A certain news article recently caused a minor stir by putting the spotlight on the all-time record attendance for an NBL game in Sydney and comparing it to the Big Blue at Kogarah.
As it turns out, the NBL match did get the bigger crowd – but not by much.
The crowd at the NBL game between the Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks, the only two teams in New South Wales, reached an impressive 17,541 in Homebush.
The crowd for the Big Blue in Kogarah of 16,116 however was fairly ordinary for such a significant fixture. A Big Blue crowd of that size isn’t good, but when you look at attendances across the league not all of it is bad news.
Five teams have average attendances over 10,000, with Victory in first place at 21,658 followed by the Wanderers on 17,976 since returning to Wanderland. After that you have Sydney FC with 13,054 then Brisbane Roar at 11,123 and in fifth it’s Adelaide United on 10,176.
It’s also worth pointing out that the Roar’s average was only just below the 11,497 four-day average at the Gabba for the Test match against Pakistan.
Below these you have Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets with 8,906 and 8,469 respectively, both figures being just under the magic ten thousand figure.
Then at the lower end you start to hit the main culprits. Wellington Phoenix are averaging 7,033 at the Cake Tin, which is just a terrible stadium and the Mariners figure of 6,586 is highly predictable.
But the biggest area of concern is with the Melbourne clubs.
All three sides have their own problems. Victory have just one win from seven matches, City still have ongoing problems with their lack of geographic identity and Western United are playing at two oval stadiums outside of their main support base in Western Melbourne which is home to 700,000 people.
The attendance for the derby between Victory and City was the highest attended match this season but was still a bit down on previous years. At the same time the lowest attendance of the season for a single match is held by Western United.
It may be that the addition of Western United has diluted attendances in Melbourne as some fans of Victory and City have drifted towards them and this has reduced the overall league average.
League leaders Melbourne City have the second lowest average attendance with just 6,462 per match while Western United have the lowest in the league with 6,044 per match.
It doesn’t help make the case for a fourth Melbourne team or a second in Brisbane and it’ll be interesting to see if this pattern is repeated in Sydney next season with the entry of Macarthur FC.
If you only look at the overall league average of 11,134 then things do look bad, but when you break it down club by club then it isn’t as bad as it first seems. You still have five teams getting over 10,000 each match and another two are just under.
The remaining four teams are Wellington Phoenix, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne City and Western United and their poor attendance results shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The A-League has struggled to attract crowds – particularly some clubs. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
With a number of potential remedies to improve attendances already out there, it should be possible to get numbers back up again with a bit of effort. If they can somehow be brought back up to the record 15,348 figure of the 2007-08 season, then it could even close in on the NRL which had an average attendance of 15,804 last year.
As for viewership, there’s also been a bit of news there too.
It’s been reported that A-League matches are getting 53,000 viewers per match on the ABC, which is up by 50 per cent compared to Ten Bold last season.
Figures on Fox Sports however have fallen off a cliff, down by 24 per cent to just 39,000 per match. This brings the combined figures to 92,000 between them.
But the main news was about online streaming. According to a report commissioned by the A-League clubs, Kayo and the Telstra MyFootball app have a reach of 100,000 – 150,000 per match which when combined with the TV figures brings the total to 192,000 – which makes 242,000 per match.
When the story about the NBL first came out it may have ruffled a few feathers and got a reaction but attendances for the A-League aren’t really that terrible, just a bit underwhelming. The bigger concern is what Fox Sports will do at the next TV deal.
Going on current figures I doubt they’ll put up the same money again, but with the strong uptake in online streaming maybe we’ll see someone like Optus pop up and put in a good offer.
A-League attendances might be down 3.5 per cent on last season, but I don’t think that they are bad enough to start worrying about competition from the NBL.
There’s no cause for alarm.
Post_hoc
Roar Rookie
really< How would they know if they weren't always here?
deucer
Roar Rookie
Wow - think you should stop there after that clanger, Craigo. The original discussion was interesting - I think all codes have declined in attendance - the AFL have been able to disguise their fall due to 2 new stadiums being built. But to try highlight the NRL figures aren't in decline by trying to say the Swans attendance is poor is really head scratching - if those figures are poor, even by AFL standards, what does that say for the NRL, A league or RU figures!!
clipper
Roar Rookie
How can A-League ratings have halved in 20 years when the A-League started in 2005 - it didn't exist 20 years ago. From when it started to now, the average is about the same. There was a high average of 14k, but to say they have almost halved is not even close to being correct.
