Play Nice 2024 AFL and State League Attendance

[ep12]

Cold wet weather in Melbourne and the crowds are straight down.

For all the out of touch media personalities spooking about Thursday nights (whateley and maclure) being removed, Imagine how bad a Thursday night game at the G/Marvel would have been attended this week.

 

[Tassieboy]

The crowd today looked significantly bigger that last night. Very surprised to see this low figure.

 

[ep12]

The crowd today looked significantly bigger that last night. Very surprised to see this low figure.

Level 4 yes, but level 1 today was much emptier, across all the Richmond reserved bays and the MCC

 

[Air_Chester]

Cold wet weather in Melbourne and the crowds are straight down.

For all the out of touch media personalities spooking about Thursday nights (whateley and maclure) being removed, Imagine how bad a Thursday night game at the G/Marvel would have been attended this week.

This post is out of touch.

 

[manicmagpie]

49,454 in Perth I think I just heard.

 

[Cmarsh]

49,454 in Perth I think I just heard.

Pretty darn resilient are WC fans. Impressive numbers to watch your team when they are as uncompetitive as they are.

 

[Billy ray]

Pretty darn resilient are WC fans. Impressive numbers to watch your team when they are as uncompetitive as they are.

I think when you pay as much as they do for seats/memberships, you just gotta go!

 

[ep12]

This post is out of touch.

Why, because you want to watch a game on TV?
That's great but football should (its not but should) be about the fans who are spending their time and money on going to games.
Thursday's suck for this, very few kids can go and plenty of people just find it too difficult.

We've had 4 Thursday nights and I have been to all of them in Melbourne and interstate and it sucks getting home at midnight before going into work/wake up for 6am flight the next day

 

[AstuteTiger]

Level 4 yes, but level 1 today was much emptier, across all the Richmond reserved bays and the MCC

I have seats on level 1 but sat on level 4 as did many others. Smart move with the rain

 

[ep12]

I have seats on level 1 but sat on level 4 as did many others. Smart move with the rain

Yep can imagine so, but still looked very sparse in M50-M57 and M9-M16.

I thought it would get to 60K but weather yesterday and today inhibited both games.

 

[AstuteTiger]

Yep can imagine so, but still looked very sparse in M50-M57 and M9-M16.

I thought it would get to 60K but weather yesterday and today inhibited both games.

Absolutely right. I reckon if the weather was sunny today we'd be looking at 65K+ but the rain and cold shaved about 10% off to what I was expecting. Nonetheless 58K+ is still pretty good for 17th V 2nd.

 

[dave10]

Absolutely right. I reckon if the weather was sunny today we'd be looking at 65K+ but the rain and cold shaved about 10% off to what I was expecting. Nonetheless 58K+ is still pretty good for 17th V 2nd.

Yes I agree. I would’ve thought 65-70k would’ve trudged along on a decent day.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

After Round 16 (excluding Gather Round)

HOME CROWDS
Club (# of home games played) = Total (Average)

• Collingwood (6) = 374,082 (62,347)
• Carlton (7) = 432,287 (61,755)
• Essendon (7) = 421,631 (60,233)
• Richmond (8) = 448,433 (56,054)
• West Coast (8) = 379,954 (47,494)
• Fremantle (6) = 278,442 (46,407)
• Geelong (7) = 304,836 (43,548)
• Adelaide (8) = 333,486 (41,686)
• Sydney (7) = 275,190 (39,313)
• Port Adelaide (7) = 257,731 (36,819)
• Melbourne (6) = 211,279 (35,213)
• Hawthorn (7) = 241,462 (34,495)
• Brisbane Lions (7) = 212,365 (30,338)
• St Kilda (6) = 178,554 (29,759)
• Western Bulldogs (7) = 192,895 (27,556)
• North Melbourne (7) = 171,188 (24,455)
• Gold Coast (8) = 122,828 (15,354)
• GWS (7) = 91,209 (13,030)

HOME AND AWAY CROWDS
Club (# of games played) = Total (Average)

• Carlton (14) = 832,381 (59,456)
• Collingwood (14) = 796,237 (56,874)
• Essendon (14) = 760,996 (54,357)
• Richmond (14) = 697,661 (49,833)
• Geelong (14) = 630,882 (45,063)
• Melbourne (14) = 622,352 (44,454)
• Sydney (14) = 572,148 (40,868)
• West Coast (14) = 567,701 (40,550)
• Hawthorn (14) = 567,325 (40,523)
• Adelaide (14) = 547,648 (39,118)
• Fremantle (14) = 501,061 (35,790)
• Port Adelaide (14) = 467,538 (33,396)
• Brisbane Lions (14) = 443,231 (31,659)
• St Kilda (14) = 442,558 (31,611)
• Western Bulldogs (14) = 425,702 (30,407)
• North Melbourne (14) = 359,636 (25,688)
• GWS (14) = 323,907 (23,136)
• Gold Coast (14) = 296,740 (21,196)

 

[Air_Chester]

Why, because you want to watch a game on TV?
That's great but football should (its not but should) be about the fans who are spending their time and money on going to games.
Thursday's suck for this, very few kids can go and plenty of people just find it too difficult.

