Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 32,144
- 25,822
So it's final then.
12 Monday Night Games a Year (only in Canberra)
12 Saturday Night Games a Year (only in North Queensland)
The rest can be divided between Friday night, and Sunday.
Now in all seriousness let's review...
The crowd, no matter how you slice it, was poor. 6 400 at a stadium that fits well over 7 times (possibly even 8 times, what's the official capacity again?) is poor and it was a bad effort by the Roosters.
However it's not the end of the world and they don't deserved to be kicked out based on that figure.
How many people here have actually gone to SFS? Compared to Suncorp it's like an old raggedy doll. Transport there is terrible (non-existant if memory serves, I recall catching a taxi from the city in 2007) and the stadium was poor. Decent if not good design but the seating and everything else was dated. The whole stadium needs a face lift.
But then again that's not the biggest concern. For mine, the reason why that crowd and most crowds are poor is because they haven't done enough to encourage people to go to the games. Before this year, I can't recall memberships ever being blatantly advertised on official websites nor anywhere else. It's only now, in the year 2010, 102 years after first grade commenced that the NRL has gotten on board with memberships.
How stupid is that?
For mine, the NRL should be heavily behind promoting memberships. Start with a reasonable price, maybe even a little bit below you'd expect what you'd expect to draw in a large number of fans and over the years steadily increase the price as the quality of your club and the NRL increases as the fans will by then be getting what they pay for.
Promoting said memberships needs to expand beyond the internet. Advertise memberships during the games, it seriously will be the best times and it would sure beat the commentators trying to prop up centrebet every time they can.
Once you get fans to the game, now you have to try and keep them there. Give them benefits for going to the game. Whether it be running onto the field after the game, prizes, player exclusives and try and get a supporters group up and running and nurture it so it can expand and encourage more people to the game.
Honestly, that last one would be awesome. And if it was worked right, it would bring more fans to the game. Imagine it, a whole stand say of 500-1000 (at first, obviously that number would expand) fans perched right in the middle of the stadium getting chants started (anything simple as the logo of the club) and giving them free reign in the stands (banners and what have you) and trying to get a real party atmosphere into the game that everyone will enjoy.
Combine that privilege, with exclusive offers, give aways (say if a player is having a 200th game and a shirt is on sale, they would receive those shirts for free and would be encouraged to wear them to the game) and chances to meet the players after the game it would be a good deal.
By exclusive offers, I'm saying deals like half price (if not more) for opposition games. This would work a treat at a place like Telstra stadium which itself can barely seem to get filled. Give them the same privileges and surely the crowds would increase exponentially over the course of five years.
Food for thought I guess...
12 Monday Night Games a Year (only in Canberra)
12 Saturday Night Games a Year (only in North Queensland)
The rest can be divided between Friday night, and Sunday.
Now in all seriousness let's review...
The crowd, no matter how you slice it, was poor. 6 400 at a stadium that fits well over 7 times (possibly even 8 times, what's the official capacity again?) is poor and it was a bad effort by the Roosters.
However it's not the end of the world and they don't deserved to be kicked out based on that figure.
How many people here have actually gone to SFS? Compared to Suncorp it's like an old raggedy doll. Transport there is terrible (non-existant if memory serves, I recall catching a taxi from the city in 2007) and the stadium was poor. Decent if not good design but the seating and everything else was dated. The whole stadium needs a face lift.
But then again that's not the biggest concern. For mine, the reason why that crowd and most crowds are poor is because they haven't done enough to encourage people to go to the games. Before this year, I can't recall memberships ever being blatantly advertised on official websites nor anywhere else. It's only now, in the year 2010, 102 years after first grade commenced that the NRL has gotten on board with memberships.
How stupid is that?
For mine, the NRL should be heavily behind promoting memberships. Start with a reasonable price, maybe even a little bit below you'd expect what you'd expect to draw in a large number of fans and over the years steadily increase the price as the quality of your club and the NRL increases as the fans will by then be getting what they pay for.
Promoting said memberships needs to expand beyond the internet. Advertise memberships during the games, it seriously will be the best times and it would sure beat the commentators trying to prop up centrebet every time they can.
Once you get fans to the game, now you have to try and keep them there. Give them benefits for going to the game. Whether it be running onto the field after the game, prizes, player exclusives and try and get a supporters group up and running and nurture it so it can expand and encourage more people to the game.
Honestly, that last one would be awesome. And if it was worked right, it would bring more fans to the game. Imagine it, a whole stand say of 500-1000 (at first, obviously that number would expand) fans perched right in the middle of the stadium getting chants started (anything simple as the logo of the club) and giving them free reign in the stands (banners and what have you) and trying to get a real party atmosphere into the game that everyone will enjoy.
Combine that privilege, with exclusive offers, give aways (say if a player is having a 200th game and a shirt is on sale, they would receive those shirts for free and would be encouraged to wear them to the game) and chances to meet the players after the game it would be a good deal.
By exclusive offers, I'm saying deals like half price (if not more) for opposition games. This would work a treat at a place like Telstra stadium which itself can barely seem to get filled. Give them the same privileges and surely the crowds would increase exponentially over the course of five years.
Food for thought I guess...
