WSYD 17,127 tickets sold to Sydney v North at ANZ

[tandino]

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=96392

Looks like the party is over in Sydney.

Regardless of the interest that Sydney and Adelaide fans show this weekend, the MCG will guarantee the AFL a bumper finals series attendance. The grand final venue hosts seven finals, the first time this has happened since 2000.

While ticket sales for AAMI Stadium are sluggish and those for ANZ Stadium are embarrassing, it does not matter.

For the second year in a row, the AFL should break their overall season attendance record.

“Seven finals is great and probably even more, the fact that there will be two preliminary finals at the 'G for the first time in some years,” said Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stephen Gough.

“That becomes a bit more cream in terms of attendance.”

Last year's Geelong-Collingwood preliminary final attracted 98,000 fans.
It was a rare occasion where the MCG members section was full.

“It's the last opportunity for supporters and members of those clubs to get along and so it becomes like a mini-grand final,“ Gough said.

“There's so much at stake, yes, they are heavily sought-after tickets.
“It's a nicer problem to have that we have these extra matches, particularly for the preliminary final.”

This is a far cry from earlier in the decade, when non-Victorian teams were dominating the top eight and the MCG was locked in bitter contract re-negotiations with the AFL.

Tomorrow's two elimination finals will be the only matches this September not at the MCG.

“We always said there would be a cycle in this and we've seen the other end of it, where we've had domination from non-Victorian sides,” Gough said.

“Now we're seeing it swing back and of course we're delighted that we'll have seven finals at the MCG.

“It's a really positive thing for the ground.”

As of 4.30pm, 36,155 tickets were sold for tomorrow's Adelaide-Collingwood elimination final at AAMI Stadium.

Only 17,127 tickets had gone for tomorrow night's Sydney-North Melbourne knockout final at ANZ Stadium, which can hold 81,000 fans.

“If it was me I'd be running around with my car out in Blacktown giving tickets out the window because if you are talking about bringing a second team in (Sydney in 2012), you'd be introducing new people,” Sydney coach Paul Roos said yesterday.

“Giving free tickets out to Blacktown or whatever, I would have thought you'd do everything you possibly could to have 60,000 people there.
“Whether that's giving away 20,000 tickets, so be it.”

Adelaide chief executive Steven Trigg said Saturday afternoon was not an ideal time slot for their match.

He also expects a lot of walk-up sales tomorrow and pointed out that SANFL members had to pay at AAMI Stadium, whereas MCC members can attend all finals as part of their annual subscription.

“I'm sure it makes some sort of difference, that's why it's always difficult to compare the figures for the MCG against those for AAMI Stadium,” he said.

“If we ask why are sales a bit slow then we look at factors like the Saturday afternoon timeslot conflicting with local sport, maybe the show (Royal Adelaide Show), maybe Saturday afternoon retail, which has never been our preferred timing for a game, but it's also to do with cost.”
AAP

 

[Doctor Jolly]

They'll be close to 30,000 by the first bounce.

That would be bigger than the crowd they'd get for an SCG final against North, so I'm not blaming ANZ.

Giving away free tickets to a final is not good policy. Making it a bit more affordable is the way to go. I dont see why Western Sydney has to have the highest ticket prices in the country, when it is sydney's new frontier

 

[gostk86]

why not just give away 20k free tickets...

at SCG it would get 35k at least for a final

 

[Doctor Jolly]

why not just give away 20k free tickets...

at SCG it would get 35k at least for a final

Nah, if you give away free tickets to a prestige event like a final, then you are selling your product short. ie. Dont become a $2 shop.

I'm revising my figure down to 25K tonight. Sydney is being lashed with storm and rains today.

They would not get anymore at the SCG. But the SCG would feel much better with a 25K crowd than ANZ.

Oh well, Lesson learnt....hopefully.

