Play Nice 2023 Non AFL (or lower league) Sports Industry Discussion

[Rob]

The numbers for the current ALW season make for grim reading.

Only the most recent 40 games here, but crikey, only 10 of them cracked a thousand punters.

Women’s A-League Results & Attendances | Austadiums

List of recent Women’s A-League results and scores, including attendance figures.

www.austadiums.com

Is that because they are playing less as curtain raisers to the mens games?

I remember they used to play them first and declare crowds in the thousands because they used to count everyone that showed up before the game ended.

 

[stmookeyj]

Without doubt the AFL copied the Gather Round from the NRL.
I for one thought that the idea was good for the NRL (even if it did smack a little bit of desperation)

The NRL indeed copied it from Super League, who used that weekend to provide an extra rivalry game at a venue usually outside of the strongold of RL (North-East England), with all matches in the one venue such as Anfield, Murrayfield, St.James' Park or Milennium Stadium to name 4. Unlike the AFL (who wisely chose to not put Adelaide or Port against each other but had smaller clubs in the burbs and beyond) or the NRL (who ensured that the last match of the 3 nights featured a team from the home state, usually Broncos Friday, Cowboys Saturday and Titans Sunday, may change this year with the Dolphins added) SL needed their biggest match ups such as Wigan vs St.Helens or the Hull Derby (Hull FC vs Kingston Rovers) on to get the crowd.

 

[kranger]

 

[The_Wookie]

Weekend Crowds and TV Ratings – April 13-17, 2023

A round up of the crowds and television ratings from the AFL, NRL, A-league, and Superleague (UK). Most of this has been previously published by us on twitter (@footyindustryAU). AFL Gather Round #…

www.footyindustry.com

A-league Mens

Round 24 #ALMcrowds came to 57,004 at an average of 9,501 per match. So far this season 1.066m people have attended, just 6,665 short of the full season figure for 2019-20 (at a lower average) and the first time its hit a million attendance since that year.



NBA

On Saturday morning, 31,000 tuned into ESPN the Timberwolves take on the Thunder on subscription television, while on Sunday morning, 39,000 watched the Kings take on the Warriors

NRL

Round 7 #NRLcrowds were 166,155 at an average of 20,769 – only the 4th time this has been done and on par with 2022. This was the 2rd best R7 attendance for the NRL, behind 2017 and 2014.

NRL R1-7 continues its record breaking march through the start of the season now reaching 1.084m at an average of 19,373. This is only the second season to have reached 1m by this time, after 2013, and the only season to have over 19,000 per game.



Round 7 Preliminary #NRLtvratings were 5.489m. This is the 4th highest preliminary round rating for the year.

The Dolphins continue to rate well, with Thursday nights clash against Souths drawing in over 1.2m viewers across Nine and Fox, while Friday nights Storm/Sea Eagles game also rated over a million viewers.

Saturday nights Fox exlusive Broncos/Titans game was the best rating game on Fox with 327,000 viewers.

Round 6 Total TV and consolidated Foxtel viewing had a total estmated viewing of 6.057m for the weekend at an average of 780,000 viewers per match. This is just the second round of the season to pass 6 million viewers. So far this season more than 35 million viewers are believed to have watched the NRL on television or streaming at an average of 731,000 per match.

Superleague (UK)

Round 9 #SuperLeagueCrowds came to more than 41,533 at an average of 8,307 per match (with SG Craven Park still to report). These figures are down 11% on aggregate, but up 7% on average. To date the season has seen more than 471,000 attend at an average of 9,435. (+7% YoY)

Data Sources

• Overnight and Total TV ratings for Australian sports are sourced from Oztam Preliminary Overnght, Total TV and subscription TV consolidated+7 reports. Streaming is estimated based on reported trend data, although this has been severely limited this season.
• Attendance data is from league websites, although this is also checked against data at Austadiums.com and afltables.com.
• Capacity data is from Austadiums for Australian and New Zealand sites, and wikipedia for Superleague

 

[Kwality]

