Where are the crowds?

[Amies]

I think it's been long enough to declare that there is a large drop in average game crowds.. and this raises some questions in regards to the future of this League. Yes i realise due to two new teams that average attendance across the board is up, but lets not dance around the fact less people are showing up.
I noticed recently, thanks to a source from Uni, that television ratings were up 4% on last year, and 6% on the year before. And with a new television rights deal around the corner things look bright. But where are the crowds?

The league seems to be progressing nicely, could be better, could be alot worse?! So what do the FFA do?

P.S there seems to be a sudden lack of marketing up here in qld, anyone else notice that?
P.P.S I am doing an essay on this topic, cheers for the help

 

[TheGreatBambino]

Will be a big crowd this week vs Sydney 1st vs 2nd, Muscats 500th game. Anyone know if they are bringing the stadium in again?

 

[that_dood]

On last years figures (Last year's final average vs this years current average. I can't be bothered finding the average at the same stage of last year):

Perth Glory: Up 19%
Wellington: Up 4%
Adelaide United: Down 2%
Sydney FC: Down 2%
Melbourne: Down 18%
Central Coast: Down 26%
Brisbane Roar: Down 32%
Newcastle: Down 40%

League Average: Down 20%

Marketing and pricing are clearly the biggest issues. The FFA need to start heavily marketing games in their respective markets and clubs need to make going to the games attractive to the public.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Brisbane, Newcastle and Adelaide are all due to form really. The rest are probably due to financial pressures still.

 

[Embers]

Just research the amount of members each club has and the amount its dropped for each club and theres your essay. In the Jets case especially season ticket holders has plummetted and so have the crowds. Numbers are quite similar

 

[A Living God]

Melbourne
2005: 42%
2007: -23%
Adelaide United
2005: 4%
2007: -10%
Perth Glory
2005: -4%
2007: 24%
Central Coast
2005: -4%
2007: -40%
Sydney FC
2005: -28%
2007: -26%
Newcastle
2005: -35%
2007: -55%
Wellington
2007: -37%
Brisbane Roar
2005: -42%
2007: -49%
League Average
2007: -35%
2005: -14%

 

[twentydollarnote]

the biggest mystery is melbourne and brisbane and maybe CCM all the others there are reasons.

 

[twentydollarnote]

I think it's been long enough to declare that there is a large drop in average game crowds.. and this raises some questions in regards to the future of this League. Yes i realise due to two new teams that average attendance across the board is up, but lets not dance around the fact less people are showing up.
I noticed recently, thanks to a source from Uni, that television ratings were up 4% on last year, and 6% on the year before. And with a new television rights deal around the corner things look bright. But where are the crowds?

The league seems to be progressing nicely, could be better, could be alot worse?! So what do the FFA do?

P.S there seems to be a sudden lack of marketing up here in qld, anyone else notice that?
P.P.S I am doing an essay on this topic, cheers for the help

Isnt it the opposite average crowds are down partly because Nth qld and goldcoast are a long way below the average?

 

[Synth]

Im sure Victory crows are down due to their early poor performances at home.

On top of that, with a second club around the corner I expect it to drop even further.

 

[Amies]

Sorry i meant, that more people total per week are going to games with the two new teams. Someone always seems to use that point in converstation.
Being from Brisbane i can probably only comment on the problems here, first of all, I dont know what has happened since Bomba took over but the money has well and truly dried up. Marketing of the team was literally left on Farina's shoulders to stir controversy and keep interest up, Farina leaves and Ange the moron enters and bang the interest is gone. 20k or there abouts watched the Roar lose to GC in round 1 so the foundation is there. Get out there and find out what the fans want, rule number 1 and the Roar fail miserably at it.

 

[Subaru Impreza]

The crowd figure for Brisbane V Adelaide Utd was 5,081 and I cant blame the spectators for not wanting to come.

The game was just plain dour, and the A-league seriously has to have a look at their products, I get the feeling that teams are 'too scared to lose'. The passing, the goal shooting, the touches on the football are just so way behind, I honestly think it ranks alongside the bottom of English football maybe League One or League Two to be fair.

3 games this week where it ended up 1-0, and to be fair they were probably the worst games to watch. Maybe incentive for teams to score more goals or so? I dont know but a few years back I heard somewhere that the A-League was looking to introduce 'bonus points' or something in order to create more exciting football. When I first heard that I thought it was a joke, but looking back on it now, I dont think its a bad idea.

 

[Boro]

There are a few major reasons...

