NRC Crowd Watch

[scaraby]

I'm sure more people would have loved it a little bit later so that it could have fitted in with something that has been a fairly integral part of Melbourne sport for a bit longer than NRC. I presume we are trying to win over fans at a time when there is no other oval shaped football on. Just think that there was a complimentary time slot that could have been used during daylight savings...5.30? 6.00pm?

 

[Highlander35]

Fox don't need a Saturday night game. They've got the Asian Champions League Final, the Melbourne Derby (another reason it's not a Sat night in VIC) and the Test v Pakistan.

At 5ish , they have the ITM Cup final, The Test
and another A League game.

There's only room on the Fox Schedule for 1 Sat game. Its more than fair that the top placed side gets it, especially since Melbourne has had only 1 afternoon game this year, with 8 Friday night's, 2 Thursday Nights, 1 Saturday evening and a Saturday Night test.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I'm sure more people would have loved it a little bit later so that it could have fitted in with something that has been a fairly integral part of Melbourne sport for a bit longer than NRC. I presume we are trying to win over fans at a time when there is no other oval shaped football on. Just think that there was a complimentary time slot that could have been used during daylight savings.5.30? 6.00pm?

Where does it stop? The Cox Plate is an integral part of Melbourne Sport? What about the Caulfiend Cup? What about Derby Day? What about the Melbourne Cup? What about Oaks and Stakes Day?

Just to be safe let's not schedule any games October through to November.

Let's cut out September too. AFL's on. No point talk about December either. We've got cricket then.

You are always going to clash with something. The fact is, almost anybody interested in the Rising game likely would have gone to that on Friday and hung around Swan St after instead of going to the Cox Plate?

Why? Because there's a racing event on ever weekend right now.

Would you call the AFL foolish for scheduling a game the same day as teh Sydney Cup?

 

[scaraby]

Nice rant i'll leave now if you want to dial up the aggression..The afl would have their game after the Sydney cup or before a big Waratahs game but please don't let me stop you. There is a few nice time slots after the race meetings or as you so forcefully put on a Friday night before hand. Seriously what was that about....

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Just watched replay of SF of NSW Country vs City.....hardly anyone at the ground but was that really surprising given scheduled game at Central Coast where had no NRC games to date...low profile....and on 7.30pm Friday night time slot with next to no marketing of the game..

Stephen Hoiles was interviewed and said NRC basically great with law changes etc but need to fix a few things and in paritcular would have liked a few more people at the ground (understatement).

Think ARU recently appointed someone who will be looking after NRC....needs to focus on how to grow game commercially and build crowds and audience numbers.

Problem with country teams is they have no set home base so hard to build a supporter base around this when playing all around regional NSW and QLD. I am not sure about viability of country teams playing across regional areas in terms of building fan base and getting decent crowds....

Given crowds for inaugural season with next to no marketing I guess have to be realistic that could not have expected much more - hoping with bit better marketing assistance from ARU, Super Rugby Franchises etc....and broadcaster (FOX) that can see 50% increase next season in crowd attendance. Note this still means crowds are probably not financially viable but also being realistic that will take time to grow interest and develop commercial model and get more bums on seats....

So for me like to see steady progress and head in right direction...probably a few things to tweak about the product in terms of teams etc...but for a hastily put together competition not been all bad and something to build on.

Getting Fox to continue to broadcast games and support the game will be critical. Catch 22 as to get Fox to broadcast more games they need to get more interest and bums on seats at games as seeing games broadcast with empty stadiums does not add to appeal / vibe.

 

[Ash]

ARU will need to do a good deal with Fox, because if I was Fox I would be extremely disappointed with the ARU's marketing of the NRC. It definitely cost a lot of viewers for Fox, and probably has damaged the ARU's broadcast revenue for next year.

 

[Jamie]

M

Just watched replay of SF of NSW Country vs City...hardly anyone at the ground but was that really surprising given scheduled game at Central Coast where had no NRC games to date.low profile..and on 7.30pm Friday night time slot with next to no marketing of the game..

Stephen Hoiles was interviewed and said NRC basically great with law changes etc but need to fix a few things and in paritcular would have liked a few more people at the ground (understatement).

