In this second part of NRL survey results, we look at the experience, choices and treatment of NRL venues.
The NRL did cop a bit of flak over prices earlier this year (mainly regarding the State Of Origin competition though) so let’s see how you, the public, want the prices for NRL games. This question was answered by both NRL and non-NRL followers – though the latter had a slight difference in the questioning regarding venue entry.
| Good/Service | NRL Followers | Non-NRL Followers |
| Venue Entry – Regular Season | $10-$20 | $20-$50 |
| Venue Entry – Finals | $20-$50 | |
| Venue Entry – Grand Final | $50-$100 | |
| Food | $5-$10 | $5-$10 |
| Drink | $2-$5 | $2-$10 |
| Merchandise | $20-$50 | $20-$50 |
| Public Transport (4-30km Journeys) | Free | $2-$10 |
| Petrol Price Per Litre | $1-$2 | $1-$2 |
Recommendation
14. Adjust prices to games to reflect the ‘NRL Followers’ column of the table above if currently not like that.
The rest of the questions are answered by NRL followers only. So what do you expect at a game venue? Well here is what you thought from very not important to very important.
Very Not Important
• Gambling facilities
• Personal television at your seat
• Coolers/fridges near your seat
• Pay wi-fi
• Cheerleaders
• Music (recorded music played through loudspeakers)
• Grassed seating areas
Neutral Importance (in the brackets is the next best option)
• Advertising (Very Not Important)
• Post-match presentations (Slightly Important)
• Drink holders on seats (Slightly Important)
• Corporate boxes (Slightly Important)
• Field access after game (Slightly Important)
• Wi-Fi access (Without Fee) (Slightly Important)
• Quality pre/half-time entertainment (i.e. live music etc.) (Slightly Important)
Slightly Important
• Meet and greet with players
• Merchandise stands
• Alcohol
• Communication of other results
Important
• Big screen
• Near-capacity crowd
• Affordable food
• If club member, special exclusive features of membership
• Good lighting
• Chaired seating areas
• Good sport officials (including coaches, trainers etc.) behaviour
• Good player behaviour
• Affordable soft drinks
• Good crowd behaviour (also equally deemed very important)
Very Important
• Appropriate view of field
• Crowd atmosphere
• Affordable ticket price
• Scoreboard
• Adequate toilets
Recommendations
15. Do not add anything new from the list above to the venue experience if anything more important in the list above is not satisfied according to the fans.
16. Adjust the venue experience to better reflect the list above providing you follow Recommendation 15.
In the survey, we listed some of the Sydney stadium policy choices of the NSW Government and added a few alternatives. This is how you ranked them in priority.
1. Parramatta Stadium upgrade
2. Stadium Australia upgrade
3. Sydney Football Stadium upgrade
4. New outer western Sydney sporting venue
5. Other suburban grounds upgrade
6. Other suburban grounds replacement
7. Sydney Football Stadium replacement
8. Sydney Cricket Ground upgrade
9. No changes – retain the status quo
Clearly, everything is not fine with Sydney’s stadiums according to that ranking so they do need fixing, but most people prefer to see a SFS upgrade prioritised over a replacement SFS which would have a greater capacity.
Recommendations
17. Continue with the Parramatta Stadium upgrade as your first stadium project then upgrade Stadium Australia.
18. Do not demolish SFS. Once the above is complete, have SFS upgraded instead then build the new outer western Sydney venue.
19. Once the above is complete, upgrade or replace other suburban grounds as required if necessary/wanted then upgrade the SCG.
Given a lot of games (30 in 2015) are being played at Stadium Australia – a stadium criticised for being more than half-empty during games, hard to get to and too far from the true home grounds – we asked which teams did you consider Stadium Australia to be their home ground?
The most popular choices were Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (79%) and South Sydney Rabbitohs (57%). Yes, 79 plus 57 does not equal 100 but this question allowed multiple choices so both these teams were chosen by over 50 per cent of the survey respondents. In 2015, the home teams were the two previously mentioned teams as well as Parramatta Eels, St George-Illawarra Dragons andamp; Wests Tigers.
Recommendations
20. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and South Sydney Rabbitohs should be the only NRL tenants for regular season games at Stadium Australia.
21. St George-Illawarra Dragons should play 50 per cent of games at Jubilee Oval and the other 50 per cent at Wollongong Showground alternating every home round.
22. Wests Tigers should play 50 per cent of games at Leichhardt Oval andamp; the other 50 per cent at Campbelltown Stadium alternating every home round.
23. Parramatta Eels should play all home games at Parramatta Stadium.
But what about the big one – the grand final? Where should the home of that be? Especially after this year’s grand final when two Queensland teams made it? Well the most popular choice was Stadium Australia (68%) so that settles that.
Recommendation
24. The grand final should be held at Stadium Australia.
So fans like to be at Stadium Australia for the grand final, but what about the rest of the season? Well, not really. We asked whether you preferred to watch NRL games at suburban grounds or the two major stadiums of Sydney. Suburban grounds were the fans’ choice (57%) compared with the two major stadiums (43%). Out of that 43 per cent, 61 per cent preferred to be at SFS than Stadium Australia.
Recommendations
25. Host games in this order of choice – suburban grounds then SFS then Stadium Australia.
26. Stadium Australia should only be used if average attendances warrant the use of that stadium and feature Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (the latter condition regular season only). South Sydney Rabbitohs home games are exempt though as this is currently their only stadium but they should target an increase of 114 per cent (about 22,000 people) in average attendance on the 2015 season as soon as possible so Stadium Australia is roughly half full during all their home games. If this is too high a target, best to move to a ground in South Sydney with a capacity of 20,000.
27. SFS should only be used by teams in the surrounding area if average attendance warrants the use of that stadium. Sydney Roosters home games are exempt though as this is currently their only stadium but they should target an increase of 27 per cent (about 5000 people) in average attendance on the 2015 season quickly so SFS is roughly half full during all their home games.
Again, thank you all for your time and patience in completing the survey! I hope you found this article insightful too. In the next part, we look at the broadcasting as well as the timing during the day of the NRL games.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The season is heading into its middle third and there is a clear separation between seven teams who all look playoff bound and the…
Nicho Hynes has not quite made an undeniable case to be Nathan Cleary’s halves partner for NSW but he should be the first five-eighth…
The Sharks halfback backed it up with a try from a few seconds later, through some more tired Canberra defenders.
There is only one Kalyn Ponga but Newcastle have shown they won’t be shot ducks while their Dally M Medal winner is out with…
The Sharks were scoring plenty of points, but equally impressive was their defence - stopping this near certainty!
After the Raiders hooker bombed a near-certain try, Sione Katoa scored at the other end of the field in a 12-point turnaround.
