NRC Crowd Watch

[swingpass]

so last year the rising were getting greater than 2K to the home games at AAMI, yesterday about 500 at Ashwood according to the report. The ground hire cost issues aside, this does not bode well for the future games especially Morewell. i went to all the games last year with non rugby mates who all enjoyed the day out and asked about this year. Neither i, nor my friends are likely to get to ANY game this year, perhaps i'll go down to Geelong if its a nice day. the sentiment behind taking Rugby to the people is fine but the core constituents live in suburban Melbourne and need easy access to the ground. i think the Rising may have shot themselves in the foot.

 

[RebelYell]

so last year the rising were getting greater than 2K to the home games at AAMI, yesterday about 500 at Ashwood according to the report. The ground hire cost issues aside, this does not bode well for the future games especially Morewell. i went to all the games last year with non rugby mates who all enjoyed the day out and asked about this year. Neither i, nor my friends are likely to get to ANY game this year, perhaps i'll go down to Geelong if its a nice day. the sentiment behind taking Rugby to the people is fine but the core constituents live in suburban Melbourne and need easy access to the ground. i think the Rising may have shot themselves in the foot.

The cost of playing at AAMI Park was unsustainable. It wasn't a realistic option, as the Melbourne Rising remain owned by the VRU (were not part of the takeover of Rebels by Imperium).

Closer to 1000 yesterday if you include comp tickets, and definitely didn't average 2k at AAMI last year. Morwell & Frankston City Councils have also incentivised Rising to play games in their community; crucial funds for communtiy Rugby

 

[swingpass]

pete i do really understand the economics, but the g&g report is 500, the rising website is 750, which is still short of the numbers from last year. i still think that a single central venue would have been better. the average crowd last year was about 2k

 

[TOCC]

The cost of playing at AAMI Park was unsustainable. It wasn't a realistic option, as the Melbourne Rising remain owned by the VRU (were not part of the takeover of Rebels by Imperium).

Closer to 1000 yesterday if you include comp tickets, and definitely didn't average 2k at AAMI last year. Morwell & Frankston City Councils have also incentivised Rising to play games in their community; crucial funds for communtiy Rugby

That's interesting, I just assumed the Rising were part of the Rebels takeover.. The Rebels are still stakeholders in the Rising though aren't they? Given that the Rebels provide the super rugby players and coaching staff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[swingpass]

according to TOCC
last year first three Rising home games
2187
2096
1977
i'd say thats close to 2K /game

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

Not sure if this belongs here but I have been to 3 games so far this year,
Merrylands for Rams vs Eagles - I have a season ticket so costs me $10 a game, draft beer and great food available, everyone welcome and a nice atmosphere on a beautiful day
Yesterday at Woolhara Oval for Eagles vs Vikings - $15 to get in, beautiful day, good draft beer and those smoked BBQ brisket burgers were worth the admission alone, again all welcome and a nice atmosphere
Thursday at Leichhardt Oval - costs $25 for a seat in the stand, worst food and drink available at any ground in the NRC I would guess, threat of rain never far away, atmosphere was a bit "look at us" and I heard come on Uni more than once
2 of the 3 games had healthy crowds for the venues and the other was a joke...

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Bit of misleading info here...$25 for seat in main stadium for stars....$15 for general admission where given leichardt oval means lot of quality seats compared to most of the community based grounds

Food and drink are fine for a footy game...nothing wrong with venue - the crowds are due to a poor business model as leichardt oval great oval to watch rugby...and $15 for general admission ticket good value....

Problems with business model re: one shute shield club only linked to Stars with Uni

But keep it real and stop the BS as leichardt oval best NRC ground been to watch a rugby game given now been to Manly oval and woollahara last 2 games which are nothing in comparison to quality of venues (seating etc)

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

I don't think I said leichardt oval wasn't a good stadium?

But

$25 for a seat in stand as I said
Wests have a premium price for these however if you go to a nsw cup game you don't it all same price as was the FFA cup game a few weeks ago ($10)

Food is awful it's passable for a large crowd venue however when only a few hundred people it's not

 

[GunnerDownUnder]

I guess I'm trying to say I felt two grounds catered for and felt like a community was involved the other didn't
Also one was on a wet-ish almost night and two in perfect days sunshine

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I think the bigger problem is gunner is they are catering to a very small community - as affiliation to one club won't cut it as starting point to build crowds....

And reaction in local area I have heard when mention NRC is people see / hear small crowds and not immediately attracted.....

Starting point is near some sort of target market like other clubs have had to start to build a crowd of sufficient size....

Stadium seating - well is that big issue as smaller stadium seating available as general admission and plenty of seats around the ground and if compare to Woollahara oval they don't have any stadium seating so not sure that such a big issue as plenty of seating for $15

The food is standard fare and yes no community events organised as at this point would probably be wasted as not got the right local connections (one shute shield club - whilst Balmain subbies too irrelevant) so not getting the crowds...