The Joy Of X
Roar Rookie
@nemesis You haven't addressed most of the issues in my 2 posts on 27.11. Also, in the Kayo link below, where Kayo gives detailed viewing figures, the A League is not even mentioned- this indicates that Kayo A League numbers are poor. (1 AFL Kayo game had about 130,000 viewers, some are around 100,000- & and some NRL games have about 70,000. These are Kayo's biggest sports, along with cricket). When Kayo began its Summer Of Sport advertising, specifically mentioning numerous sports, the A League was again not mentioned. This also indicates A League numbers are poor. https://media.kayosports.com.au/media-release/aussies-cant-get-enough-sport-on-kayo/?irgwc=1&extcamp=1337429-aff-imp-lnk-acq-gen-mti&channel=8808&marketing=impact-1&campaign=lau
Craigo
Guest
More NRL derangement syndrome from you Clipper. Get help Bro. NRL crowds have pretty much stay the same over the last 20 years. Have a look. https://www.austadiums.com/sport/comp.php?sid=2 The A-League and Super Rugby have nearly halved in that time with declining TV rating. As for the Sydney Swans their TV rating are terrible. Going backward by the year in Sydney. NRL is the most watch code on TV in Australia. You have NRL derangement syndrome and I love it.
ac
Guest
I think what happens is the football fans start derided afl or nrl first
clipper
Roar Rookie
To be fair Punter, I was trying to point out how ridiculous his statement was that A league crowds are declining, when NRL crowds are in the same boat - he then went off on a tangent which I shouldn't have continued.
clipper
Roar Rookie
Craigo, whether the AFL would get a similar crowd in Sydney as the NRL has now is drifting way off the subject. You stated that the A league crowds were declining, I just pointed out that the NRL crowds are declining as well. To try and bring the AFL crowds into it doesn't disprove that statement.
Craigo
Guest
9 NRL, 2 AFL. The AFL would get 5,000 a game in Sydney if they had 9 teams
Punter
Roar Rookie
Look the AFL fans & NRL fans fighting in the football tab. This happens when your sport only goes for 6 months anywhere in the world, apart for 2 counties in England for RL.
clipper
Roar Rookie
That's exactly what you're doing, Craigo - you're comparing Sydney crowds with Melbourne crowds - they're quite different. If you think the Swans are failing when sometimes they've had double the average of NRL crowds - what does that say about Sydney NRL crowds!
Craigo
Guest
"Well, you started it " What? are you 5 years old? NRL derangement syndrome big time. Get Help.
Craigo
Guest
You can't compare apples with oranges. The Swans are failing in Sydney compared to the AFL standards in crowds and TV ratings. The Storm are a great success story coming from a nonexistent state in Melbourne compared to the 150 years of AFL in Sydney. Swans are a failure and only get crowds because of expat who live in Sydney and rate near zero on TV in Sydney. Big Fail Bro.
Craigo
Guest
Yes, NRL derangement syndrome. You do have.
Willeh
Guest
There was about 3000 viewers on YouTube for each game last week too
Punter
Roar Rookie
But the NSL had no crowds!!!!
Hermes
Guest
Everyone is crowing about moving back to quaint suburban grounds. But isn't that what the 'old' NSL clubs have?
Hermes
Guest
Western United are about to drop below 6,000 per match. Hard to believe South Melbourne would not have beaten that easily.
Nemesis
Guest
It's not just ALeague clubs who play in stadiums that are too big for the fan base. AFL clubs: Suns, Giants, Kangaroos, Saints, Bulldogs, Demons, Hawks all have average crowds less than 50% the capacity of the home stadium. For Melbourne Demons the average crowd is 28k in a 100k stadium. Even the biggest clubs in Melbourne: Richmond & Collingwood the stadium is 40% empty on average. And, most of these matches are against Melbourne teams so a significant number of the crowd are from the opposition team. Be even lower if they played interstate teams every home match, like A-League clubs: Perth, AUFC, Brisbane. Nix plays a foreign club every home match. I'm sure NRL it's even worse.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yes Evan, it seems disingenuous to criticise that attendance at that suburban stadium, which presumably was fairly close to full!