It’s been well-documented recently that the National Rugby League has been suffering from attendance problems during the opening weeks of the season. More bluntly, some good football has been played to mostly-empty stadiums. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but on the whole, the attendance lists do not make for happy reading, particularly if you’re reading them from NRL headquarters.
Last Sunday afternoon, I went out to Brookvale Oval to watch Parramatta against Manly. I arrived towards the end of the NSW Cup fixture, and spent a sizeable chunk of time between the end of that game and the start of the NRL match twiddling my thumbs.
It gave me time to think about the game day situation at rugby league, and I realised that, these days, that what you see sitting in a grandstand somewhere is basically the same as what you can get sitting at home on television. Therein lies the problem.
The way to get crowds out is to provide something at the ground that you don’t get at home watching on television. Basically, as it happens now, the two teams come out onto the field, either with or without being serenaded by cheerleaders and the game is kicked off. Just like that. Really, it isn’t that much different to park footy. The thing is, it should be much bigger and better – flashier, slicker, more professional – than park footy.
Anyone who’s read enough of what I’ve written here knows that I spend a fair amount of time in America, and have just returned from a month there. The great thing that the North Americans do extraordinarily well is make you feel like you’re at the biggest game on the continent at that time. Not even talking about Kiss Cam and Dance Cam and whatever else-cam, there is a sense of anticipation slowly ramped up, the sense that there’s going to be a titanic struggle about to be played out in front of us.
I remember being at a Columbus vs. Los Angeles hockey game in Staples Centre back in late 2008, at which point neither team was even close to being labelled a powerhouse. It was a match-up of mediocre teams whose seasons, even in the early months, didn’t look like reaching great heights.
Though, based on the way the players were welcomed onto the ice, you’d have sworn that this was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, between two star-studded teams. There were light shows, smoke machines, clever graphics on the scoreboard, showing places skating through a snowy Los Angeles, and the blaring goal horn.
All combined, it was an exciting assault on the senses. It got me excited, or ‘jacked up’ as the Americans like to say, and ready for some hockey. Cheap bells and whistles, maybe, but it had the desired effect: the crowd were at fever pitch. The singing of the national anthem was spine-tingling, too. By the time they dropped the puck, the atmosphere in the building was great.
Basically, it was the sort of pre-game atmosphere and excitement that you can’t get from watching on television, and such a spectacle is why the NHL routinely sells out arenas, as do other sports in North America. To bring the crowds in, there needs to be an obvious difference to what you see and experience at the ground/arena versus what you get on television.
In America (and, I’m led to believe, in Europe and other parts of the world) that has been achieved. In Australia, it has not. You turn on your television, see the team run out and get the game underway…which is exactly what you are likely to see turning up at any football ground this weekend. That’s basically what happened when I was at the Manly vs. Parramatta game on Sunday afternoon, aside from the presence of a group of dancers to highlight the talents of those with physical disability or impairment – that, NRL, was a nice touch.
No wonder the fans are staying away. It’s cheaper to sit at home, and there isn’t really a reason to go to a game. There just isn’t any real reason to go when you can stay home, thus avoiding things like expensive food, long queues and the occasional group of loud-mouthed fans to sour the day. The exception is these big games, preceding which is, of course, entertainment.
Obviously, some of what is done in America isn’t possible here, but the idea is there, a way to pump into the game day experience something unique to being at the ground. Along with perhaps lowering the ticket prices – a subject best left for it’s own article – I’d hazard a guess as to say that throwing on something exciting before the game would bring the crowds back through the turnstiles, which in turn helps television advertising revenue and makes those wide-panning camera shots look more impressive, too.
Yeah, I know you’re going to say that the on-field product is arguably as good as it’s ever been, and that we don’t need cheap entertainment beforehand. Well, you’re right about how good the sporting product is, but having some form of a pre-game spectacle definitely raises the collective blood pressure of the crowd, and that makes the game-time atmosphere even better.
Last weekend, I was at the SCG for the opening game of the 2014 Major League Baseball season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. From the moment we walked into the ground, there was a terrific buzz in the air. The atmosphere was tremendous. The introductions of the players, who come out of the dugout to applause, is a baseball tradition, and gives the crowd a chance to put a face to the name of all the guys who would be out on the field. Having Adam Goodes out to throw a ceremonial first pitch was great as well, and something similar could – and should – be considered for sport here.
Closer to home, the AFL’s biggest regular season games are ANZAC Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon and the Dreamtime at the ‘G contest between Richmond and Essendon. Granted, both these are rivalry games, but the way the league packages the game with entertainment and spectacle around it. No wonder these games draw upwards of 85,000, the sort of numbers that (most) NRL preliminary finals don’t draw.
The AFL has sent various CEOs and the like across to America to study how the NFL does things. They are learning about turning a game into a big show. The NFL has it’s own problems with attendance in markets where teams are under-performing, but their low numbers aren’t anywhere near as low as what the NRL draws.
I could write a whole different article about ticket prices – which are pretty high, especially when you take into account the additional costs involved in taking a family to the footy – but I can’t help but wonder if people wouldn’t be more interested in shelling out cash if they knew they were going to see something different to what they can get far cheaper on television?
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