NRC Crowd Watch

[waiopehu oldboy]

More than most ITM games!

Numbers are hardly ever published but you're right, the numbers are obviously not great & it's not gone unnoticed:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/10530293/NZRU-boss-Steve-Tew-concerned-by-low-turnouts

Fair to say most sports are struggling to some degree or other, except at the very top end e.g. world cups.

 

[TOCC]

Seriously? I just watched a set that traversed a good 60m & there wasn't a spectator to be seen. You'd assume that such crowd as there is would be between the 22's but nada.

This is going to sound cliche, but its because everyone sits in the opposing stands from the Cameras. Crowd was around 5'000 apparently..


from Twitter

https://twitter.com/Carpofooty/status/516099799225876480/photo/1

 

[drewprint]

Seriously? I just watched a set that traversed a good 60m & there wasn't a spectator to be seen. You'd assume that such crowd as there is would be between the 22's but nada.

I'm not too sure about exact numbers, but 9,000 is certainly possible. I was there, and one stand (the one in the shade) and the Hill were packed, with a few stragglers up in the other stands. It was a really good turn out I think.

 

[drewprint]

Thanks TOCC, approx. 5,000 feels about right.

 

[Crashy]

Well done QLD on some good crowds. Surely FOX SPORTS will want to show more games now that the football content has fallen off.
I would say 3 - 4k at the Rays / Rams game today which gave the game a nice vibe - plus it really came to life in the second half when the RAMS started piling on the points.
Be good to see the crowds start to kick on from here.

 

[Quick Hands]

Crowd at Brookvale was announced as 2,900, looked a few more, but should have drawn high 3s on a sunny Sunday with no other rugby or league on. Plenty of kids there which was a positive.

 

[Wilson]

best round yet:

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Crowds definitely on the up....watch web stream of QLD game and crowd looked low but by those photos keep see the deception ie crowd indeed looked about 5k.....and local sydney derby drawing 2900 not bad either as remember with league finals and AFL grand final most people would have had their allocation of football...

Melbourne Rising also have a standard good local turnout average of 2k per game so not looking too bad at early stages and with next to no marketing.....

 

[TOCC]

Rd 1​

Brisbane vs Sydney - 3'408
Canberra vs Perth - 1'500
NSW Country vs Rams - 1'000
Melbourne vs North Harbour - 2'187
Total: 8'000

Rd 2
Rams vs Vikings - 1'200
QLD Country vs NSW Country -1'800
Stars vs Rising - 1'002
Spirit vs Brisbane - 2'300
Total: 6'300

Rd 3
Rays vs Eagles - 1'982
Spirit vs Rams - 2'200
Vikings vs Q Country - 2'000
City vs Rising - 3'300
Total: 9'482

Rd 4
Rising vs Spirit - 2'096
Rams vs Stars - 1'063
Q Country vs Rays - 1'500*
Eagles vs City - 750
Total: 5'409

Rd 5
Q Country vs Rams - 1'500
Eagles vs Rising - 2'000
Rays vs Spirit - 2'187
Stars vs Vikings - 1'047
Total: 6'734

Rd 6
Rising vs Vikings - 1'977
City vs Q Country - 5'000
Spirit vs Stars - 1'445
Rays vs Rams - 2'900
Total: 11'322

 

[Quick Hands]

Rd 1
Brisbane vs Sydney - 3'408
Canberra vs Perth - 1'500
NSW Country vs Rams - 1'000
Melbourne vs North Harbour - 2'187
Total: 8'000

Rd 2
Rams vs Vikings - 1'200
QLD Country vs NSW Country -1'800
Stars vs Rising - 1'002
Spirit vs Brisbane - 2'300
Total: 6'300

Skip a few rounds

Rd 5
Q Country vs Rams - 1'500
Eagles vs Rising - 2'000
Rays vs Spirit - 2'187
Stars vs Vikings - 1'047
Total: 6'734

Rd 6
Rising vs Vikings - 1'977
City vs Q Country - 5'000
Spirit vs Stars - 1'445
Rays vs Rams - 2'300
Total: 10'722

Ryas v Rams was announced as 2,9?? at the ground.

