How can AFL increase game attendance?

[Captivating]

To be honest, I don't think there's much wrong with attendances at games ............... they dipped a couple of years ago, but seem to be building again ........... an average attendance of over 33k in a country of about 23m people is very good, especially when compared to the other major "football" leagues around the world.

USA (pop 320m) ............ NFL averaged 68397 in 2013
Germany (pop 83m) ....... Bundesliga averaged 43502 in 2013-14
England (pop 53m) ........ Premier League averaged 36691 in 2013-14
Spain (pop 47m) ........... La Liga averaged 26702 in 2013-14
Italy (pop 61m) ............ Serie A averaged 23385 in 2013-14
France (pop 64m) ......... Ligue 1 averaged 21155 in 2013-14

And of course, the NRL averaged just 16798 in 2014.

A statistics lesson for nickcat0

http://www.tylervigen.com

 

[nickcat0]

Not a fair analysis. Soccer stadiums are much smaller because the pitch is much smaller. Most English Premier League teams play on a ground with capacity of under 30,000 (well under in some cases). Only Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Newcastle and Man U have stadiums 45k+ and then none anywhere near the size of the MCG. This significantly impacts attendances.

EDIT: Added in Newcastle!

It is a fair comparison because, with the exception of the NFL, none of these leagues fill their grounds anyway, despite them being far smaller than the MCG. I don't believe this "significantly impacts attendances"; because with rare exceptions, clubs aren't selling out smaller grounds, so I have no reason to think that they could fill a bigger ground.
However my main point was that the AFL is the best supported league in the world with regards to average attendance per capita of population.

 

[nickcat0]

A statistics lesson for nickcat0

http://www.tylervigen.com

It's okay to admit you don't understand, Captivating ................ you're a Collingwood fan, we're all impressed that you even manage to type.

 

[Footy 1st]

But at the cinema, the beach, music festivals and so on it's ok?

No. But maybe you could start the 'how to improve cinema attendance' thread or a 'who eats at a music festival' thread....

 

[syl97]

When liverpool were here, it was one of their biggest attendances ever. Its a fair comparison

That was a one off game! Hardly indicative of what attendances would be if they played 40+ games a season here! Fact is that english premier league grounds have been 95% full this season (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31384481). The AFL would be lucky if it averaged 60% full!

 

[Colonial]

That was a one off game! Hardly indicative of what attendances would be if they played 40+ games a season here! Fact is that english premier league grounds have been 95% full this season (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31384481). The AFL would be lucky if it averaged 60% full!

Arent the grounds smaller?

 

[syl97]

Arent the grounds smaller?

Yes that's why the comparison is not a fair one. English Premier League's attendances are constrained by the size of the venue while the AFL is not. Therefore, you can't compare the raw figures. Reality is that teams like Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool would sell out a 100,000 person stadium every week if they had one. Apples and oranges.

 

[Ogopogo]

Hey guys,

What do you think are some ways the AFL can increase attendance to games in 2015?

Attendance over the last 5 seasons has been trending down.

2014 - 6,974,488 (33,693 per match)

2013 - 6,931,085 (33,484 per match)

2012 - 6,778,559 (32,747 per match)

2011 - 7,139,272 (36,425 per match)

2010 - 7,145,488 (38,417 per match)

What are your motivations to continue to go to games (even when your team is average/bottom 8 team)?

And does anyone know any teams who were consistently performing average/poor over a good period of time, but the club managed to keep their fan attendance high?

Attendance hasn't been trending down, we added the Suns and Giants - their attendance numbers have skewed the results. Particularly the Giants numbers.

 

[Ogopogo]

Clubs could try promoting match attendance instead of membership payments.

Agreed. In North America, there are no memberships - just people who buy tickets and those who don't. I suspect AFL teams want to hang on to the membership cash, though.

 

[Ogopogo]

One thing i would change and it has to do with the whole TV thing is how long it takes to bloody bounce the ball after a goal. Umpire stands there waiting for the green light, BOUNCE THE BLOODY THING!!!
To many 30+min qtrs, ridiculous.

I don't often watch American football but, the final two minutes of the Super Bowl's first half took 30 minutes. It could be far worse - could you imagine footy with TV timeouts? Puke.

 

[Ogopogo]

Cheaper tickets and no booking fees. It's ******* ridiculous that ticket companies can throw on a $6 fee per transaction anyway, but when you combine that with tickets each time you buy them, it's ludicrous.

Every stadium on the east coast fails to fill, yet the ticket prices always go up. If the tickets were cheaper, more people would go, more people would spend money on food and drinks, and more people would be likely to take an interest in live footy.

Even the MCG only fills up a few times a year, and even with a blockbuster like Geelong vs. Hawthorn, it fails to fill to anywhere near capacity. If kids tickets were free (or even more heavily reduced), if adult tickets were 30% cheaper, or if less popular games had a 'buy one get one free' ticket program, then we'd be seeing far more people going.