The costing. Prices rose enormous amounts in Qld. Season ticket prices doubled and tickets that cost $20 a few years ago were now $35 (and that was the cheapest seats) despite the product being no better. Brisbane crowds are always very price conscious and the increase doesn't make sense when everyone can sit at home and watch for free. Prices have come down now, but the horse has already bolted and if tickets were free atm crowds would still struggle to be over 10k up here.

The Scheduling. FFA have done a terrible job of organising the fixtures this year. It has all been set up for the TV viewer rather than the fan going to the game. Games in the middle of the day in summer are silly, scheduling Sunday games in Brisbane is silly and so on...obviously whoever organises the fixtures really has no idea about when people want to go to game...each area has different wants and needs and it is up to the FFA to know them and schedule accordingly.

Start of the season. Once again the FFA made a huge mistake on the timing of the start of the season...crowds should be up at this that time of year as all supporters are optimistic, but starting the year in AFL/NRL finals time is just plain stupid. The club CEO's had a meeting with FFA and all of them thought the same thing...the season should start in October...it also would have helped the local Australian WC hopefuls but the FFA obviously didn't think about that.

There are also local reasons as to why crowds are down...Brisbane Roar have continued (especially under Frank) of doing a poor job of getting into the local football community and generating support.

 

[that_dood]

Brisbane crowds are always very price conscious and the increase doesn't make sense when everyone can sit at home and watch for free.

Everything else you said was pretty much spot on, but the last time I checked Foxtel was not cheap.

 

[Boro]

Everything else you said was pretty much spot on, but the last time I checked Foxtel was not cheap.

Foxtel being expensive makes little to no difference. A family of 4 would easily spend double the monthly fee going to 1 match, so it makes financial sense for them to choose Foxtel over going to live matches. If people already have Foxtel (and lets face it, if you are really into football you'll have it) they are less likely to go to matches as well if tickets are over priced...

 

[twentydollarnote]

And lets face it even if it were cheaper than going game day no one is going to buy foxtel just for the soccer either its just an added bonus.

I don’t reckon you cant underestimate the effect starting the season during the AFL finals and olympics the previous season would of have had in killing off any momentum too, a bizarre decision considering most a-league players even if they were good enough arent even in contention for the WC because the season finishes too early!

Anyway my pie in the sky theories for crowd drops:

melbourne- lost the mainstream support (apparently due to ethihad and season3) but probably the 1000's of wannabe muzza's and having archie thompson as the face of your club dont help.
syndey- they know they need a decent marquee player to get the theatregoers turning up instead they sign aloisi and let fowler/yorke/kewell slip through their fingers (19k turned up for fowler game as opposed to 9k normally)
Brisbane- Partly ticket costs and match scheduling, but when they dropped the prices they still stayed away, lost for good maybe? 2/3's drop is terrible as well FFA should of fixed it ASAP.
Perth- Fickle sydney-like supporters only turn up when winning, hard to know how much of a supporter base they actually have (maybe overestimated them a bit from their successful NSL days), also shit stadium apparently, mixed peformances despite the decent signings, boring, anything else?
Adelaide- Egotistical owner, then no owner, failure to connect to mainstream, boring to watch, i think the friday night shout has masked the actual support levels atm, stadium has also reached its peak.
Newcastle- Allowed whole premiership team to disintegrate, poor performances, another egoistical owner and generally unprofessional.
CCM- Slide started last season, continued this season, very boring to watch, but hard to find genuine reason.
Wellington- Look on the way up will take time as brand has taken a battering over the recent years.
Gold coast- PR diaster, didnt judge market well + expensive ticket prices
Nth Qld- Heart of ruby league started right in their finals and uncompetitive squad, despite being good to watch, fowler the only positive, small population to draw from also.

 

[twentydollarnote]

The crowd figure for Brisbane V Adelaide Utd was 5,081 and I cant blame the spectators for not wanting to come.

The game was just plain dour, and the A-league seriously has to have a look at their products, I get the feeling that teams are 'too scared to lose'. The passing, the goal shooting, the touches on the football are just so way behind, I honestly think it ranks alongside the bottom of English football maybe League One or League Two to be fair.

3 games this week where it ended up 1-0, and to be fair they were probably the worst games to watch. Maybe incentive for teams to score more goals or so? I dont know but a few years back I heard somewhere that the A-League was looking to introduce 'bonus points' or something in order to create more exciting football. When I first heard that I thought it was a joke, but looking back on it now, I dont think its a bad idea.

The second half of adel v bris was alright i thought, but thats exactly right about too scared to lose its like they play like an european club but without the tempo/skills. They should make the table for goals scored rather than goal difference and when we get extra ACL places give them to the highest goal scorers (as well as the champions and premiers). Another thing is the times of their matches often i have to IQ them and watch them later i think this could be improved.