The NRL indeed copied it from Super League, who used that weekend to provide an extra rivalry game at a venue usually outside of the strongold of RL (North-East England), with all matches in the one venue such as Anfield, Murrayfield, St.James' Park or Milennium Stadium to name 4. Unlike the AFL (who wisely chose to not put Adelaide or Port against each other but had smaller clubs in the burbs and beyond) or the NRL (who ensured that the last match of the 3 nights featured a team from the home state, usually Broncos Friday, Cowboys Saturday and Titans Sunday, may change this year with the Dolphins added) SL needed their biggest match ups such as Wigan vs St.Helens or the Hull Derby (Hull FC vs Kingston Rovers) on to get the crowd.

Has the Super League continued with the strategy ?

 

[The_Wookie]

Wednesday, April 19th 2023 – Sports Industry News from the ALM, AFL, AFLW, NRL, Superleague (UK) and more

Todays Media Wrap for Wednesday, August 19th, 2023 – Sports Industry News from the ALM, AFL, AFLW, NRL, Superleague (UK) and more. Using material from League websites and Australian/overseas …

www.footyindustry.com

A-league

• Brisbane Roar chairman Chris Fong says the revamped Ballymore Stadium is the boutique venue the three-time A-League champions have been searching for since the club’s inception 18 years ago.

Broadcasting

• Kayo is in hot water with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) after contravening gambling advertising rules that state gambling ads must not be streamed during live sport events between 5am and 8:30pm.
• SEN Cricket has announced exclusive commercial audio rights for the upcoming Ashes series between England and Australia.
• With 4.6 million Foxtel subscribers now, three million of which across the company’s streaming services (Binge, Kayo and Flash), Frain said it’s “highly likely” the company could see itself as a streaming-only company down the line.

Commonwealth Games

• The New Zealand Olympic Committee is interested in hosting the 2034 Commonwealth Games.

NBL

• Bitter rivals Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix will tip off NBL24 on Thursday, September 28 — two nights before the AFL grand final — with a fierce Throwdown,

Golf

• Cameron Smith’s home state of Queensland is the front-runner for a second LIV Golf event to be played in Australia each year, with Marc Leishman claiming it is inevitable Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed series will expand in the country.

Racing

• Racing SA and the South Australian Jockey Club are already in discussions about what they can do to ensure the sport of kings is front and centre for fans who make the trip to Adelaide for all future editions of AFL’s Gather Round.

NRL

• At the start of this month, Queensland Rugby League player registrations were up 14 percent, equating to about 8000 more registered participants compared to the corresponding period in 2022, with the figures nationally worth celebrating as well. The national club rugby league participation rate is up 13 percent on this time last year and just 6.5 percent off passing last year’s national total.
• Future Maroons are currently enjoying their footy on rugby league fields all around the state, with 60,000 club participants having already signed on to play Queensland’s favourite sport.
• The NSWRL has received a tremendous vote of confidence from participants for the 2023 season, with the number of players having already moved past 100,000 which represents an increase of more than 14 per cent on a year-to-date basis.
• The NSWRL and Wests Group Macarthur have today announced the continuation of a funding deal secured via the ClubGRANTS scheme will benefit more than 7000 participants, 500 teams and 23 clubs in the Macarthur Conference Competition for the 2023 season.

Superleague

• The Rugby League Council, the sport’s decision-making body which comprises representatives from all three professional competitions and the community game, have today voted in favour of Club Grading.
• Championship Attendances: Bradford Bulls and Widnes Vikings impress again
• CURRENT central distribution in rugby league has seen funding to the Championship and League One cut following a reduced broadcast deal with Sky Sports.
• Hunslet RLFC won’t support IMG ‘reimagining rugby league’ plan
• Today is the day the next 12 years of rugby league are decided as clubs vote on IMG’s proposals. Here is what every club has said about the IMG proposals and what their vote will likely be.