 

[THRILLHO]

It's terrible weather here. If I wasnt a North Melbourne supporter, I probably wouldnt go. Pretty ordinary conditions, Sydney is an ordinary team, ANZ is an ordinary stadium and Ive got a tonne of uni' work to do. If thirty thousand are there tonight its a win.

 

[hot_pies81]

They said a lot about the poor crowds at Carrara too having an impact on whether or not GC17 would get off the ground. Maybe there's a common denominator here that nobody's factoring in yet [cough, Nth Melbourne, cough]?

 

[sm007]

Quite suprising and dissapointing considering the 45,000 people that attended the Sydney v Geelong game only afew weeks ago.

The AFL needs to take more seriously the fact that for a final to have a big impact the advertising must be MUCH better. I've heard people from Sydney say they've heard virtually nothing of the game the whole week.

I think 35,000 would be an excellent outcome, but a more realistic figure would be around the 30,000 mark give or take afew thousand.

As a previous poster said, hopefully the AFL learn from this.

 

[RoyalBlue]

They said a lot about the poor crowds at Carrara too having an impact on whether or not GC17 would get off the ground. Maybe there's a common denominator here that nobody's factoring in yet [cough, Nth Melbourne, cough]?

Oh come on.

 

[Wednesday]

They said a lot about the poor crowds at Carrara too having an impact on whether or not GC17 would get off the ground. Maybe there's a common denominator here that nobody's factoring in yet [cough, Nth Melbourne, cough]?

Yeah the Sydney supporters are also staying away because North rejected the Gold Coast but once they get a team of their own blah, blah, blah.........

 

[gostk86]

Nah, if you give away free tickets to a prestige event like a final, then you are selling your product short. ie. Dont become a $2 shop.

I dont think the swans would care..they would rather see people there than empty seats...

players always say its a bit depressing when running out and patches of empty seats

 

[zachary]

For all their the big picture talk when it comes to getting things right at ground level the AFL bosses are a bunch of lazy self indulgent aloof under-achievers. I trust Paul Roos judgement - given the task ahead in western sydney why aren't they looking for every opportunity to promote the game in that area. How can they afford to keep giving other codes free kick after free kick - first Gold Coast, now this. Is anybody doing anything at AFL house other than patting themselves on the back and eating beluga caviar. BTW the Gold Coast is a shambles - no name , no coach, no ground, no government support. Did you learn anything useful at the Olympics, Demetriou?

 

[Unsociable]

They'll be close to 30,000 by the first bounce.

There would be lucky to be 13000 there, let alone 30. Surely now vlad must come to his senses and give up this rediculous notion of basing a team in WS. If this is the crowd they get to a final imagine what the regualr game crowds will look like.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

It's terrible weather here. If I wasnt a North Melbourne supporter, I probably wouldnt go. Pretty ordinary conditions, Sydney is an ordinary team, ANZ is an ordinary stadium and Ive got a tonne of uni' work to do. If thirty thousand are there tonight its a win.

So what. Its a bloody elimination final.

 

[kaypee]

atrocius crowd - one of the gibberers on ten said it was around 20k - but it shouldn't have any bearing on the planned expansion - nobody is expecting the west sydney team to pull big crowds in the first ten years anyway. west sydney will work over 25 years or so and is a necessary to keep football growing. nature abhors a vacum and, with league handing in its keys, if the afl don't get into west sydney, soccer will (not that there's anything wrong with that)

 

[LeeARM]

i just saw the crowd on tv, half(probably more than half actually) is empty. if west sydneys this much of a failure will the afl give them license?

 

[Rack Watts]

Pathetic.
19.5k
Tasmania would have sold out a 45k stadium if they had one.

 

[OzBomber]

Worst finals crowd since 1924. Absolutely pathetic. Who cares about the weather, Melbourne would've got more and we have 10 teams.

Tassie>>>West Sydney

 

[kaypee]

equally disappointing is that there appears to be almost no north melbourne supporters there. for a club that posits its future on the passion of its supporters, that is dismal. less 20k. does that mean there were less than 2k walk-ups?