 

[TOCC]

Ryas v Rams was announced as 2,9?? at the ground.

thanks, adjusted the figures..

 

[Pfitzy]

Great stuff today at Brookey. Wind was cold, but top conditions for rugby watching otherwise.

Well done Queenslanders on a healthy turnout for your derby game.

Crowd at Brookvale was announced as 2,900, looked a few more, but should have drawn high 3s on a sunny Sunday with no other rugby or league on. Plenty of kids there which was a positive.

Do you base this number around e.g. Manly attendance?

Beach was very tempting for a lot of people today I think. Took me ages to get to my mate's place in North Narrabeen around 1PM.

Its fucking great to watch rugby in good conditions, but if you can get to the Northern Beaches and watch some talent sunbaking, that's a pretty hard decision right there.

 

[TOCC]

looking ahead in terms of broadcasting games, i wouldn't be surprised to see the Brisbane City vs Vikings game in Rd 9 broadcast, its been played at Suncorp as the pre-match to the Bledisloe so on a few levels it makes sense.

Boost exposure of the comp by having the broadcast lead-in to the Bledisloe, also costs should be off-set somewhat by playing at a stadium already configured for broadcast.

 

[Pfitzy]

I see on the NRC official fixtures page that the broadcast for rounds 7 and 8 are now set as the Thursday night games - I thought the last few rounds were open last time I checked, but this might be inaccurate.

Anyway, Round 9 will probably be locked in once they understand the parameters of the Wallaby game. I think Fox would be mad not to have a five-hour rugby fest when all the other contact codes are finished for the year, as you say.

 

[Quick Hands]

Great stuff today at Brookey. Wind was cold, but top conditions for rugby watching otherwise.

Well done Queenslanders on a healthy turnout for your derby game.





Do you base this number around e.g. Manly attendance?

Beach was very tempting for a lot of people today I think. Took me ages to get to my mate's place in North Narrabeen around 1PM.

Its fucking great to watch rugby in good conditions, but if you can get to the Northern Beaches and watch some talent sunbaking, that's a pretty hard decision right there.

Pretty much yes. Manly v Eastwood would draw more than 3,000 to Manly Oval with subbies matches as opposition, so I was hoping for something towards 4,000 for this.

 

[Omar Comin']

5,000 for the Queensland derby is okay.

But the Reds really did quite a lot of promotion for it through social media etc and 5,000 is a pretty small portion of the number of their season ticket holders and regular fans. And those 25-30k people would have all known about it. Would be interesting to see how many might turn up if Karmichael Hunt plays a game.

I wonder what can be done to up this %. The product is very good, the prices are great, the timing of most games is better for attending than super rugby. It has to be possible to one day have teams like Brisbane City, the Rising, Vikings and Spirit average at least half of what their respective Super Rugby teams get.

 

[TOCC]

5'000 is more then 'okay' for a brand new competition in only its 3rd match in Brisbane...its pretty bloody good.

 

[Omar Comin']

5'000 is more then 'okay' for a brand new competition in only its 3rd match in Brisbane.its pretty bloody good.

I would say no better than par for such a match. It's basically being marketed at the already existing large Reds supporter base and only a small % of Reds supporters are turning up.

 

[Braveheart81]

I would say no better than par for such a match. It's basically being marketed at the already existing large Reds supporter base and only a small % of Reds supporters are turning up.

If easily the biggest crowd of the NRC at the halfway point of the competition (including finals) in the first season is only par, maybe you need to adjust your benchmarks?

Otherwise when we analyse crowd figures we're working between par as the high point and absolutely dismal and it all becomes a bit meaningless.

Over time people should become more used to the NRC 'brand' and be more interested in attending matches. The challenge is about trying to get more of the regular Super Rugby attendees (and regular club rugby attendees) thinking that they need to go and see the NRC game that is on this weekend. As you mentioned, price and timing of the games is great. Just need people to start feeling that these matches have more importance to make them feel like they can't miss out.

 

[RugbyReg]

It will be interesting what the final figure is, if we get one. The QRL GF got 7500 at Suncorp on Sunday and that was with at least 3 games and multiple teams. So this over 5000 figure is pretty bloody good.