Overseas

• The second season of the media rights deal the NHL has with TNT, ABC and ESPN saw a slight viewership drop, as the league had more tonnage of games across each of its partner. ABC/ESPN averaged 583,000 viewers for its games, down 2%.
• The NHL drew 22.4 million fans to the arenas this season, up 7.9% over the 2021-22 season
• The NBA) set records for total attendance, average attendance, percentage of capacity, and sellouts in the 2022-2023 regular seasons. A record 791 sellouts shattered the previous mark & arenas were filled to an all-time-high capacity of 97 percent.

 

[Gigantor]

I wonder if MLS attracts more attendees at games across a whole season than both NHL and NBA?

 

[The_Wookie]

Sponsor Announcements this week

ALM

• Melbourne Victory is pleased to announce that Replay Denim will be the Club’s Official Lifestyle Clothing Partner for the remainder of the season.
• Melbourne Victory is pleased to announce that My Dream RV will be the Front of Shirt Partner for the Club’s Academy teams for the 2023 season.

NBL

• The Hungry Jack’s NBL and Coles Express NBL1 are pleased to announce JBL as the Official Audio Partner of both leagues.

NRL

• The Brisbane Broncos are excited to announce a new partnership with global fitness giants World Gym.
• The Dolphins have welcomed Brisbane law firm Gnech and Associates Lawyers as the official Legal Practice Partner of the new NRL club.
• Australian-owned adventure brand KickAss Products partnership with the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys ‘bolted out of the sheds’ at last weekend’s home game, with the brand featuring prominently on the squad’s playing kit.
• Leading property development and construction company Deicorp has reaffirmed its commitment to the Dragons by extending its partnership with the club until the end of the 2025 season.

SuperNetball

• Netball SA and the Adelaide Thunderbirds are proud to announce a new corporate partnership with Cobb’s Hill Estate for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
• NETBALL Queensland and the Queensland Firebirds are thrilled to extend their official partnership with Demi International for a second year.

 

[The_Wookie]

Rugby League Participation data shows positive trends around the nation​

April 21, 2023

Heres a summary of the recent data being posted to the NRL, QRL, NSWRL and Melbourne Sites, plus supplemental information taken from the 2022 NRL Annual Report, the 2022 Touch Football Australia Annual Report, and the 2021 European Rugby League Annual Report.

Nationally in 2022 there was a year-on-year growth of 0.91 per cent in club rugby league with 181,587 participants (not including Touch). There was also a resurgence in school rugby league with over 95,000 competition and event participants and 240,000 engagements through introductory programmes like League Stars

New South Wales (2023)

The NSWRL has received a tremendous vote of confidence from participants for the 2023 season, with the number of players having already moved past 100,000 which represents an increase of more than 14 per cent on a year-to-date basis. The figures are just as encouraging for both men’s and women’s participation rates, with men up by 12 per cent while women are on track for another record-breaking season with a 22 per cent increase from the corresponding time last year.

The NSWRL enjoyed a record-breaking season in 2021 (107,528) as community sport returned after the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, while last year saw female participation break the 23,000 mark (23,203) for the first time in history.

Queensland (2023)

Footy fever is gripping Queensland as more and more junior and senior players sign on to play community rugby league across the state. At the start of this month, Queensland Rugby League player registrations were up 14 per cent, equating to about 8000 more registered participants compared to the corresponding period in 2022. Future Maroons are currently enjoying their footy on rugby league fields all around the state, with 60,000 club participants having already signed on to play Queensland’s favourite sport.

Victoria (2023)

Rugby league in Victoria is heading for a record season with more players and more teams than ever before in 2023.

• more than 200 junior teams will kick off the Storm Junior League season on Saturday, April 29
• more than 250 teams in metropolitan competitions, playing in the Storm Premiership and Storm Junior League
• growing state-wide with 30 clubs across Victoria, including a new club in the Geelong Sharks
• on track for record participation numbers, beating the previous best season in 2019 which had more than 4400 registered rugby league players.

Western Australia (2022)

• Community rugby league in WA currently numbers 4100 registered players.

South Australia (2022)

• Overall participation grew by 4.6 per cent
• Six clubs took part in the competition, including senior men’s, women’s and junior competitions.

