I think you raise a very interesting point, Penguin. There is a definite reluctance to spend on discretionary items at the present time. For example, at fundraising lunches and dinners it is now hardly worthwhile conducting auctions because the returns are so meagre.
At first glance this shift in sentiment seems illogical given that both unemployment and inflation in this country is so low; but I think that there are two main contributing factors. The first is fear mongering about the economy because of political agendas. The other, which thus far draws little attention, is people's concern that their wealth is being eroded. The long real estate boom led to residential prices spiralling up to levels unsustainable in the longer term in relation to incomes. Many families burdened themselves with huge mortgages in anticipation that the values of their homes and investment properties would inevitably continue to increase, making them progressively more wealthy. We are now seeing an unwinding of the property boom and an unpleasant realisation that family wealth is declining but the mortgage burden will continue into the foreseeable future.
From the beginning of the professional era ticket prices for rugby matches were set much too high. Has the Sydney Football Stadium ever been full for a Super game? I can't remember it happening. Combine that with the fact that the bulk of the population cannot view our sport on a regular basis because it is not available on free-to-air television and you have a perfect environment for a contracting supporter base.
Our sport is going backwards at all levels relative to the two other main football codes; and the best we can come up with is to commission a review whose sole purpose is to determine the best way to replace some of the existing suits around the ARU Board table with other suits.
.
Excellent post Bruce especially at it touches on two topics close to my heart. Growing the game by making it more accessible to new supporters and political scaremongering.
Ticket prices should be set at a level with the aim to fill the stadium rather than to skim the top end of the market for a little more profit. Get people into the stadium and then make money on them buying programs, beer, food, souvenirs etc. Sacrificing a little profit now for a much larger and healthier market tomorrow is the way to go. It's like these marketing people can't connect the dots and work out that if people attend test matches or S15 games then they are more likely to spend money on rugby in other ways (e.g. the new Wallaby jersey for themselves and the kids).
Someone who is skeptical about our sport isn't going to pay through the nose to dip their toe in the waters and see if they like it. Make the prices low enough so that these new comers feel like they're ripping the ARU off by taking up a seat at a price that's a steal. Then just when they're not expecting it we'll convert them by stealth and let the majesty that is test rugby do the talking.
As for political scaremongering your average politician knows about as much about running an economy as a RL player knows about scrummaging. Up here in the EU all the scaremongering about the Euro has talked our economy into a double dip recession. Just before Christmas the Euro crisis had abated and all the statistics, job figures, opinion polls from consumers and manufacturers, budgets for the new year etc. showed the green shoots of recovery. It was just short of hanging a huge sign out that Google Earth could read saying "Recession Over!".
I'm a firm believer that the current economic crisis would be over by now if the politicians shut up and stopped talking about it, then stood back and let those with the ability to DO something about it.
Everything looked good for the few weeks of the Christmas break with retailers reporting a brisker trade than expected in many countries. Then the politician and investment bankers came back from their holidays and within a week it was crisis all over again. The fact that the Euro didn't collapse while they were off skiing or whatever over Chirstmas didn't register with them. The important thing was that the FTSE, DAX or whatever market had lost a whole 1/2% or whatever it was.
I find it baffling why the level of an investment market should be so important to the health of an economy in the modern era. It's not ignorance on my part either having spent well over a decade working in banking and funds. The fact that I'm aware that banks will purposely engineer drops in certain markets in order to profit makes the obsession by politicians even more alarming. The additional fact that banks make more profit in times of recession also seems to escape them.
Politicians should look after the economy first and then let markets look after themselves by taking advantage of a favourable economy. Instead politicians the world over are the same. In good times when basic economic theory tells us that they should be putting the breaks on the economy they instead have tax cuts aimed at winning more votes in the upcoming election. These tax cuts then over stimulate the economy and lead to recession. In times of recession when they should be spending to stimulate the economy they make cuts to spending, because they or previous governments have spent our rainy day fund on tax cuts at the wrong time.
It's my firm belief that politicians have as much right to be near the running of an economy and indeed are as much use as a winger in the front row of a scrum.
Anyway I've prattled on too much and I'm sure many on here don't need to read my wanderings on politics when I can already bore you with my meanderings on rugby.