Quite honestly, the AFL is getting greedy with what they expect of fans. They complain that not enough people are going to live games, yet they schedule the games around TV audiences, not live audiences. They complain that blockbuster games aren't selling out, yet sell adult tickets at $50+. They complain that people 'just aren't going to live games anymore', and continue to hike prices for everything.

It's about time the league's bigwigs got their heads out of their arses and actually took an interest in what the fans want.

They are learning from the NFL's cash machine. The less like the NFL the better.

 

[joop]

Make tickets cheaper, and better seats.
I still have no idea how you can book a ticket to a game with 20,000 people at the G and end up in the nosebleeds when Level 1 is empty.

 

[rdhopkins2]

Yes, open the better seating areas first for those purchasing tickets.

It's frustrating to look online and be told the best available is higher than Everest, when you know 100% that those seats are unsold.

 

[FRUMPY]

1. Cheaper ticket prices
2. Only have reserved seating for big games (50k+ expected at mcg, 35k+ expected at docklands) And i mean dont have just top tier unreserved, have it all unreserved
3. Better times of games played (no thursday/monday night games, no twilight etc)

 

[carnthedons]

1. Cheaper ticket prices
2. Only have reserved seating for big games (50k+ expected at mcg, 35k+ expected at docklands) And i mean dont have just top tier unreserved, have it all unreserved
3. Better times of games played (no thursday/monday night games, no twilight etc)

1. Agreed
2. Not sure how this could work with reserved seat members who pay a whole load of money for that seat, maybe just confine it to certain blocks
3. Amen, brother/sister/sibling (not sure on your gender identity)

 

[SJ]

Not a fair analysis. Soccer stadiums are much smaller because the pitch is much smaller. Most English Premier League teams play on a ground with capacity of under 30,000 (well under in some cases). Only Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Newcastle and Man U have stadiums 45k+ and then none anywhere near the size of the MCG. This significantly impacts attendances.

EDIT: Added in Newcastle!

They've also got three times the population in about one-thirtieth of the area.

 

[JeffDunne]

Better stadiums & facilities.

Just ask Port.

 

[syl97]

They've also got three times the population in about one-thirtieth of the area.

Yes lots of reasons why the comparison is meaningless!

 

[pazza]

A return to 1980's prices, whereby kids like myself got in for $1 until we were 16.
More standing room areas at all grounds. This includes concourses inside venues (you don't everyone sitting down at matches).
Food and drink vendors to drive prices lower.

 

[FRUMPY]

1. Agreed
2. Not sure how this could work with reserved seat members who pay a whole load of money for that seat, maybe just confine it to certain blocks
3. Amen, brother/sister/sibling (not sure on your gender identity)

Agree, but there arnt too many of those, usually just 2nd tier i think at the G. Thats fine. But if i want to to go a carlton game and get a half decent seat i need to buy reserved seat. I can understand when we play essendon, richmond and collingwood but game against melbourne, doggies and other lesser supported teams its crap. Options are to rock up on the day and sit in top tier or pay the extra money to get a reserved seat. A major reason i and others wont go, especially if there are a number of you going.

 

[00Stinger]

Hey guys,

What do you think are some ways the AFL can increase attendance to games in 2015?

Attendance over the last 5 seasons has been trending down.

2014 - 6,974,488 (33,693 per match)

2013 - 6,931,085 (33,484 per match)

2012 - 6,778,559 (32,747 per match)

2011 - 7,139,272 (36,425 per match)

2010 - 7,145,488 (38,417 per match)

What are your motivations to continue to go to games (even when your team is average/bottom 8 team)?

And does anyone know any teams who were consistently performing average/poor over a good period of time, but the club managed to keep their fan attendance high?

According to those stats it's actually increasing, do you even maths?

 

[KissKiss]

Agreed. In North America, there are no memberships - just people who buy tickets and those who don't. I suspect AFL teams want to hang on to the membership cash, though.

I thought the season ticket thing were basically memberships. The waiting list for some of those are incredibly long from memory (might even put the MCC to shame). Although they do the ticket stub system much better. Would be great if we could do that here better. Would be much better than seeing all the empty Medallion club and other corporate seats empty all the time

 

[lakesidebloods]

Nothing looks worse than an empty stadium ,so for lower drawing games when GWS and Gold coast are playing in Melbourne why not have club members of any club get in for free or at least a discount price on entry

 

[Lachlan Clark]

The attendance average has only been going down because of the introduction of GWS and GC.

 

[fabulousphil]

If we returned to suburban grounds like many soccer clubs in the UK do, the sell out of grounds % would be quite high, many poor drawing clubs get to use the MCG a couple of times a year at least to give them a chance to play on the ground.

Subi, Adelaide Oval, the SCG ATM have a fairly high % of ground sell outs.