Data for Tasmania and Northern Territory Unavailable.

NRL Touch

• Accredited Volunteer Participants grew by 8.6% across the nation
• TFA events increased by 803 participants which is an increase of 23.9%
• Total Participants in Victoria increased by a total of 25.9% across all categories
• Event numbers in the ACT grew by 39% on the back of a strong junior event program
• Full Active Member – Juniors members continue to grow in WA with another increase of 13.4%
• Accredited Volunteer Participants increased in the reporting period in Tasmania, up by a total of 46
• Events in the Northern Territory continue to show strong numbers with an increase of 14.4%
• School Managed Competitions in SA return close to pre-Covid-19 numbers with almost 5,000 participating
• Juniors and Schools increased collectively across all Alliance States by 5.3%
• Queensland Full Active Juniors increased by 11.0% to their highest number recorded of 36,802

Overseas – 2021

References

• NSWRL participation numbers top 100,000 for 2023
• Surge in community participation as rugby league captivates Queensland
• Rugby league hitting record numbers in Victoria
• 2022 NRL Annual Report
• WA lines up to back state-based NRL team
• 2022 Touch Football Australia Annual Report
• 2021 ERL Annual Report

 

[Kwality]

The tussle for the best players continues in rugby:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cleary-in-rugby-australia-poachers-sights/news-story/64cf94ebf331edc46f598faedcb857a2

Rugby Australia chair Hamish McLennan leads the charge for RA with the NRLs Nathan Cleary the latest target.

“The World Cup, it’s the third biggest sporting event in the world, it’s going to be in Australia in 2027. You want young players to be wanting to play rugby … and at the moment there’s probably been a swing towards playing rugby league,”

 

[The_Wookie]

 

[The_Wookie]

 

[Kwality]

'The NRL is secretly planning a double-header spectacular to launch the 2024 season in Las Vegas alongside a boxing world title bout and a UFC event.'

Good luck with this strategy PV'L.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-in-secret-talks-to-kick-off-2024-season-with-historic-double-header-in-las-vegas/news-story/f2d8d97edce98831b9253cb416d3d4c0

 

[BobbyMorri]

 

[Our Game]

Is that because they are playing less as curtain raisers to the mens games?

I remember they used to play them first and declare crowds in the thousands because they used to count everyone that showed up before the game ended.

Yes some ALM matches this season have in the hundreds only.

 

[The_Wookie]

Yes some ALM matches this season have in the hundreds only.

No they havent. Lowest crowd for the ALM this season wasd 1,408 between Central Coast and Macarthur at Mudgee

 

[The Educator]

No they havent. Lowest crowd for the ALM this season wasd 1,408 between Central Coast and Macarthur at Mudgee

*lowest official attendance

 

[Our Game]

No they havent. Lowest crowd for the ALM this season wasd 1,408 between Central Coast and Macarthur at Mudgee

From Austadiums for ALW games which got as low as 200.

ALW: Melbourne Victory dr Brisbane Roar

Melbourne Victory 1
Brisbane Roar 1

WOMEN'S A-LEAGUE2022-23 FIXTURER19
CROWD
521 (26% of capacity)
DATE
Sunday 26th March 2023
TIME
4:00 PM (AEDT)
VENUE
CB Smith Reserve

ALW: Perth Glory d Melbourne City​

Perth Glory 4
Melbourne City 3

WOMEN'S A-LEAGUE2022-23 FIXTURER19
CROWD
910 (23% of capacity)
DATE
Sunday 26th March 2023
TIME
3:00 PM (AWST)
VENUE
Macedonia Park
Perth

ALW: Newcastle Jets d Wellington Phoenix​

Newcastle Jets 3
Wellington Phoenix 2

WOMEN'S A-LEAGUE2022-23 FIXTURER19
CROWD
606 (12% of capacity)
DATE
Saturday 25th March 2023
TIME
3:00 PM (AEDT)
VENUE
Newcastle No.2 Sportsground
Newcastle

