2023 Crowds and TV/Streaming

[Rob]

What? Point?

I am very very clearly talking about the AFL's actions not channel 7s

You seemed to imply that 7 would put pressure on the AFL to move the game to prime time.

I doubt 7 cares when it's held.

 

[The Educator]

You seemed to imply that 7 would put pressure on the AFL to move the game to prime time.

I doubt 7 cares when it's held.

I did not imply that at all. I'd suggest that you were the active agent in the "seeming"

The AFL should care when it's held

 

[Raz Man]

Boxing Day : Australia v Pakistan @ MCG = 62,167


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[weewilly]

Boxing Day : Australia v Pakistan @ MCG = 62,167


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Very good crowd considering the terrible weather forecast and playing a low supported Pakistan team!

 

[dave10]

Very good crowd considering the terrible weather forecast and playing a low supported Pakistan team!

The winners in the crowds over Xmas has to be the NBL doesn’t it? Strong crowds and ratings endorsement of their innovative mindset. Well led, this league is securing more and more fans without lots of noise. Creeping up on AL and even cricket. It’s been a real success story the last 3-4 years.

Cricket needs to lift its game. BBL looks to be treading water. Test cricket crowds (Ashe’s / India aside) are flat or down and overseas cricket leagues threaten the traditional game. If it’s not thrifty it could become the next Rugby.

 

[Billy ray]

Very good crowd considering the terrible weather forecast and playing a low supported Pakistan team!

But but but you cant blame terrible weather and low supported team is what I learnt from perth test.

 

[weewilly]

But but but you cant blame terrible weather and low supported team is what I learnt from perth test.

Perth also still get 40k + to the BBL unlike most other states maybe because this is not much in the way of sporting entertainment available over summer?

 

[Billy ray]

Perth also still get 40k + to the BBL unlike most other states maybe because this is not much in the way of sporting entertainment available over summer?

Timeslot. Its all it is. Perth wants genuine night timeslots. Cricket. Footy. Basketball.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Perth had a pink ball Test and still got 7k less a day in attendance than a comparable Adelaide fixture.

If the Melbourne Stars were 5-time champions at this point, they'd be averaging double the Scorchers crowds.

 

[Rob]

Perth had a pink ball Test and still got 7k less a day in attendance than a comparable Adelaide fixture.

If the Melbourne Stars were 5-time champions at this point, they'd be averaging double the Scorchers crowds.

That pink ball test ended at 8pm. The sun had barely gone down.

 

[Teen Wolf]

That pink ball test ended at 8pm. The sun had barely gone down.

Sunset about an hour before the end of play (given the extra 30 mins is always used) is the case for both Adelaide and Perth.

 

[Rob]

Sunset about an hour before the end of play (given the extra 30 mins is always used) is the case for both Adelaide and Perth.

I know why - east coast tv audiences. Just that it wasn't a real day nighter.

Play should be 3 to 10, not 1 to 8.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I know why - east coast tv audiences. Just that it wasn't a real day nighter.

Play should be 3 to 10, not 1 to 8.

2 to 9.30pm is genuine day-night cricket, which is exactly what that Test would've been if WA didn't pretend to be 3 hours behind AEDT.

 

[Billy ray]

2 to 9.30pm is genuine day-night cricket, which is exactly what that Test would've been if WA didn't pretend to be 3 hours behind AEDT.

Yep so make it 2-930 WST with optional extra 30 mins taking it to 10wst

 

[Teen Wolf]

Yep so make it 2-930 WST with optional extra 30 mins taking it to 10wst

Make bed, lie in it. Reject daylight savings, have things start at weird times.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Fun fact: todays Matildas game is at BC Place in Vancouver.

BC Place has been home to two VFL/AFL post season exhibition matches. On the 9th October 1987, Melbourne played Sydney there in front of a still record non Australian VFL/AFL crowd of 32,789 (this was followed 9 days later by a much more sedate 7,980 for North Melbourne v Melbourne)

Here's another fun fact about BC Place and footy.

It hosted SA v WA state game on 29th October 1988. See Video below, full game, and I have posted the notes from the video

I was living in Toronto at the time, there was no news in the papers or the 24 hour sports channel TSN about the game, but a couple of weeks earlier, the final of the Foster's Cup between Hawthorn and Collingwood was played at Uni of Toronto's gridiron team's ( Toronto Varsity Blues) home field in downtown Toronto ie just north of the CBD on Sunday 16th October. They got 18,571 people attend. It was a pretty full stadium, I think official capacity was 21,000.

I went to that game and it got decent media coverage, especially in the Toronto Sun and I have kept the 7 or 8 pages from the paper the day after the game, and have them somewhere in my storage boxes. A good mate I played footy with at uni, was studying in Kingston, about 4 hours drive east of Toronto, came to town, we watched the game, caught up with other Aussies, then went and watched Midnight Oil and Yothu Yindi play at Maple Leaf Gardens about 3 hours after the game ended.


Contains the entire game which was played in Vancouver, Canada. The reduced size of the field meant the teams were reduced to 15 players aside. The artificial surface forced all players to wear knee pads. The game is very fast and free flowing and exciting, with the outcome still uncertain in the final minutes. Sadly for South Australia and Glenelg, Chirs McDermott suffered a serious knee injury during this game. [scores were tied with a couple of minutes to go and WA won by 7 pts.]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Fun fact: todays Matildas game is at BC Place in Vancouver.

BC Place has been home to two VFL/AFL post season exhibition matches. On the 9th October 1987, Melbourne played Sydney there in front of a still record non Australian VFL/AFL crowd of 32,789 (this was followed 9 days later by a much more sedate 7,980 for North Melbourne v Melbourne)

Only just dawned on me, that is probably the first "VFL game" Bruce McAvaney called on TV.