Think ARU recently appointed someone who will be looking after NRC..needs to focus on how to grow game commercially and build crowds and audience numbers.

Problem with country teams is they have no set home base so hard to build a supporter base around this when playing all around regional NSW and QLD. I am not sure about viability of country teams playing across regional areas in terms of building fan base and getting decent crowds..

Given crowds for inaugural season with next to no marketing I guess have to be realistic that could not have expected much more - hoping with bit better marketing assistance from ARU, Super Rugby Franchises etc..and broadcaster (FOX) that can see 50% increase next season in crowd attendance. Note this still means crowds are probably not financially viable but also being realistic that will take time to grow interest and develop commercial model and get more bums on seats..

So for me like to see steady progress and head in right direction.probably a few things to tweak about the product in terms of teams etc.but for a hastily put together competition not been all bad and something to build on.

Getting Fox to continue to broadcast games and support the game will be critical. Catch 22 as to get Fox to broadcast more games they need to get more interest and bums on seats at games as seeing games broadcast with empty stadiums does not add to appeal / vibe.

My thoughts exactly Country teams need to establish a fan base before taking games to other venues. Why Gosford is beyond me, and I'm not saying that they should not take games there but a semifinal on your first year?!

 

[Highlander35]

It's disappointing, especially since there's been a number of great games both on Fox, like the Stars win last week, and the Semi final, and off of fox, the biggest one probably being Rams v Rising, and the top of table clash, Eagles v Rising.

If it dies, I will be ridiculously disappointed.

 

[Ruggo]

We need to not play 1 semi on a friday night at central coast when everyone has kids sport on saturday and the home team's supporters have probably anywhere between 2 and 8 hours drive to get there. We need to play the other one not during a major race meeting in the racing capital of Australia. I know play the Melb game on friday night and the country game on Saturday arvo??? Is Homer Simpson scheduling these games?????? Doh!!!

Will the crowd justify the expense of running the lights? It's absolute madness.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Yep if NRC dies Highlander I too will be gutted as seen some highly enjoyable games live and on fox....I am gutted when I see such great games but lack of bums on seats.....need to get some decent marketing around it as I can see such great potential with the product on offer

 

[BellyTwoBlues]

ARU's marketing of the NRC.

spot on Ash. Quite simply, there was no marketing of the NRC by ARU. And they had their opportunities.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

What I would like to know from ARU is what marketing they are going to do next year for NRC in what will be world cup year....given they did ZERO, ZIP, NIL marketing for launch of the inaugural NRC.≥....

I am okay with reasons why they might not have this year....but please next year...no excuses.....

 

[wamberal]

Some of the marketing needs to be done by the clubs. Eastwood did inform their members in newsletters about the Rams games, for example.

ALL rugby stakeholders need to step up and do their bit. The grassroots is where the NRC needs to grow from, the existing base of rugby tragics, if they cannot be bothered following their local team, who else will?

 

[qwerty51]

It's hard to blame the ARU for a lack of marketing, the reason this comp failed in the past was for bleeding money. It's understandable they want to do it very low budget. As stated before, expect more in the 2nd season, this year was basically a trial run.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Like I said qwerty51 I understand reasons why no marketing this year..now sorted out trial run looking for more support from ARU in second season.....I think Bill Pulver and key ARU Management see the potential here based on comments from Bill so far.....

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I agree marketing needs to be done at all levels...clubs, super rugby and wallaby and ARU level......

Needs to be supported at all levels and vice versa help cross promote rugby in general (at all levels)

 

[boyo]

More bums on seats = more gate revenue = more food/beverage revenue = better for the NRC clubs.

It's not rocket surgery.

 

[Ash]

Anyone got the Foxtel ratings for the semi finals?

 

[Crashy]

Both games did not make the top 20. So on Friday night, that means less than 42k and on Sat, 50k. Hopefully the figures arent too much lower and surely you would expect Sat night's game to get in the top 20.....
Saying that, the Melbourne 'derby' in the A league only attracted 87k.

 

[Scoey]

The two QLD teams were marketed quite well I thought given the QRU's obviously limited budget. Great content across all social media platforms, emails, videos & streaming. Not sure how much made it out into the non-rugby community but in terms of engaging the fans and building interest in the NRC I think they did exceptionally well.