Basket cases galore.
Rebecca Wilson: NRL is running on empty
Rebecca Wilson
The Daily Telegraph
September 28, 2013 12:00AM
SOMETHING in rugby league is rotten when fewer than 10,000 members of the public pay for tickets to a final between two teams at a stadium that seats over 80,000.
That figure is not a one-off anomaly. In both weeks of the finals so far, the crowd figures have been truly terrible. Games which feature two teams from Sydney are attracting about 20,000 fans. That leaves Allianz Stadium half full and ANZ stadium short of its capacity by a whopping 60,000. Channel Nine is fuming.
The last thing the broadcaster needs is to televise games that feature empty seats as their backdrop. All of the crowing about South Sydney might have brought nearly 60,000 to ANZ stadium several weeks ago, but just a week later, in a finals game, the Rabbits could only manage 21,000.
The NRL promotes the finals series and holds 100 per cent of the commercial rights to each of the finals games. Instead of applying joint resources to attracting a crowd, the NRL gives the clubs absolutely no incentive to use their own clout to put bums on seats. The clubs boast a man and his dog in their marketing departments so stretching resources to finals is out of the question.
All of this points to a structure that has failed the clubs, particularly those in Sydney. The nine clubs jammed into the Sydney area are, at best, hand to mouth, and, at worst, basket cases.
The Wests Tigers are facing ruin without the intervention of the NRL, and the Cronulla Sharks are a well-documented financial nightmare, particularly given what could be around the corner with ASADA. Penrith and Manly have their own struggles.
Even the once great St George Dragons are reeling from several seasons of failure on field. They will survive but the pencils are being sharpened at head office before very tough decisions are made to either move teams or close them down.
It’s happened in rugby league before and it will happen again. All of these clubs are screaming at headquarters for a bigger slice of the financial pie, but they don’t want to use it for anything else than paying already well paid players more money.
Two decades ago, the VFL had average crowds of around 17,000. They became the AFL and set themselves some targets. First of all, they moved to major stadia away from small, shabby suburban grounds. They now attract an average crowd of more than double that figure, and the clubs’ marketing departments are brimming with resources.
They did that by chipping away at increasing club memberships, building grass roots support for the game and making the customer feel special.
A dose of Jessica Mauboy at the front and back end of the season is not going to make us rally to buy a footy finals ticket. Only Souths have copied the AFL on this front but even the Rabbits have only 16,000 season ticket holders (the Swans have 37,000).
For all the recent trumpeting about club memberships, the Bunnies boast nearly 30,000, you’ve still got to get them to games. That won’t happen while membership numbers are boosted with pets and other ridiculous categories.
Free tickets have become the norm and going to a final is not seen as special. Is there another major football competition in the universe that has quarter-full stadiums at the pointy end of the season?
The slide into oblivion for several Sydney clubs is gathering speed. The financial model is unsustainable. Cronulla fans took to social media this week barking about vendettas against them at the suggestion a move might be afoot to Brisbane.
That, unfortunately, is the only way out for clubs like the Sharks, who have suffered from more than a decade of neglect, lack of governance, no new members and, more recently, a drugs controversy. A bit over 20,000 rusted-on fans will not save a club if only half are willing to drive more than few kilometres to a final.
ARLC chairman John Grant and his allegedly crack team of commissioners were assigned the task of fixing all of this two years ago. Grant claimed types like David Gallop needed to be replaced with ‘proactive’ go-getters.
Dave Smith knows he has a problem but finding the resources and the people to find a million more league fans in the next five years will not be easy if this model remains in place.
Time is fast running out on a game that needs an almighty mother of all shake ups.
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