 

[ErnieSigley]

Anyway my pie in the sky theories for crowd drops:

melbourne- lost the mainstream support (apparently due to ethihad and season3) but probably the 1000's of wannabe muzza's and having archie thompson as the face of your club dont help.

Pie in the sky yes.
Early season games during the AFL games haven't helped. The is a distinct lack of marketing in Melbourne ie Little media compared to 3 seasons back. There is also a 'now we've already won it twice its a bit ho hum' factor.

The rest of what you think is BS and you've been told a few times already.

 

[twentydollarnote]

yes it is pie in the sky, marketing is also an issue but i suspect they blew their marketing budget when they started the aleague which seems reasonable as you need a big start to get some traction but now its more up to the clubs to retain supporters which some havent done.

 

[walhawk]

If Australia does not make it past the group stage in the WC, and we are not awarded the WC in 2018 or 2022, I reckon the A League is in huge trouble as crowds will not increase and surely the current paltry crowds are not sustainable.
The new stadium in Melbourne will help but the new club here won't.

 

[meh]

I'll throw my 2 cents in for why the crowds are poor-ish for each club.

Adelaide - Call me bias, but surely we are an exception? Shit team and shitter coach yet we still turn up in numbers (other than the Newcastle game), results and structure of the team must improve however otherwise then the numbers will really slip.

Brisbane - Everyone has mentioned it, prices, performance, no stability, surely a move to Ballymore could be on the cards?

CCM - Never really pulled big crowds, and despite their goal blitz last month, they are generally ordinary to watch. They don't seem to be fanatical fans as such either.

Gold Coast - A marketing nightmare, just thought they would bring a few hack Brazilians and a couple of classy players and the crowd would turn up, long story short, an embarassment, and can't see the numbers rising.

Melbourne - Fixturing struck them down early, really clashing with AFL and a Thursday night kick-off, got gradually better but then hurt by huge home losses, baring no major form lapses, will bringing in around 20k regularly, interesting to see how many supporters divert to the Heart.

Newcastle - Form? Bandwagon supporters? Weather? Facilities? No-one knows, in their GF year they had great crowds, probably struggled early with the overlap of the NRL but now there are no excuses, and with the team in form, 5k is very very ordinary.

North Qld - I think the Fury are an exception, NRL is the dominant sport, not a huge population, and shocking performances, yet still around 7k, which I think will be the benchmark for them for a few season, the Fowler factor is having a good effect and they need more stability and almost planning for life after Robbie.

Perth Glory - Fairly good support IMO, good crowds but as we saw last year, when the team is struggling, the crowd goes shizenhouzen. Need results, but has potential to be a leading crowd puller.

Sydney- Bling FC? A European coach bringing his boring at batshit European players with him isn't the definition of bling. Maybe good for results, but for entertainment value it isn't great, we saw the Yorke effect, and as $20note said before, evidence when Fowler played the crowd was great. Must cut Aloisi, an bring in a foriegn striker/play maker.

Wellington - Fanatic support, just not a real lot of it, the massive stadium probably doesn't help. We should see a rise coming into World Cup time.

Fox Sports FC made a great point last night, the A-League's unpredicitability and inconsistency makes it one of the very few leagues in the world where supporters of their team can turn up to any match and genuinely think their side has a chance of winning, if that isn't enough to bring in the crowds, I don't know what will.

There is plenty of advertising on Foxtel and Fox does a great job broadcasting the games, but surely they need just a bit more exposure of FTA, scheduling also is a huge factor and FFA must get it right.

 

[twentydollarnote]

Nice write up, the good thing is despite there being a little long term damage, most of those situations are reversible if they get their act together, so its not as if they are all performing well and no one is bothering to take notice.

 

[that_dood]

11,530 for the Brisbane match tonight! I don't know where that came from (Maybe the Fowler factor) but that is a real good crowd for the Roar.

 

[Synth]

11,530 for the Brisbane match tonight! I don't know where that came from (Maybe the Fowler factor) but that is a real good crowd for the Roar.

Mid week game with Nothing on TV. Holidays for some. Fowler. QLD vs QLD?

Not sure really but there is something great about watching sport midweek during summer.

 

[Boro]

It was definitely the Fowler factor...it's been talked about for ages, and really is still a poor crowd imo compared to other years...probably would have gotten 20+ in any other season.

 

[meh]

The real test will be the follow up crowd in 2 weeks, however a good performance and result tonight was just what the Roar needed to bring back the fans.