ALW: Sydney FC d Adelaide United​

Sydney FC 3
Adelaide United 0

WOMEN'S A-LEAGUE2022-23 FIXTURER19
CROWD
441 (2% of capacity)
DATE
Saturday 25th March 2023
TIME
3:00 PM (AEDT)
VENUE
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Sydney

ALW: Canberra United d Western United​

Western United 0
Canberra United 3

WOMEN'S A-LEAGUE2022-23 FIXTURER19
CROWD
404 (13% of capacity)
DATE
Saturday 25th March 2023
TIME
3:00 PM (AEDT)
VENUE
City Vista Recreation Reserve
Melbourne

ALW: Western Sydney Wanderers d Brisbane Roar​

Western Sydney Wanderers 3
Brisbane Roar 1

WOMEN'S A-LEAGUE2022-23 FIXTURER18
CROWD
201 (20% of capacity)
DATE
Sunday 19th March 2023
TIME
7:00 PM (AEDT)
VENUE
Wanderers Football Park
Sydney

 

[Our Game]

No they havent. Lowest crowd for the ALM this season wasd 1,408 between Central Coast and Macarthur at Mudgee

Sorry I actually mis typed ALM for ALW.

 

[Kwality]

Its a couple of years since I went to this game. Great atmosphere.

 

[Rob]

Not sure what the NRL are thinking by scheduling a blockbuster game between 2 teams out of Sydney.

 

[Kwality]

Not sure what the NRL are thinking by scheduling a blockbuster game between 2 teams out of Sydney.

Getting a sell out is a good reason.
The Warriors have a good following amongst Melbourne's Pacific Islander community.

 

[The_Wookie]

2023 TV Viewing
	NRL (millions)		AFL (millions
Round 1	6.224​
Round 2	5.516​
Round 3	5.527​	Round 1	5.785​
Round 4	5.746​	Round 2	5.033​
Round 5	5.13​	Round 3	5.104​
Round 6	6.057​	Round 4	5.356​
Round 7	5.632​	Round 5	5.994​
Round 8*	4.97	Round 6*	4.834
Total	44.802​	Total	32.106​
Diff	12.696​
[R1&2 = 11.74m]
* Latest rounds yet to complete

 

[The_Wookie]

26.04.2023 – A Massive Weekend for TV Ratings and Crowds in the AFL and NRL​

26.04.2023 – A Massive Weekend for TV Ratings and Crowds in the AFL and NRL

A bumper extended weekend was had by the two major codes who continue to experience record attendances, while the A-league reaches its penultimate round of the season. A-league (Mens Competition) R…

www.footyindustry.com

A bumper extended weekend was had by the two major codes who continue to experience record attendances, while the A-league reaches its penultimate round of the season.

A-league (Mens Competition)

Round 25 #ALMCrowds totalled 49,948 at an average of 8,325 per game. The season has so far seen 1.116m people attend at an average of 7,494 per game. With one round to go, the A-league has smashed the 2021-2022 season but is still somewhat behind 2018-19 – and wont catch it next week.



AFL

Despite 3 matches held in regional grounds, ANZAC Day/EVE clashes bought home the #AFLcrowds with 357,261 at an ave of 39,696. This is the second largest Round 6 attendance ever, just 3,316 behind Roun6, 2019 and up 25% on Round 6, 2022.

The AFL season to date has seen #AFLcrowds of 2.108m at an average of 39,046 (or 2.044m at 37,862). The first figure is a record AFL Round 1-6 attendance aggregate, while the second figure is #3. Either way, this is the 3rd time that 4 of the first 6 rounds have seen 350k+ crowds.


This is only the third time (2018, 2019 and now 2023) that #AFLcrowds have reached 2 million during Round 6.

2008 remains the record holder for average attendance, along with 2010 the only seasons to average more than 40,000 per game during Round 6. This was during the 16 team, 8 games a week era.



AFL TV

Preliminary AFL tv ratings for Round 6 total in at 6.438m at an average of 715,000 per game. This is easily the highest rating round for the AFL so far in 2023, and just over the 6.399m from Round 6, 2022 (also ANZAC Day).

