Crowds - The thread of Australian whining

Thought about you when posting. 

Season ticket prices would drop again I guess..offset by biger crowds and income elsewhere.  I dont think fans here have a  monopoly on the team playing in front of them.

Maybe we should all protest the owners and tell them we're not gonna renew our memberships next year so their crowds in Wellington will be even less than they are now... thus reducing their revenue even further - that'll definitely help convince them to keep more games here. 

If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem... who said that?... was it in a Travelling Wilbury's track? Maybe not...

Yeah, yeah... I'll get me coat.

 This is exactly what I predicted when Welnix took over, but JD and others yelled at me.

All I want for Nixmas is 12 games a year, 12 games  year,

 All I want for Nixmas is 12 Games a year 12 games a year

 So in the last week, we've had a better crowd than WSW, CCM, Perth and Heart.

JD's post was more that Welnix have to focus on the club's sustainability, which seems to be heavily dependent upon crowd numbers, rather than what crowds are in other clubs.

This is of course correct.  But crowd numbers across the A-League and also within Wgtn across various team sports are down - so at the present time railing about low crowds and taking the club home games to other centres ignores the core fan base and also does not take into account that crowd numbers elsewhere will likely be low too if the "product" is repeatedly offered to thos "consumers".

What're the alternatives if we can't get 10,000 regularly? Which seems kinda unrealistic btw.
We (Wellington) should be entitled to having the team here, but if the alternative is Welnix leaving in 3 and half years (5 years was their target for sustainability), then something needs to change. I could tolerate a min of 10 games in Wellington.
Personally I don't like the oversized, cold, cricket shaped stadium (except when it's full), but I don't know what the alternative is.
I've heard that Westpac has enough money to update it without input from the council, and will do soon-ish. The sooner It's done the better.

Don't we have the best crowds for the first half of the season we've had for years?

How exactly are we any more entitled to an A-league team here than anyone else?... it's about money, not entitlement... are Auckland, Townsville, Gold Coast (Newcastle, Gosford, whoever) less entitled than Wellington? Because they had lower crowds, less ownership backing, a failed business model... or what exactly? And don't forget there are many across the ditch who would happily have us out tomorrow - whether or not that means we're replaced by an additional Aussie team.

I hate to break it to you but we (Wellington) aren't entitled to anything... if the business model fails so will the Phoenix - as we've very nearly already learn't the hard way. Terry's and Welnix's don't grow on trees, look across the league - and nobody is going to continually lose a quarter of a million (give or take) a year, just because they're good guys. Anywhere (except the Middle East and Russia... ok, maybe not even there either).

Update it how?... roof?... decent food... internal heating?... enlighten me :-)

I think/hope (as above) crowds will pick up along with the weather - even more so if the team improves a little and has a good run into the finals... and hopefully the net result is we lose one (additional) match a year... so one in Auckland and Chch plus the FFA regional round (Dunedin, Palmy or Tron?) which isn't going to be the end of the world - or the Nix. And hopefully quite the opposite...

I guess we can only wait and see.

What frustrates me about the crowds issue is how little "business expertise" appears to have been applied to the problem by Welnix themselves. I mean these guys are meant to Wellington's best and brightest and yet their attempts to increase crowds seem relatively unsophisticated. Dropping season ticket prices was a good move and did result in an increase in members. But from there it's been one big meh.

Basically, they say they need 10,000 at every game and they currently have a hardcore of about 5,000 who will always turn up. So they need to find another 5,000 regulars. In any of their other businesses would that seem like such a huge challenge? How would they approach it?

For instance, if the Nova Energy marketing team sat down and said "our target this year is to sign up another 5,000 customers" I'm sure that would seem like a reasonable target, even in Wellington. And I'm damn sure their strategy wouldn't be to threaten their existing customers with "there will be be no more power for you if we don't get another 5,000 customers". You would think they would sit down, do some rigorous analysis, look at market research, draw up a plan and a budget and focus on "how do we pull newbies in without pissing off our existing customers?"

So why are Welnix finding it so hard? I'm just a pleb so I don't have the answer but surely the expertise exists in the Welnix camp to crack this.

what does qft mean

Quite flippin' true... ?

Http://lmgtfy.com/?q=QFT

at least as old blokes can hook up a link eh...

Bazinga.

New bus shelter ads are looking more promising.

Are they similar to what was in the paper yesterday?

[quote=2ndBest]

New bus shelter ads are looking more promising.

A couple of days ago I thought I saw a bus shelter (adshell) add for the 2 games over Xmas being 2 for 1. Rolled up at ticketek for 4 tickets for visitors hoping to pay for 2. No, that only applies to the 27 Dec game. Went to look at adshell again and........it had gone. Drove around Wellington checking adshells.....not a single advert for the Phoenix in the CBD. Lots of ads for xmas shopping & perfumes etc. However, I started to smell a rat (not perfume)..........No flags hanging off lamp oposts, no adverts for the next game hanging off the footbridge leading to the stadium, nothing. Add to that, Gareth Morgans' public groan, that idiot Mark Reasons' (journalist???) bagging of "dullball" in the Dominion. Is it any wonder we are not getting the crowds. Are Welnix manouvering for a pullout, setting the scene.......due to "the poor football on offer", an inadequate coaching strategy and an uninterested Wellington public with no appetite for football. Are Welnix quite happy for this club fail?

I think we need to bring out a special one off black strip. That will bring the crowds back.

well there is the third strip competition - maybe we should have just designed the Man Utd Kit lol

Bump. Crowd size tonight didn't surprise me. Good weather but town was much quieter than expected. Was working retail and we were expecting a huge day but ended up being not much bigger than an average Saturday.

Sack Christmas.

 Do we think, perhaps, that the low crowds are due to negative media coverage (Nix are boring, Gareth has lost patience with Ricki, etc), in the same way that they were a couple of years ago during the Terry/dodgy Bahrani era?

Generally - maybe. Today - more just that Wellington clears out for the holidays imo. Anyone who saw the amount of northbound traffic on SH1 might agree.

Poor crowds because of the entertainment value and the inability of management, like it or not

Call yourselves Wellingtonians?

Huge queue from Waikanae to McKays as I was going south at 1.15..double lanes just not moving.  Good pre Xmas crowd I thought as Welly empties out.