Vlasnik
Kennel Legend
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2011
- Messages
- 10,442
- Reaction score
- 8,181
How can we take NRL games seriously when they play in front of 60,000 empty seats?
by John Hall
Jun 14, 2017Jun 14, 2017
The NRL is the premier competition in the world for the sport of Rugby League, it dominates the battle of the codes all the way from Townsville in North Queensland to the Riverina in Southern New South Wales and then across to New Zealand. NRL has a big impact on the communities in those areas yet we see the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs beat the St George Illawarra Dragons in the middle of a city where interest in the sport is huge, and we have them playing in front of 60,000 empty seats?
Where is the issue?
ANZ Stadium, originally built to be the centerpiece of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 has now become a major base for the NRL. It is often used as the home ground for four Sydney teams, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers. But should we be using this 80,000-seater stadium when we can only get 20,000 League fans through the gates?
Although this is a sight we bear week after week at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, it is also a problem facing the Gold Coast Titans as well. The brand new outfit, only 10 years old on the south-east-Queensland holiday strip, has struggled to develop a strong following while playing out of the 27,000-seater Cbus Super Stadium in Robina. The problem this creates for the Titans is that with such a small following they struggle to fill their seats and that makes the atmosphere at the game suffer and it becomes less appealing for new fans to head down to the games.
What can be done?
Moving teams to smaller grounds can help the problem of the low attendances. Canterbury has Belmore Oval, Parramatta has Parramatta Stadium (once the rebuild is finished), and Wests have both Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium, those Stadiums all have a much lower capacity.
– Belmore has 12,000 seats on one side and a hill on the other that gives them a capacity of just under 20,000.
– Leichhardt Oval (pictured) and Campbelltown Stadium both have a capacity of 20,000.
– The new Parramatta Stadium (Old one pictured) is set to have a capacity at 30,000.
The lower capacity means that for most games, these grounds will suit very well as the average crowd for the NRL usually sits around 15,000 to 20,000 each year. This means they don’t have to turn paying customers away because they are out of seats and it gives them the ability to create an atmosphere that would sell more people on wanting to head to the games.
The Gold Coast have a bigger problem. First off, their options for a smaller stadium are slim. Metricon Stadium, which has only a couple thousand fewer seats, sits not far north of their current home but it is an oval shaped ground the Titans would have to compete for against the Gold Coast Suns AFL team. The second obstacle they have is that part of the deal the Titans came into the NRL with was that they’d get a government funded NRL quality Stadium. If they then don’t use the Stadium then they may run into trouble working with the government in the future.
If the Titans want to survive as a team without the life preservers thrown their way by the NRL they need to build a following and sent get them into seats to watch the game. That job would be made wildly easier if it were not so difficult for them to build the in-stadium atmosphere and although the Bulldogs, Rabbitohs, Eels and Tigers all have a substantial supporter base, but seeing empty seats when their team plays is a horrible site for the fans and players and it affects their back end as well.
Do you think playing games at ANZ Stadium is holding the NRL and clubs back?
https://realsport101.com/news/sport...hy-big-money-venues-arent-what-the-nrl-needs/
by John Hall
Jun 14, 2017Jun 14, 2017
The NRL is the premier competition in the world for the sport of Rugby League, it dominates the battle of the codes all the way from Townsville in North Queensland to the Riverina in Southern New South Wales and then across to New Zealand. NRL has a big impact on the communities in those areas yet we see the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs beat the St George Illawarra Dragons in the middle of a city where interest in the sport is huge, and we have them playing in front of 60,000 empty seats?
Where is the issue?
ANZ Stadium, originally built to be the centerpiece of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 has now become a major base for the NRL. It is often used as the home ground for four Sydney teams, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers. But should we be using this 80,000-seater stadium when we can only get 20,000 League fans through the gates?
Although this is a sight we bear week after week at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, it is also a problem facing the Gold Coast Titans as well. The brand new outfit, only 10 years old on the south-east-Queensland holiday strip, has struggled to develop a strong following while playing out of the 27,000-seater Cbus Super Stadium in Robina. The problem this creates for the Titans is that with such a small following they struggle to fill their seats and that makes the atmosphere at the game suffer and it becomes less appealing for new fans to head down to the games.
What can be done?
Moving teams to smaller grounds can help the problem of the low attendances. Canterbury has Belmore Oval, Parramatta has Parramatta Stadium (once the rebuild is finished), and Wests have both Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium, those Stadiums all have a much lower capacity.
– Belmore has 12,000 seats on one side and a hill on the other that gives them a capacity of just under 20,000.
– Leichhardt Oval (pictured) and Campbelltown Stadium both have a capacity of 20,000.
– The new Parramatta Stadium (Old one pictured) is set to have a capacity at 30,000.
The lower capacity means that for most games, these grounds will suit very well as the average crowd for the NRL usually sits around 15,000 to 20,000 each year. This means they don’t have to turn paying customers away because they are out of seats and it gives them the ability to create an atmosphere that would sell more people on wanting to head to the games.
The Gold Coast have a bigger problem. First off, their options for a smaller stadium are slim. Metricon Stadium, which has only a couple thousand fewer seats, sits not far north of their current home but it is an oval shaped ground the Titans would have to compete for against the Gold Coast Suns AFL team. The second obstacle they have is that part of the deal the Titans came into the NRL with was that they’d get a government funded NRL quality Stadium. If they then don’t use the Stadium then they may run into trouble working with the government in the future.
If the Titans want to survive as a team without the life preservers thrown their way by the NRL they need to build a following and sent get them into seats to watch the game. That job would be made wildly easier if it were not so difficult for them to build the in-stadium atmosphere and although the Bulldogs, Rabbitohs, Eels and Tigers all have a substantial supporter base, but seeing empty seats when their team plays is a horrible site for the fans and players and it affects their back end as well.
Do you think playing games at ANZ Stadium is holding the NRL and clubs back?
https://realsport101.com/news/sport...hy-big-money-venues-arent-what-the-nrl-needs/
