Crowds - The thread of Australian whining

I would just like to raise this.  We know we need at least 10k people through the turnstiles to break even.  But we are performing better than the Lions and Firebirds did in recent months.  No other code seems to get a rough time with their crowd figures than Football does (NZ Football included). 

http://www.westpacstadium.co.nz/2012/

So my question is - is it better to give out free tickets to bump up the crowd figure significantly (over 10k) or have a significant number of tickets purchased but that do not get scanned into the stadium?

I read somewhere that David Dome said for the 1st home game, presales were very good, but shitty weather turned people off coming to the game, even though they had bought tickets.

I do wonder how many comps are given away versus people who actually pay to go to the games.

Personally I don't give my comps to 

a) people who will already go and will happily pay, and

b) people who 'might not go if the weather is shit'

Is it me or do comps come in waves? Last week I saw several 'win phoenix tickets' promos, and this week there were none. I figured it may have had something to do with there being free kids tickets given away, but does anyone know if there is some sort of pattern to things?

I have no idea, we just get a set amount every event, never changes. 

Actually I don't giver a rats arse whether there is a big crowd or not. As long as there is a good turn out in the YF zone and theres lots of noise I don't care if there is 5000 or 15000,. All this crap about needing 10,000 to break even is absolute bollocks......the new TV deal pays the wages. So stop ferkin angsting about crowds.....the game goes on irrespective of how many people are there. I enjoyed the Team wellington Otago game(apart from the result) and there were 300 people there. Just go along and enjoy yourself.....who cares about the numbers! What more important is what going down on the field.

Any one have an idea about our stadium deal? Was just wondering if Welnix talking about more games around the country could partly be trying to get a better deal for renting the stadium.

 We can't keep giving away tickets to boost crowd levels that's just hiding from the fact our core base is about 5,500 the rest are occasionals.Imo  if we didn't have to play almost every home game on a sunday afternoon and we got a few more friday, saturday evening games we might see a better walk up crowd.

Giving away tickets often (whether its literally giving them away, or by promotions such as free kids Etc) also creates a culture where people start to only go when they're given freebies. 

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/match-schedule-at-the-heart-of-crowd-slump-20121211-2b7qa.html

Heart with what seems to be very similar figures to us

We got more fans than the wanderers this last round.  They aren't getting huge crowds either.

 Yes.  Last weeks dreadful crowd was 3rd best for the weekend.

In a city of 400,000. DOOMED.

I wouldn't write off the strategy of giving away tickets to boost numbers. That's how I went to my first game in 2009 and have been to almost every game since. 

I gave mine to a workmate in exchange for a free ride from Palmy. He has been to a few games but is by no means a regular. Probably only goes to 2 games a year.

I gave mine to a former season ticket holder who's personal circumstances have meant he's had to flag ticketship.  He has been back to at least one other game and I believe will be 12 pubsing.

I gave mine to my brother, who has now bought a Nix Six membership.

Outsider questions - Who's to blame? It's the public right? I thought the season ticket prices were excellent, if I come down to Wellington for uni then I'll certainly be snapping up a season ticket, are the gameday prices too high? Or are the Phoenix just not entertaining enough for the plastic fans

Part of the issue was that they never advertised all of the extra little things that were included in the season membership (like the scarf etc). The ads just said 'Become our latest signing'. There have been Rugby season pass ads in the paper recently, with the main focus of the ad being what is actually included in the season pass, especially all the extra little things.

Yet another example of BBDO cocking up.

Pretty reasonable article.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/soccer-football/news/article.cfm?c_id=86&objectid=10853383

I didnt even know you season ticket holders got a scarf, WTF!!!

what else was there? 

HN, I am in the same position as the person you gave that ticket to, gutted I dont have my very own hardnews... I was unable to find a wealthy benefactor, forever slutted i missed that game

Also, I resent the author calling us fat.

It's a good thing some fans are fairly well insulated.

The AFL in particular and more recently RL have undertaken heaps of research into crowds how to get them and keep them...

In all studies the match day experience rates high ... and included in the match day experience is a decent all weather stadium with lots of facilities like bathrooms, food etc...

I know nothing about the parks and land availability in Wellington but from afar a 10 to 15 K stadium with seats out of the weather ... major matches still played at the cake tin seems to me maybe the way to go with the ground shared between the Super Rugby team and A-League team...

RL is moving to close all its local grounds and play all teams out of two maybe three stadiums in Sydney... the AFL play the 10 Melbourne teams out of two grounds...

The AFL crowds have risen and the RL teams in Sydney that play out of Homebush have also had a big increase in crowds... a tight 10 to 15 K rectangular stadium with seats covered would very much improve the match day experience ... does the city of Wellington have the money or the space I have no idea but playing in an oval in a completed unprotected stadium can't help build crowds...  

In all honesty - the stadium size & configuration is the least of our worries.

bouncy castles

Not enough bounce ??

Wont allow adults in ??

"The thing is Howard, it doesn't matter how old you are, bouncy castles are still genius."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/8072349/Wellington-Phoenix-spread-fixtures-net-wider

The Phoenix are playing A-League games at Auckland's Eden Park (February 2) and Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium (March 3) this season, and Morrison said that number would increase next season and beyond.

"I think we would probably look to increase the number of away games by one or two over the next couple of years," Morrison said.

"We're not talking about four or five straight away, at all, we'll just sort of see how that works and what the appetite is.

"Even if the numbers are up here, I think we would still take more games on the road.

"There's no threat there, it's just the practical reality is, it does make economic sense for us to play some games away from Wellington because there are other centres that want to watch. On more of a one-off basis, you can get some really good crowds."

So it looks like there will be less Wellington home games next season no matter what.

I have a bad feeling about all this ^^. We're going to end up with too many games out of Wellington that we're not going to have anyone interested here anymore. You just cant run a football club in NZ, under an Australian financial model, and expect to turn a profit. I think ultimately, we're fucked.

NZ Breakers, NZ Warriors now NZ Phoenix. 

No sorry I am a committed Phoenix supporter but I will very seriously think about not renewing my membership again. Welnix have to my mind got this seriously wrong.

Westpac is our home that is the way football is, Welnix knew what they were getting into, I think they should seriously look at themselves in the way they have gone about promoting the games, YF seem to be doing more than Welnix. Just giving away promo tickets dont cut it.

Welnix dont seem to want to be proactive with YF re the scholaship or anything else come to that. I would have thought some form of cooperation with an established part of the club support would be a good start to getting things going.

No I'm sorry Mr Morrison you have got this all wrong, if you want to rip the heart out of the club then carry on this path at your peril.

So much for the we did it for Wellington bullshit we kept hearing.Wonder if the Hurricanes will get some of their games taken away.Thoroughly pissed off to read this today,will certainly be reconsidering if i bother with membership next season.So its all about the dollar after all,maybe if they actually did some DECENT marketing it would help things.

So there are other centres that want watch what was dished up to us on sunday, Mr Morrison you and your Welnix friends are kidding yourselves.

fuck this