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WACA Wallys

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The WACA should never have teamed up with Ascot for its development, they are both plonkers.

This. Ascot Capital are small and conservative developer who have made more money from land speculation than actually building things.
 
Crowd for the 1st Big Bash game was just 15953. They kept the temporary stands up that were set up for the Ashes, which made the capacity around 24000. Was at the game and there were plenty of seats free in the Inverarity stand, and there was more people on the members side for day 4 of the test than there was yesterday. Maybe it was too close to Christmas for some people to turn up, but I think talk about needing a bigger stadium for Big Bash could have been premature.

It does depend on how much weight you want to lend to the theory that the shit ground turns people off going. I don't really know. Maybe they could get 25k at a decent stadium, I would have been more likely to turn up - same with the test match if I could have got a good seat at a decent price without having to buy it 4 months in advance.
 
I completely disregard the theory of the ground turning people away from Big Bash games. Maybe for test matches people can use the lack of shade for 8 hours as an excuse, but with BB games being played at night or twilight for only 3 hours then the excuses dont hold water. Besides last year they sold out all their BB games, so the ground was hardly turning people away then.
 
I completely disregard the theory of the ground turning people away from Big Bash games. Maybe for test matches people can use the lack of shade for 8 hours as an excuse, but with BB games being played at night or twilight for only 3 hours then the excuses dont hold water. Besides last year they sold out all their BB games, so the ground was hardly turning people away then.

It's not just about shade. It's about access to the ground (which sucks for the WACA), quality of the seats (which are nothing special), access to food, drink and toilets (which also suck) and general atmosphere (which sucks too). It's also availability of decent seats, or at least perceived availability - if I had of rocked up on the day to the Scorchers game I would have at best assumed that I would have likely ended up with rubbish seats, or worse standing room. At a 60,000 seat ground the walk up element becomes a factor - in that there will be one.

The other element is WACA members - if you can guarantee them a good reserved seat to all games where there's a bit of demand then you do 2 things. Increase the number of WACA members and they're more likely to attend any given day of cricket. The idea that the members are the ones that have to line up at bullshit o'clock in the morning just to get a half decent seat is so archaic it's beyond laughable. What sort of organisation treats it's members *worse* than the general public, who can buy a reserved seat and rock up whenever they feel like it? And the guy with the reserved seat doesn't have to wear a collar and pleated slacks on a 40 degree day.

Whether this adds up to the WACA resulting in lower crowds is up for debate. But the argument is pretty compelling.
 

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When was the last time you've gone to the WACA? There is no standing room at the WACA anymore, just seats and grass bank. I would go to far as to say in terms of watching and viewing the cricket, there are no rubbish seats. IIRC, GA tickets for big bash lets you sit anywhere along the bottom level, whether that's the grass bank or seats. You can reserve seats in the Prindiville or Inverarity stands. For tests you might want to do this for the sun factor, but for BB its not necessary. One good thing about the WACA is that as its a small ground, you can view the game perfectly from any ground level seat. And when you say the atmosphere of the WACA sucks then I really question how many games you've gone to at the WACA. When the crowds are 15k+ the atmosphere is electric.
 
By standing room, I meant the grass banks. Even if you technically don't need to stand. And the seats are no better than anywhere else. I didn't say they were shit, just nothing special, because there isn't much by way of elevated seating (and the Inverarity stand is hardly comfortable).

Last time I was there was the BBL final last year. Might go along to a BBL game this year, not sure yet. I generally can't plan these things more than a day in advance lately, so it makes it hard to get a decent seat cos I can't book it that far ahead.
 
Parking and getting out of there both by parking and public transport is a massive pain in the arse. Not a very smart location for transport to say the least. Took at least 20 minutes to exit the car park vicinity, and with games on Tuesday evening and Thursday evening coming up with work following those days that is going to be a problem for many.

Buses could not move anywhere due to the extreme bumper to bumper.
 
18589 at the game tonight. The peasants side was officially a sell out, although there was some empty seats in the Inverarity stand. Members side was pretty empty though, a lot like the 1st game. Think the 4.40pm start on a weeknight stopped people from turning up if they had work, as I do recall more members coming for the 6pm starts last year.
 
18589 at the game tonight. The peasants side was officially a sell out, although there was some empty seats in the Inverarity stand. Members side was pretty empty though, a lot like the 1st game. Think the 4.40pm start on a weeknight stopped people from turning up if they had work, as I do recall more members coming for the 6pm starts last year.
Bums on seats was less of a priority than making it a 7.30 TV broadcast in Melbourne. Typical.
 
18589 at the game tonight. The peasants side was officially a sell out, although there was some empty seats in the Inverarity stand. Members side was pretty empty though, a lot like the 1st game. Think the 4.40pm start on a weeknight stopped people from turning up if they had work, as I do recall more members coming for the 6pm starts last year.

Yeah, it's a weird start time. Next one is on a Tuesday with the same start time. o_O

You'd think if they're going to impose those crappy game times on Perth they'd at least try to ensure that all Perth games are on a Saturday or Sunday.
 
Well they have to cater for all the backwards flogs in the eastern states that have stupid daylight savings.
It's not daylight savings that's the problem, it's the massive time difference regardless of it that's the problem :P
 
Yeah, it's a weird start time. Next one is on a Tuesday with the same start time. o_O

You'd think if they're going to impose those crappy game times on Perth they'd at least try to ensure that all Perth games are on a Saturday or Sunday.

Hey the time slot argument beloved by many Melbourne AFL fans ... does it reflect in TV ratings ?
 

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15355 today. No doubt the 4.40 start is affecting weekday crowds. Members side was about the same amount of people as the last home game, as a lot of people just rocked up straight from work. It was the peasants side that was significantly hit. The temporary stands were half empty and a good amount of empty seats in the Prindiville and Inverarity stands.
 
19495 tonight, which is a record for the Scorchers. Very good crowd considering the 4.40 start. Peasants side was full, only noticed a handful of seats empty in the Inverarity Stand, and a fair few more members turned up today.
 
Security in fine form tonight. Kicking out people for starting a Mexican wave. Quite a silly and petty reason to kick punters out. What a good way to bring a case forward to host an international test match when you have fascist nazis operating as security.

I'm no fan of the wave, nor do I participate in any of them, I find them lame. But that is not a reason to boot people out of the ground.
 
The security at the WACA is shocking. Even on the members side they treat the members with contempt. Especially around the players pavilion and down the race where the players go through, they form a huge barrier around the players and get in between anyone who tries to come close for just an autograph or photo, even kids with mini bats. Fortunately almost every player from the away team has stopped to give out autographs and photos even when security is trying to hurry them along and move people away.
 

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