Bruce moved from Adelaide to Melbourne just after the 1983 SANFL season and from 7 in Adelaide to 10 in Melbourne, basically so he could go to the Olympics with 10 to call athletics, who at the time were owned by Murdoch, and he won the Oz TV rights for 1984 and 1988 Olympics in 1983.

In 1987 Broadcom got the rights to the VFL after 7 stuffed things up, and the ABC also got TV rights to 1 or 2 games. Broadcom and 10 came to an agreement, but Broadcom didn't use 10's sport's commentators they basically employed the old gang from 7 and a couple of other newbies.

After the 1988 Olympics, 7 won the rights to 1992 Olympics in January 1989 and Bruce then negotiated his way out of his contract with 10 network and went to 7 so he could do the Olympics. I think he transferred either during or after the 1989 VFL season and didn't call games on 7 that season. He hosted Sportsworld on a Sunday morning on 7 from the start of 1990 and was definietly calling games for 7 in 1990, but didn't get to call the 1990 GF.

Edit - He didn't call the footy for 7 in 1989 because he had signed for 7 during the footy season but didn't move over until the start of 1990.

Bruce McAvaney previews Seven's AFL grand final coverage

Bruce McAvaney is very much a part of AFL grand-final day, not only for those watching on the Saturday but also for those who flick on a replay in the decades ahead.

www.smh.com.au

McAvaney says this will be his "16th or 17th" grand final call, but there's one he missed just before he joined Seven that he wished he had been in the booth for. That was the epic 1989 clash between Geelong and Hawthorn, considered the greatest of the modern grand finals.

"Before that grand final, I knew I was going to Channel Seven and I was sitting back in Adelaide here watching it with my father and brother and my mother. They were both alive at the time, mum and dad, I remember watching and thinking I wish was calling this match, knowing I was joining Channel Seven (from Ten) the next year," he said.

 

[weewilly]

Only just dawned on me, that is probably the first "VFL game" Bruce McAvaney called on TV.

Bruce moved from Adelaide to Melbourne just after the 1983 SANFL season and from 7 in Adelaide to 10 in Melbourne, basically so he could go to the Olympics with 10 to call athletics, who at the time were owned by Murdoch, and he won the Oz TV rights for 1984 and 1988 Olympics in 1983.

In 1987 Broadcom got the rights to the VFL after 7 stuffed things up, and the ABC also got TV rights to 1 or 2 games. Broadcom and 10 came to an agreement, but Broadcom didn't use 10's sport's commentators they basically employed the old gang from 7 and a couple of other newbies.

After the 1988 Olympics, 7 won the rights to 1992 Olympics in January 1989 and Bruce then negotiated his way out of his contract with 10 network and went to 7 so he could do the Olympics. I think he transferred either during or after the 1989 VFL season and didn't call games on 7 that season. He hosted Sportsworld on a Sunday morning on 7 from the start of 1990 and was definietly calling games for 7 in 1990, but didn't get to call the 1990 GF.

Edit - He didn't call the footy for 7 in 1989 because he had signed for 7 during the footy season but didn't move over until the start of 1990.

Bruce McAvaney previews Seven's AFL grand final coverage

Bruce McAvaney is very much a part of AFL grand-final day, not only for those watching on the Saturday but also for those who flick on a replay in the decades ahead.

www.smh.com.au

McAvaney says this will be his "16th or 17th" grand final call, but there's one he missed just before he joined Seven that he wished he had been in the booth for. That was the epic 1989 clash between Geelong and Hawthorn, considered the greatest of the modern grand finals.

"Before that grand final, I knew I was going to Channel Seven and I was sitting back in Adelaide here watching it with my father and brother and my mother. They were both alive at the time, mum and dad, I remember watching and thinking I wish was calling this match, knowing I was joining Channel Seven (from Ten) the next year," he said.

Bruce McAvaney called VFA Sunday football on CH 10 first when he moved from Adelaide along with Eddie Mcguire and Rex Hunt = not a bad line up!

 

[Air_Chester]

Bruce McAvaney called VFA Sunday football on CH 10 first when he moved from Adelaide along with Eddie Mcguire and Rex Hunt = not a bad line up!

An iconic lineup in terms of media personalities certainly, but I have no doubt that call would’ve been a train wreck.

 

[weewilly]

An iconic lineup in terms of media personalities certainly, but I have no doubt that call would’ve been a train wreck.

It actually wasn't as they worked very well together and had veteran VFL caller Bill Jacobs as a mentor as well.

They all went on to have stellar careers calling VFL/AFL matches for other networks.

 

[Air_Chester]

It actually wasn't as they worked very well together and had veteran VFL caller Bill Jacobs as a mentor as well.

They all went on to have stellar careers calling VFL/AFL matches for other networks.

Don’t care how their careers turned out, you couldn’t pay me to listen to Rex Hunt in any combination with Eddie McGuire.

 

[Consolaçao]

There's not a lot in it really but here are some facts:

Home crowds at Docklands since 2000:

STK - 31,553
WB - 29,845
NM - 28,496

Win-loss record at the stadium:

STK - 160-126
WB - 144-135
NM - 124-121

North have sold interstate more of their low drawing matches in that period than the other two clubs. They were also a very competitive team for most of the first 20 years at the stadium. They have been complete rubbish the last four but two of those were Covid affected with significantly fewer attended matches at the venue.

As for the 2018 AFLW GF at Carlton:

2018 AFL Women's Grand Final - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The attendance was smaller than all of the Whitten Oval matches that year.

That’s an interesting set of numbers. As you point out though, not like for like.

In recent years North have played pretty just about all non-Vic opponents at interstate venues, whereas the Dogs and Saints have had plenty of 15-20k crowds against the likes of GC, GWS, and Freo dragging their averages down.