The AFL is on the mark in choosing the home ground format that will spearhead its challenge in rugby league’s Western Sydney heartland.
The announcement by Andrew Demetriou that the new Sydney AFL team will be based at a new oval at Rooty Hill to be developed in conjunction with Blacktown City Council also shows that the AFL has been keenly watching crowd trends in the National Rugby League.
The unmistakable trend in the NRL is away from venues such as the Sydney Olympic Stadium, which are not purpose built, or configured, for rugby league. Next year will see a significant shift in NRL match venues in Sydney away from the 80,000 seat stadium to local and traditional rugby league grounds that hold between 15,000 and 20,000 spectators.
The shift in games to the Sydney Olympic Stadium has been a PR disaster for NRL clubs this year. Crowds, if you can call them that, of less than 10,000 in the 80,000 seat venue have become commonplace. They look terrible on the television. Anyone who suggests that it is anything less than a total embarrassment is being economical with the truth.
The AFL’s announcement of a 10,000 capacity $30 million stadium — a joint venture between the AFL and the Blacktown Council — will be the home of the new Sydney team. It’s a move that allows the AFL the flexibility of shifting individual games to a larger stadium when warranted.
While the Sydney Swans have been drawing good crowds at select games played at the Olympic Stadium, the totals are down by about a third this year. That may in part relate to the Swans’ form, but there is no doubt that the Olympic Stadium is proving to be less of a draw card for both the AFL and the NRL.
It is no coincidence that the two NRL grounds leading the pack in attendances — Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium and the Gold Coast’s Skilled Stadium — are purpose built, modern stadiums. The latter is one of the great success stories of Australian sports venues. The Titans are drawing close to a full capacity (26,000) at all their home games.
When the AFL gets around to choosing the ground for its new Gold Coast team, it will no doubt look at the Titans’ success — a purpose built stadium that is very player friendly and even more spectator friendly.
Which bring us to the key issue here. For AFL fans, for whom a crowd somewhere in the 30,000 to 50,000 range is fairly normal, shouldn’t worry the Rooty Hill ground only has a capacity of around 10,000. The average crowd at Sydney NRL matches this season is just over 14,000! The AFL’s strategic move will cause the NRL to sit up and take notice.
I thought Roy Masters might be able to conjure up some more of his recent ingenious statistical analysis to show that the AFL’s business plan for Sydney’s West is flawed.
C’mon Roy…..how about it ????
Hard not to argue with old Herbert . . . he is quite right.
AFL is indeed not a contact sport. If I want to watch a non-contact sport, I watch the tennis.
In the mean time, I’ll keep my eyes peeled to the NRL. Watching a Tonie Carroll special is a sight to behold. I guess that makes me a neanderthol? Then my club is the Broncos
In all the self-congratulations about this announcement, there has been no mention of parking: less than 300 more car spaces for 10,000 people = 33 people per car. The place is nowhere near a train station and bus services are non-existant. A disaster waiting to happen.
Fifteen years from now, the AFL will be in the ascendence in Sydney’s west.
And it’s all got to do with product, product, product…..League & Union are 19th century origin contact sports & look like it compared to AFL & football.
The figures for the AFL’s product speak for themselves. The AFL takes more than $12 million a week or more than $260 million a year in home & away gate takings from attendances of usually more than 300 thousand paying fans each week nationally. And then there’s the final series takings..and then theres’ the TV rights which were $750 million for 5 years.
Neither the past or present League and Union mangement could have done anything to arrest the growth of AFL.. It’s simply a vastly superior sporting spectacle.