explain rules that literally EVERYBODY knows. He'll be like, "Well you know what happened there Wal (he calls Lewis Wal because they are chums), What happened there was the player has touched the football, it's travelled forward, made contact with the ground and thats a knock-on for me." Then Lewis will say something completely random and off topic but it's ok because. You know. It's FREAKING WALLY LEWIS. And then Brett Finch is there, so you start to think. NSW gets Peter Sterling, Andrew Johns and Brad Fitler and we get Brett "Who" Finch. Unbloodybelievable.
bbt
Guest
The AFL has to wrestle with some big issues and I think McLachlan turning down the NRL CEO job was the best thing that happened to the NRL. The AFL has a real equalisation issue that is coming back to bite in the heartland of Melbourne. Buddy Franklin was never going to go to the Western Bulldogs!!! The 4 "lower" Melbourne clubs are starting to struggle with crowds and it will soon start affecting membership. Taxing the rich clubs is breeding resentment and biting the bullet re tipping draft choices to the lower ranked Victorian clubs will leave the expansion teams swinging. If the AFL gets all hairy chested about scheduling, Channel 7 have let it be known that they won't be coughing up the same dollars next time around.
Rumor
Guest
Not sure if I got it across, but I'm a league supporter. Obviously a storm supporter now. And in no way trying to compare codes, the AFL problems run deep, but I was picking their high points to bring into league. Talking of Eddie, he has his morning triple M show where he can just dribble for three hours, god awful. I will podcast the previous days grill team to avoid his vomit. About the rep games, I meant state of origin, not, that international obomination, which having plenty of AFL folks around don't even like it themselves. One mate only watched it to see the fights that always broke out. It just a means so they can scout Irish talent.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Well this Friday for Eels v Bulldogs it's $30 for a family ticket til midnight tonight. Again, these deals are all over the place & appear out of no where. Perhaps clubs should bite the bullet and outline these deals at the beginning of season esp those clubs who have 80,000 seats to sell per game i.e ANZ stadium
Jay C
Roar Guru
How dare you come on our page and spout your heathen nonsense. Nahh. You're alright. But the AFL does have its own problems. Collingwood. Eddie Maguire. Magpies. Soccer is the scary one for me. Man. People overseas go nuts for that stuff. With the kicking and the one guy who can grab it, but only when he is inside his little box. And the biting. There seems to be a lot of biting. And the feigning injury. Actually after seeing bird and Thaiday in action this year I think the NRL might be converting to glass housing, so I will have to be careful at whom I throw stones. As for Rep AFL. That was a funny joke right? Because, like, who would play? Melbourne West versus Melbourne North? No. And don't you milk makers play that off round ball abomination with the lucky charm folks pretty all the time.
Rumor
Guest
Well I'm ready for the barrage, I don't like the sport, but I do like a lot about how the AFL is run. I like the way the the AFL owns all the clubs it's almost like a franchise type scenario with the AFL having final say. It would really help clean up these inept owners. I like the salary cap plus draft system they have in place I like the move away from smaller suburban grounds and into bigger grounds all located close the the capital cities CBD's. And I like the watering down of Rep AFL games and a greater emphasis on a truly national game. It feels more streamlined, bearing in mind I'm Melbourne born, some of these points won't fancy with other states supporters.
Jay C
Roar Guru
That sounds about right. I think an education campaign letting people know that it was affordable maybe? Most people have an expectation that it is expensive, and even I have been shocked by the some of the amazing deals. Wasn't there a family of four for thirty bucks last week? I wonder how the exorbitant SOO prices affect peoples perception.
Mals
Guest
Western Sydney does not need a new ground. Upgrade Parramatta stadium & SFS. We already have white elephants like Campbelltown Stadium, WIN Wollongong, Kogarah, Leichhardt etc barely being used by NRL clubs.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Fair cop. There is a LOT of repetition on this site.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
I've never actually been there myself so I can't comment too much, but it is 20 years old and largely uncovered. Perhaps a new stadium would add greater comfort as well as some of the more modern conveniences like wi-fi etc.
Marco
Guest
Broncos advantages?! Do you mean like all the Friday night prime time games exposure. How many Friday nights do the poor old struggling Titans get? The draw is a joke. Everyone knows it but nothing gets done.