Is Rugby in Trouble in Oz?

[Richo]

Yep. And if you want to drop the dosh, you can do it in a lot more style. The trade-off is that getting shit-faced at the game is pricier, getting in is cheaper.

(Now if you want to talk best of both worlds, I can tell you about minor league ice hockey games in Quebec...)

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Or AHL games in South Texas

 

[Gagger]

It a pricing policy that naturally should be reviewed.

If there really are empty seats then you can lower the prices and still make the same profit. Simple mathematics, empty seats add $0 to the bottom line, 5000 x $40 naturally adds $200000 to the bottom line.

Simple maths is that if you cut the average price by $20 on the 71,000 seats you would have sold anyway, you've just blown $1,420,000 in order to make $200k

Assuming that its paid professionals pricing these things and not JO'N over a chardonnay, the question then remains - do you want to take money from what the ARU can give the grassroots / member unions to give you lower tickets prices?


In reply to the thread topic,

Participation figures were also on the rise in 2009, increasing by 4.8% to 192,581.

This included record participation numbers at senior and junior club levels.

The number of regular Rugby participants (senior and junior clubs, schools and women) was also at an all time high.

So, no.

 

[farva]

Participation figures were also on the rise in 2009, increasing by 4.8% to 192,581.

This included record participation numbers at senior and junior club levels.

The number of regular Rugby participants (senior and junior clubs, schools and women) was also at an all time high.

We are at close to 200k participants? I had seen data saying we only had 90k.
Im interested, what is RL like? I know soccer and AFL are well ahead of that (although AFL do skew their data by including participants in Ozkick).

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Gagger, you got a link for the grass roots figures?

 

[Gagger]

Same one http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/for...light=finances

 

[RugbyFuture]

404 not found, i read it was close to 196000 though, mungoball has double that however i think.

 

[Jethro Tah]

For comparison, ticket prices at Stade de France:

Wallabies EOYT 2010 v France : Category 1: €110 ($A152), Cat 2: €73 ($A101), Cat 3: €56 ($A78 ), Cat 4: €36 ($A50), Cat 5: €15 ($A21)
Single Super 14 Game : Price range Cat 1: €65 ($A90) down to Cat 5: €5 ($A7)
Three Pack Super 14 Games : Price range Cat 1: €98 ($A137) down to Cat 5: €36 ($A50)

Pretty good value IMO compared to Oz. The international games always sell out and the Super 14 games are 50 to 75% sold. But then again, French rugby only has soccer to compete with and a population 3 times the size of Oz.

 

[Nusadan]

For comparison, ticket prices at Stade de France:

Wallabies EOYT 2010 v France : Category 1: €110 ($A152), Cat 2: €73 ($A101), Cat 3: €56 ($A78 ), Cat 4: €36 ($A50), Cat 5: €15 ($A21)
Single Super 14 Game : Price range Cat 1: €65 ($A90) down to Cat 5: €5 ($A7)
Three Pack Super 14 Games : Price range Cat 1: €98 ($A137) down to Cat 5: €36 ($A50)

Pretty good value IMO compared to Oz. The international games always sell out and the Super 14 games are 50 to 75% sold. But then again, French rugby only has soccer to compete with and a population 3 times the size of Oz.

Big difference now than it was couple years ago...the strong AUD is making it look cheaper...but bloody France is still expensive! (was in Bordeaux area in June)

 

[RedsHappy]

404 not found, i read it was close to 196000 though, mungoball has double that however i think.

RF - you can find it on (fm memory) pg 67 of the ARU's 2009 Annual Report, obtainable from the ARU HQ section of rugby.com.au.

Beware these figures - they need pulling apart per group type - some trends are good, some are driven by category changes, they include 'golden oldies' and some group trends are bad to stagnant. And a number of years prior to 2009 were aggregate declines, with an uptick in 2009 creating a % increase on 2008 that was indirectly flattering the latest figures. To make this assessment carefully, comparative participation figures for other codes should be obtained, and their average % growths over, say, 2004-09. And remember that population growth in Australia has been strong in these periods, so 'real' code growth has to be population growth plus a X% margin, otherwise there is de facto numeric and market share stagnation, or shrinkage.