The Pies/Bombers ANZAC Day clash averaged 1.601m viewers and is the highest of any match so far this year, and beating the 1.415m rating for last years ANZAC Day.

Broadcast on Channel 7 and 7mate, Collingwood’s thrilling 13-point victory over Essendon reached 2.19m viewers nationally. The game peaked at 1.26m viewers nationally and averaged 949,000 viewers, up 18% on the 2022 clash and up 49% on the 2022 AFL season average.
Consolidated Gather Round #AFLtvratings have come in at around 5.994m @ 666k average with consolidation and streaming estimates).

NBA

Lakers/Grizzlies ESPN 43,000

Netball

Supernetball – Magpies/Lightning Fox505 26,000

NRL

#NRLCrowds for Round 8 were 157,257 at an average of 19,657. This is up 48% on 2022 and is the 4th highest Round 8 attendance since 1997 behind 2012, 2016 and 2014. The season has been attended by 1.242m folks at an average of 19,409 – both a record for Round 1-8 aggregate and ave.

This is the first time any NRL season has crossed the 1.2m #NRLcrowds mark by the close of Round 8.


NRL TV

Preliminary #NRLtvratings for Round 8 total in at 6.580m at an average of 822,000 per match. This is the first time the NRL has scored over 6m a round on prelim ratings/estimates and is the highest rating round of any code in the last two years.
Consolidated Round 7 #NRLtvratings have come in at around 5.632m (Ave 704k). #4 in 2023

Superleague (UK)

Round 10 #SLUK crowds totalled 55,735 at an average of 8,977 per game. So far the season has seen more than 527,497 people attend at an average of 9,420 per match.

 

[The_Wookie]

From the 2022 Rugby Australia Annual Report

It was also the second year of our agreement with Nine Entertainment Company and Stan Sport and, with a full season of Super Rugby Pacific and Wallabies, we were able to see major increases in ratings across both of those pillars – topping out with our Thursday night Bledisloe Cup clash in Melbourne, which saw over a million viewers tune in.

The quality of the coverage is the envy of the Rugby world, and we have seen steady growth in Stan Sport subscriptions and viewership over 2022, with a viewership increase of 58% for the England Series compared with 2021 averages.

For our six home Test matches (five of which were broadcast on the main Nine channel), we saw a strong average audience of 891,475 – up 21% from 2021.

The Super Rugby Pacific competition’s weekly cumulative average was 159,7241 across Stan Sport and 9 GEM on Saturday nights, while Australian Club home matches saw a 9% increase in Stan viewership to a total of 74,497 per game, up from 68,127 in 2021. We were the first sport to strike a broadcast deal combining free-to-air television with streaming and subscription services within the one media house, and NEC has truly led the way in innovating in this space with Rugby

https://www.flipsnack.com/tahs2015/Rugby Australia-annual-report-2022/full-view.html

Later in the report

Broadcast Audience

IN THE SECOND YEAR OF RUGBY Australia’s broadcast partnership with Stan Sport and Nine Entertainment Company, viewership across matches showed healthy increases in most cases.

The Super Rugby Pacific competition’s weekly cumulative average was in excess of 100,000 across Stan Sport and 9 GEM on Saturday nights.

Comparable Australian Super Rugby matches (excluding the Fijian Drua who were based in NSW) saw a 9% increase in Stan viewership.

While the Hospital Cup viewership on Stan saw a slight decrease of 14% in viewers, the Shute Shield saw an impressive 112% increase YoY.

Viewership of the July Series and The eToro Rugby Championship showed strong growth with an increase of 58% alone for the England Series on Stan, compared to 2021 averages. The England Series enjoyed an average audience of over 1m viewers across the three matches, (note that Stan do not publicly release standalone broadcast figures).

Five of the six home Test matches for the Wallabies aired on Channel Nine’s main network, with only the match at Allianz featuring on 9 Gem, resulting in a strong average audience of 891,475¹ across the six tests. This compares to 736,019 in 2021, an increase of 21%