 

[NoName]

Tonight's turn out confirms the fact that Sydney do not deserve a second team.

 

[Redb]

pretty low crowd for a final at 20K. they got 24K to the freo game a couple of weeks ago.

Walls on Ch 10 said there are 4 reasons as advised to him by a good source:

1. poor economic climate in Sydney. (crowds down for all codes)
2. Wet weather last 2 days.
3. North Melb are a poor drawing team.
4. Sydney limped into finals and didnt look like lasting. They like winners up there in Sydney apparently. (Geelong look to have sewn up the flag.)

That;s all true and I would add that Sydney have climbed the mountain and despite winning today look old and tired. The Swans do not generate the excitement of an up and coming team like Hawthorn.

regardless 20K is very poor, 2nd Sydney team needs to be put off for at least another 5 years.

Perhaps a good wake up call for the AFL and likely boost to Tassies chances.

Redb

 

[Doctor Jolly]

pretty low crowd for a final at 20K. they got 24K to the freo game a couple of weeks ago.

Walls on Ch 10 said there are 4 reasons as advised to him by a good source:

1. poor economic climate in Sydney. (crowds down for all codes)
2. Wet weather last 2 days.
3. North Melb are a poor drawing team.
4. Sydney limped into finals and didnt look like lasting. They like winners up there in Sydney apparently. (Geelong look to have sewn up the flag.)

That;s all true and I would add that Sydney have climbed the mountain and despite winning today look old and tired. The Swans do not generate the excitement of an up and coming team like Hawthorn.

regardless 20K is very poor, 2nd Sydney team needs to be put off for at least another 5 years.

Perhaps a good wake up call for the AFL and likely boost to Tassies chances.

Redb

All that is true (except tassie bit, but I'll get to that later), but the main reasons for a poor crowd are zero media coverage, and promotion, and poor venue choice. They would have got 30K at the SCG, but the AFL signs these stupid ground contracts which disregard any match requirements.

As far as influencing a tassie decision. Irrelevant. Its a financial decision and tassie arent in the same ball park. Do they have a venue over 20K anyway ?

Sydney needs a 2nd team to boost crowds to swans games. Much bigger crowd if this was Swans v WS than Swans v small Vic club no one cares about.

 

[Doctor Jolly]

equally disappointing is that there appears to be almost no north melbourne supporters there. for a club that posits its future on the passion of its supporters, that is dismal. less 20k. does that mean there were less than 2k walk-ups?

Few walk-ups because:
a) its been monsoonal for 2 days straight
b) No one lives within walking distance of the ground.

ANZ should only be reserved for BIG games with promotion.

 

[gostk86]

sydney people are fickle at attending games..

 

[kaypee]

Few walk-ups because:
a) its been monsoonal for 2 days straight
b) No one lives within walking distance of the ground.

ANZ should only be reserved for BIG games with promotion.

still disappointing though. i went to the cats game at anz a few weeks ago, was standing in line to buy a ticket with a mate, and some dude gave us free tickets. why is that? i mean i was clearly going to buy a ticket, why would the swans or the afl or whoever it was be giving tickets to a two chaps with their hand already in their pocket?

anyway, the afl needs to go with west sydney now more than ever

 

[Doctor Jolly]

still disappointing though. i went to the cats game at anz a few weeks ago, was standing in line to buy a ticket with a mate, and some dude gave us free tickets. why is that? i mean i was clearly going to buy a ticket, why would the swans or the afl or whoever it was be giving tickets to a two chaps with their hand already in their pocket?

anyway, the afl needs to go with west sydney now more than ever

Making sense of the AFL moves over the past few years in Sydney is almost impossible.

Make no mistake. 19K is an absolutely embarrasing, pathetic, shocking crowd for a final in Sydney. But hopefully lessons are learnt from it.

FWIW, I'm a pretty keen swans fan, in sydney, and I watched it on TV.