AFL crowds trampling NRL’s half-empty stadiums
Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:33 am
Wow, way to go AFL. The country's undisputed national winter sport
AFL crowds trampling NRL’s half-empty stadiums
The Australian
12:00AM September 13, 2017
The AFL can claim to be the country’s undisputed national winter sport after attendance and ratings records were smashed over the three days of the first week of its finals series.
Again, AFL crowds left NRL crowds in their wake to start the finals series of both codes, and seriously question rugby union’s decision to kill off the Western Force, the sport’s only presence west of Melbourne.
The AFL’s four matches drew more than three times as many fans to its first week of finals last week than the NRL’s four games.
And to underline the AFL’s national influence, four states — NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia — were left with a total of six teams in the premiership race after 235,328 fans watched the four finals last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The figure was slightly below the 238,840 that flocked to the first week of last year’s series, where the much higher capacity of ANZ Stadium (60,222 watched the Swans and the Giants) was the venue in preference to a final at the SCG.
AFL general manager of clubs Travis Auld said the attendance for the first week of the finals last week was the seventh highest opening week on record.
“Considering only one game was played at the MCG, it was a phenomenal result,” Auld said. “And in the four games we had other outstanding achievements.”
The SCG contest won by the Swans over Essendon on Saturday, with a near capacity crowd of 46,323, was the best attended AFL match at the venue. The previous top attendance for the code at the venue was 46,168 for a Saturday night round 22 Sydney-Geelong game in 1997.
Next door at Allianz Stadium it was a different story, dominated by empty seats, as just 15,408 attended the Sea Eagles-Panthers NRL elimination final.
Friday night’s record qualifying final attendance at the MCG of 95,028 was the highest involving the hugely popular Tigers since the 1982 grand final, which attracted 107,536 to watch Carlton defeat Richmond by 18 points.
Last week’s qualifying final, which Richmond won, was also the highest non-grand final attendance since the 2010 preliminary final between Collingwood and Geelong, played in front of 95,241.
Adelaide Oval also played its part in setting new benchmarks for attendances and television ratings. The 52,805-strong throng that witnessed the Crows crush Greater Western Sydney last Thursday was the highest finals attendance at the ground. And a television audience of more than two million peaked during the extra time played between Port Adelaide and West Coast on Saturday night.
Auld said: “Our TV ratings have been strong all year and remained so on the weekend.”
The AFL expects ratings to be high again this week for the semi-finals involving Sydney and West Coast.
After a record home and away season, where attendances reached 6,732,601, the AFL is on target to break its season record of 7,147,052 set in 2010 on the back of two grand finals after Collingwood and St Kilda played a draw.
The league’s 7,000,000th fan will pass through the turnstiles at the MCG in the Geelong-Sydney semi-final on Friday night as it is just 32,071 shy of the seven-million attendance figure. The AFL expects a MCG crowd of between 55,000 and 60,000.
The growth of the expanded AFL competition will be further emphasised on Saturday night when GWS’s home ground, Spotless Stadium, hosts its second final in two years — a semi between the Giants and the Eagles.
The AFL also believes Richmond and Adelaide’s attendance records in the first week of the finals at their home venues could be bettered when both clubs host preliminary finals on Friday and Saturday week, where combined attendances could break 150,000.
Last week’s four NRL finals attracted just 75,361. Only one game in three at Allianz Stadium attracted a crowd in excess of 20,000, the Friday night fixture between the Roosters and the Broncos, seen by 21,212.
NRL premiership favourite Melbourne Storm pulled the biggest live audience, 22,626 at AAMI Park on Saturday afternoon, on a weekend with no AFL finals games played in Melbourne after Friday night.
The AFL has had a groundbreaking season in which TV ratings, participation, attendances and memberships were all up in one of the most competitive years on record, where West Coast made the finals cut, just 0.5 per cent ahead of Melbourne.
Two-thirds of its 18 clubs recorded increased home game attendances, and three clubs — Richmond, Essendon and Collingwood — each attracted more than one million fans to their 22 home and away games in 2017.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/a ... 9a3490dbee