I reckon this will be last season for Stars in their present form as one of the NRC club models that was always wrong......

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I kinda get the Rising decision to play games around the regions as this is about promoting rugby beyond just Melbourne and NRC vehicle to do it...

And as people pointed out costs of playing games in AAMI for what will be much smaller crowds does not stack up....Rebels do good job of growing Melbourne Market so if Rising can promote rugby out in regions makes some sense to me...

Move to smaller grounds by most NRC clubs this season makes a lot of sense commercially as being in big stadium with small number of fans does not do much for atmosphere...

Hopefully in years to come they can justify moving to bigger stadiums for big matches but that seems a long way off time wise from here

 

[TOCC]

You can also understand why the North Harbour Rays moved from Brookvale Oval as well, ground hire fees and associated costs vary region to region and also fluctuate based on the expected crowd, but this will give you a rough idea of the cost in hosting a match:

Before kick-off in each match, Manly Sea Eagles have to outlay a whopping $45,000 for the ground hire fee from Warringah Council, plus ticketing fees ($20,000), security and staff ($30,000), screen hire, entertainment, production ($20,000) and cleaning ($10,000).

I remember reading that AAMI Park was costing MCFC around $65'000 a match for ground hire, I think NIB Stadium in Perth is actually the worst. I can't remember the actual figures but it was close to $100'000 on ground hire alone.

Whilst the move to suburban grounds has impacted on crowds, it will also reduce the match day expenses and overheads meaning the clubs will probably pull a bigger profit from the game then they would have if it were still at the bigger stadiums.

 

[Teh Other Dave]

Also, let's be honest, Brookvale is out of the way for anyone not in Warringah or Dee Why. (The internet was designed for punters like me to give my two bob's worth).

For the Perth folks - do the club finals get a decent turn out since moving them to McGillivray? And will Rugby WA be using the stadium on the other side of Challenge Stadium any time soon?

 

[Train Without a Station]

Lakeside Stadium would have been absolutely perfect for the Rising. Just a short stroll from domain interchange, or you can catch the Clarendon street tram from the city directly to it. Quality stadium, not too big. Unfortunately I believe South Melbourne FC have exclusive rights. If I was the Rising though, I'd be pushing very hard to get access there. Being only something like 2km from AAMI it should appeal to all the punters that like AAMI, and the Clarendon street pubs offer the same pre and post game appeal as swan street.

 

[RebelYell]

Lakeside Stadium would have been absolutely perfect for the Rising. Just a short stroll from domain interchange, or you can catch the Clarendon street tram from the city directly to it. Quality stadium, not too big. Unfortunately I believe South Melbourne FC have exclusive rights. If I was the Rising though, I'd be pushing very hard to get access there. Being only something like 2km from AAMI it should appeal to all the punters that like AAMI, and the Clarendon street pubs offer the same pre and post game appeal as swan street.

The length of the field is too short - the in-goal would have to be drop in astro turf. Was deemed too dangerous

 

[TOCC]

NRC 2015

Rd 1
BRI vs PER: 2698
NHR vs SYD: 2000
GSR vs NSW: 1200
QLD vs MEL: 1700

Rd 2
SYD vs QLD: 500?
MEL vs BRI: 750
NSW vs CAN: 2'500
PER vs NHR: 2000?

 

[TOCC]

ARC 2007 average crowds:
Rd 1: 3'508
Rd 2: 4'144
Rd 3: 2'253
Rd 4: 1'921
Rd 5: 2'716
Rd 6: 2'887
Rd 7: 1'837
Rd 8: 1'674
SF: 1'664
GF: 1'189

ARC average crowds by city:
North Sydney: 2'657
Perth: 3'895
Canberra: 3'442
Gold Coast: 1'428
Central Coast: 2'050
Melbourne: 3'304
Ballymore: 2'433
Parramatta: 1'776


ARC in the first few rounds had a lot of interest but it faded quickly, in the last few rounds there were a few teams who didn't even report crowd figures, which would have dropped the average crowds even lower.

 

[Bring Back The Ruck]

Thursday night crowds will be hit and miss, I went last Thursday but I cant see me making it to Manly this week.
Stars game this Saturday will be a good indication of how they are going for numbers.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Just watched the Rising vs BRC game - noticing played in heavy rain which would have kept fans away but looked ok crowd on the live stream.....esp considering the wet weather and getting rugby out in the suburbs not a bad thing for Melbourne

 

[kiap]

Why no games at Concord this year? Thought Greater Sydney might at least play one game there, a ground with great tradition as well as decent facilities. Anyone have a reason why?

I think there is - Rd 8 v Spirit @ Concord