We've had 4 Thursday nights and I have been to all of them in Melbourne and interstate and it sucks getting home at midnight before going into work/wake up for 6am flight the next day

The AFL is run off the back of broadcast rights. The half a million people who watch on Thursday nights on TV are just as, if not more, important to the game as the couple of thousand who don’t attend because they don’t want to go to bed too late.

The AFL should always attempt to cater to fans, but some fans need to realise it’s not 1970 any more.

 

[ep12]

The AFL is run off the back of broadcast rights. The half a million people who watch on Thursday nights on TV are just as, if not more, important to the game as the couple of thousand who don’t attend because they don’t want to go to bed too late.

The AFL should always attempt to cater to fans, but some fans need to realise it’s not 1970 any more.

Understand mate, but i'm in my 20s and am well aware its not 1970. Its also not a couple thousand, its pretty much 15-20% of the crowd of a Saturday Arvo game.

 

[The_Wookie]

The AFL is run off the back of broadcast rights. The half a million people who watch on Thursday nights on TV are far more important to the game than the couple of thousand who don’t attend because they don’t want to go to bed too late.

The AFL should always attempt to cater to fans, but some fans need to realise it’s not 1970 any more.

And some people need to realise that this isnt entirely true, which is why the AFL has delicately tried to balance attendance v tv for decades. (its notably why we lost Sunday night and Monday night football).

The league turned 1.063 BILLION in revenue in 2023, which included broadcast rights of $444,238,000 (42%). The remainder comes from commercial rights, memberships, Docklands revenue and other income.

However for the clubs its a slightly different story.

The league distributed $393.76m to the clubs in 2023, about 31% of club income. (13% at Richmond, 17% at Carlton and West Coast up to 62% at GWS.

28% of club revenue comes from Membership and Gate takings (ranging from 41% down to at West Coast to 4% at GWS) - these are directly influenced by Attendances, bringing in 350m in revenue in 2023.

25% of club revenue comes from Sponsorship and Corporate (from 35% at West Coast down to 17% at Brisbane) - bringing in $302m in 2023.

 

[Air_Chester]

Understand mate, but i'm in my 20s and am well aware its not 1970. Its also not a couple thousand, its pretty much 15-20% of the crowd of a Saturday Arvo game.

Comparing corresponding fixtures year on year do not support this.

If you’re talking solely Saturday afternoon - again, it’s not 1970. Not everyone can play at 2:10 on a Saturday. We had two games at the same time this Saturday and people complained about THAT, so to use “but if it was played on Saturday” is a futile argument to make.

And some people need to realise that this isnt entirely true, which is why the AFL has delicately tried to balance attendance v tv for decades. (its notably why we lost Sunday night and Monday night football).

The league turned 1.063 BILLION in revenue in 2023, which included broadcast rights of $444,238,000 (42%). The remainder comes from commercial rights, memberships, Docklands revenue and other income.

However for the clubs its a slightly different story.

The league distributed $393.76m to the clubs in 2023, about 31% of club income. (13% at Richmond, 17% at Carlton and West Coast up to 62% at GWS.

28% of club revenue comes from Membership and Gate takings (ranging from 41% down to at West Coast to 4% at GWS) - these are directly influenced by Attendances, bringing in 350m in revenue in 2023.

25% of club revenue comes from Sponsorship and Corporate (from 35% at West Coast down to 17% at Brisbane) - bringing in $302m in 2023.

Even with all these figures, this year’s Thursday games are getting attendances that are comparative with the corresponding fixtures last year. Any minor loss of attendance (if indeed there is any at all) is borderline offset by the extra distributions that the fixture will continue to bring in the future.

Potentially losing a couple of thousand in attendance to ONE home game a year is not bankrupting anyone.

As for Sunday and Monday nights - those timeslots were absolutely terrible for attendance, and if we were talking about those nights I wouldn’t be arguing the point at all. But Thursday has proven itself to be much more palatable to the public in terms of both TV and attendance, so the idea that we ditch it because there’s people who still prefer Saturday afternoons is short sighted at best.

 

[qlderlions]

And some people need to realise that this isnt entirely true, which is why the AFL has delicately tried to balance attendance v tv for decades. (its notably why we lost Sunday night and Monday night football).

The league turned 1.063 BILLION in revenue in 2023, which included broadcast rights of $444,238,000 (42%). The remainder comes from commercial rights, memberships, Docklands revenue and other income.

However for the clubs its a slightly different story.

The league distributed $393.76m to the clubs in 2023, about 31% of club income. (13% at Richmond, 17% at Carlton and West Coast up to 62% at GWS.

