AFL dying in Sydney

[Bas]

[QUOTE=ShockOfHair;401417]Agree. Sydney loves a winner. The audience it is losing is those people who were happy to watch the same style of play two years ago. Audiences are turning off because the Swans are not winning. When they're contenders again audiences will return.

QUOTE]


Exactly. Sydney market has always been a winners are grinners market. For all codes.

[NMWBloods]

Are they lying about the stats?

[CJK]

News Ltd have no other agenda.

Please believe everything in this article.

Cheers
The Tele Staff

[swan_song]

Im putting my 2cents worth in here. 1 sydneysiders like winners, so it's little wonder then that they've lost interest in the Swans.
2. TV commentators have generally put Sydney down for the past three years, rightly or wrongly, for the way they play and for being dreary. This is particularly galling when it is in the TV networks own interests to pump-up the game [more viewers, better ad rates], but conversely fewer viewers means less they have to pay next time around. Although I don't like rugby league at all, whenever I have watched it on TV, the commentators yell and carry on as though each game is the best they've seen. On Foxtel in Sydney the value of the game is constantly being undermined by advertisements for other code games (league, union, soccer) during the telecasts. Now you may not think that important, but in marketing terms it is significant...it is undermining your brand. And unfortunately is a direct consequence of the failure of FoxFooty.

[reigning premier]

I think the AFL is barking up the wrong tree.

They're not going to convert Rugny & Rugby League fans. Generally speaking, they have been stupid enough to prefer these codes over AFL in the first place, so unless the AFL can magcally wave a wand and make these people a bit less stupid, they're not going to start watching AFL.

Therefore, we need to work on the kids. But each kid a Sherin on their 4th birthday. Give away free tickets. Free teams. The works.

[ugg]

Next Saturday night, playing Freo up against the live Olympics, could return some very ugly figures.

[Seagoon]

I wouldn't wipe my nether regions with that newspaper. It's just a total load of crap, front to back.

[Doctor]

I wonder if these ratings figures include those (like me) who watch the games on Fox rather than the free to air coverage. It's only since this current rights deal started that there have been times when the game was on both at the same time on occasion.

[ShockOfHair]

Winning football does it, when we are on form we play good footy, when we are off we are really awful.

Agree. Sydney loves a winner. The audience it is losing is those people who were happy to watch the same style of play two years ago. Audiences are turning off because the Swans are not winning. When they're contenders again audiences will return.

The audience figures presumably trended upwards over 05-06 when we played so they're now inevitably coming down. That's my assumption of course -- anybody know the actual figures over previous seasons?

Also, you also can't read a TV audiences on one stat? Are Sydney TV audiences going down overall? How does AAFL compare with league, rugby and soccer audiences this year?

In fact, TV figures for all AFL games are down.
Sydney Swan's TV ratings fall for third consecutive year | Herald Sun

But whereas TV audience is down 21%, crowds are down 4.8%, (from 35,620 to 33,919). That's mainly because of lower blockbuster crowds. SCG crowd figures are actually up -- even though membership numbers are also down (also no surprise in post-premiership phase).

Rugby international crowds at Homebush have also fallen a lot, at least partly because of its inconvenience and transport problems.

If Swans style of play were the major factor, it's a surprise that more people are going to the home ground to be bored.

[NMWBloods]

I actually find the way that Geelong plays now to be quite boring

Excluding all Swans and Geelong supporters, I would suggest that less than 1% of the football population would agree with you, especially when compared to the Swans.

[NMWBloods]

Yes, it must be because of all the negative media and commentary...

[Rob-bloods]

Here here, Tim Lane was at it again in the Age today about our style and crowds.

Winning football does it, when we are on form we play good footy, when we are off we are really awful.

Who plays good losing football? All out attack is great unless you get pumped with an unaccountable defence.

Two years ago the victorians were bleating that all interstaters were on top and something had to be done, now Victorians are well placed.....not a cooee!

[Matty10]

...it doesn't help when the media (and the AFL for that matter) constantly have a go at the Swans and "the way that they play."

Plus there is a difference between playing a poor style and playing poorly. When we play well our game plan is not an issue.

If the broadcasters didn't preface each Swans game with "this is going to be a tough, dour contest" it might also help their ratings. Generally speaking, people are idiots - if you tell them something is bad often enough they will eventually start to believe it.

I actually find the way that Geelong plays now to be quite boring (they used to be my second favourite team during the 80s and 90s when they played a different style). Their high possession game does not equal entertaining football in my opinion. But they reside in Victoria (which has become more and more parochial) and that is where the bulk of the negative media against the Swans originates.

[waterfowl]

You couldn't be more wrong. The Bloods have a lot of interest from traditional RL supporters i know in the area i live. The viewing numbers in Sydney for all AFL teams is down, the numbers for Bloods has declined less. What the RL supporters don't like about AFL is soft matches. i believe it is the recent rules changes which has done more to turn RL supporters off AFL than anything else. The technical tiggy touchwood rules and confusing free kicks are the turn off. RL supporters do like hard intense contested football.

Once I clarified to a RL mate what constitutes a push in the back when tackling, he has become a strong follower of the game. Having delayed broadcasts by 1/2 to 3hrs with mostly biased boring commentators (even for home games) certainly doesn't help the cause..

[Nico]

When NMW talks about neutral supporters I suspect he means neutral AFL supporters. There are plenty of supporters in Melbourne who have no team or have their allegience to one team but watch mountains of footy and have a broad knowledge of all teams in the comp. The people I know in this category support what NMW says and tell me although they still watch the Swans it is seriously hard work. On the contrary I know a couple of people who admire the way we play and our hardness and competitiveness.

With regards the argument about audiences in Sydney being down, I always thought this was seen by all and sundry as a large variable depending on the success of a team.

It doesn't only happen that way in NSW, there have been plenty of times when Collingwood supporters haven't turned up when they were at the foot of the table. The mid nineties were an example and when Eddie McGuire became President he nailed this as a first priority to get their fans back to the games.

I reckon the fact that NSW audiences are down must have a bearing on the "value" of TV rights and the AFL cannot continue to expect it will be an ever increasing cash cow.