28% of club revenue comes from Membership and Gate takings (ranging from 41% down to at West Coast to 4% at GWS) - these are directly influenced by Attendances, bringing in 350m in revenue in 2023.

25% of club revenue comes from Sponsorship and Corporate (from 35% at West Coast down to 17% at Brisbane) - bringing in $302m in 2023.

Can you publish the full club rankings please wookie (if you have it to hand). TiA.

 

[The_Wookie]

Can you publish the full club rankings please wookie (if you have it to hand). TiA.

To Play or not to Play on Thursday Night, that is the question - Sports Industry AU

The AFL has released its fixtures for the end of the season and the least surprising thing about it should be the fact that like almost every season before it, theres a dearth of Thursday night fixtures. Media pundits are crying a river of tears if it – notably broadcast types – and so are...

www.footyindustry.com

 

[Walshawk]

Cats and Hawks virtually sold out this week - might push a new record post rebuild.

Reckon Hawks v Pies Rnd 19 public tickets might also sell out if we keep winning. Only back L4 left for a couple of weeks

 

[Hawkk]

Cats and Hawks virtually sold out this week - might push a new record post rebuild.

Reckon Hawks v Pies Rnd 19 public tickets might also sell out if we keep winning. Only back L4 left for a couple of weeks

I've said it for weeks but Blues v Hawks is the one to watch.

That match has outdrawn Hawks v Pies, Cats v Hawks for and Dons v Hawks in the last two seasons BEFORE Carlton’s resurgence (66,300 in 2022, 2023 and even 45,700 in the Covid-impacted 2021 season)

It’s a Hawthorn replacement game, in the ideal 1.10pm Sunday slot, and is a sleeping rivalry (like Dons v Hawks before Line in the Sand).

The AFL have ruined one of the VFL’s most fierce modern day rivalries (which was once touted as a round 1 game) by scheduling it year after year at Marvel Stadium.

In fact, before Carlton’s decline in the early 2000’s, Blues-Hawks games at Waverley and the MCG regularly outdrew Pies-Hawks and Dons-Hawks games.

Given that, its very easy to see that game drawing 80,000 plus, epecially if top 2 and finals are on the line.

Having the fifth biggest Victorian club competitive should help to add to the massive crowds the big 4 clubs are now drawing to the MCG.

It adds 3, 4 or even 5 more 70,000 attendances to the yearly attendance.

 

[Raz Man]

Cats and Hawks virtually sold out this week - might push a new record post rebuild.

Reckon Hawks v Pies Rnd 19 public tickets might also sell out if we keep winning. Only back L4 left for a couple of we

This is the big one for the Cats! Their biggest rival in my opinion and they are travelling down the highway so no Cats fan will miss this one! They have been crying for the big teams go down and for them, The Hawks is probably the biggest with the Pies.

 

[Hawkk]

This is the big one for the Cats! Their biggest rival in my opinion and they are travelling down the highway so no Cats fan will miss this one! They have been crying for the big teams go down and for them, The Hawks is probably the biggest with the Pies.

Covid aside its the first trip since 2006.

Even before the 2008 Grand Final, Hawthorn rarely travelled to Geelong (just 2004 and 2006 since 2000)

Compare to Richmond, which regularly travelled in 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

 

[Sammoll]

GWS vs Carlton this week should be pretty good by their standards. I’m heading up to Sydney for the weekend with 3 other Carlton fans, and I suspect many others may be doing the same, especially with school holidays starting.

Ticket sales seem to be tracking pretty well, with the Cumberland stand being opened up in last couple days.

Just hope there’s no rain and GWS’ members still show despite the disappointing performance last week.

Hard to make a prediction, but record crowd for GWS vs Carlton in Sydney is 10,355. That should be beaten with a crowd of 12-15k(?) hopefully.

 

[dave10]

GWS vs Carlton this week should be pretty good by their standards. I’m heading up to Sydney for the weekend with 3 other Carlton fans, and I suspect many others may be doing the same, especially with school holidays starting.

Ticket sales seem to be tracking pretty well, with the Cumberland stand being opened up in last couple days.

Just hope there’s no rain and GWS’ members still show despite the disappointing performance last week.

Hard to make a prediction, but record crowd for GWS vs Carlton in Sydney is 10,355. That should be beaten with a crowd of 12-15k(?) hopefully.

Agree, school holiday scheduling for the Suns abd Giants home games against big Victorian clubs is planned and works well. Why wouldn’t an additional 3-4K Carlton families enjoy a long weekend in Sydney whilst taking in a footy extravaganza?! They’ve done this with Collingwood (Vs Suns) for many occasions, slotting in late June / early July to fill the stands with sun seeking Pies fans..

It’s good for the expansion teams to fill their pockets a bit and support a good promo for the game.

This game, I think we can hope 7-8k Carlton fans rocking up, then hope the weathers ok and that the Giants can see a blockbuster challenge and bring 6-7K of their own to make it about 14-16k as you accurately indicate… In other words, I agree!