How to Get The Crowds Back to NPC Games

The 2012 ITM Cup is about to draw this marathon season of domestic rugby in New Zealand - a season which has seen it draw parallels with football in Europe. It has been a great season to be fair with plenty of unpredictable results but there have been plenty of criticisms especially in regards to the format - which I think is fine and needs to be given at least another year - and the lack of crowds at games.

No one at Waikato Stadium to watch Waikato v Tasman, Thursday night

Yes, apart from the likes of Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty and Northland who have enjoyed bumper crowds, crowd attendances have been pretty bad elsewhere especially in the cities. It is really down to the fact that people in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin can choose what games to watch, i.e. All Blacks, Super Rugby and ITM Cup. Only a few would buy a season ticket and watch all three - most would save up and buy a ticket to either an All Blacks or Super rugby game.

But not everyone can watch an All Blacks game and I think if there were incentives to go watch a rugby game, people would go - remember the Canterbury v Wellington game at the now defunct Lancaster Park that was free in 2010?

So here are my suggestions on how to get crowds back to NPC games

1. Local TV blackout
In Britain, football games that kick off at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon are not broadcast live locally and the public have to wait till later that night for highlights programmes to see goals or tune to the radio or watch news programmes to get updates on games. In the USA, the NFL can blackout games in a region if a franchise isn't about to fill out its capacity on a consistent basis - this has happened many times to the Jacksonville Jaguars and St Louis Rams.

I think it has gotten to the point in the ITM Cup that games need to be blacked out in their local regions - I'm sure Sky have a way of figuring out which decoders should not be showing a particular ITM Cup game. So if Wellington v Auckland was playing at the stadium, all decoders in the Wellington region would not be able to get the signal for that game, pubs in the region would have to pay a premium to Sky to be able to broadcast it in their premises - so that could mean money for Sky to cover the technology required to blackout games in a region. That way, people in the Wellington region would have to go out to the stadium to watch the game.

This option is probably the most difficult but could be the most worthwhile in changing people's perceptions - and certainly making those stadia look better on TV.

2. Half-time entertainment
Let's be honest, we live in an age where rugby is not the only means to filling their spare time at night and people have plenty of other options now whether it's other sports, music or movies. And then there's the issue of not enough venues in this country big enough for big concerts, etc.

I went to a Highlanders game once and it was combined with a Shihad concert post game. The ticket was about $40 which was more expensive than the average Highlanders game ticket but then again Shihad was playing so you really got two for one. I think we need more acts to maybe do the half-time show or after the game - which would definitely appeal to concert goers. In a way, we could kill two birds with one stone and get more people through the gates.

It would also certainly help enhance the gameday experience.

3. Lower ticket prices on the day
Perhaps unions should consider gradually reducing ticket prices as game day approaches if they find themselves not selling out games. It would be following Air New Zealand's grabaseat strategy albeit in reverse - mind you that strategy of selling the cheap seats early could work for rugby too. That way, games would become more appealing to the many punters who form the walk-up crowd.

Currently, the pricing for rugby matches is far too rigid and isn't adaptable to weather conditions, events in the city etc. If rugby wants to continue to play a part in the community, unions must be prepared to go out and cut prices in order to get the punters through knowing that most of them are after value for their money.  

4. Afternoon games for city unions/alternative venues
It's safe to say that rugby is safe in the likes of New Plymouth, Napier and Whangarei, i.e. crowds will turn up whatever time the game is shown. It's not quite the same in the big cities so perhaps it's time for Sky to try and schedule the city union's home games for weekend afternoons whenever they can so that they can get more families to games.

The other option - one unlikely to be taken up of course - is for the likes of Wellington, Waikato and Otago to have some ITM Cup games away from their big stadia and at smaller grounds around the union, e.g. Hutt Recreation Ground, Maidstone Park in Upper Hutt, Tokoroa, Balclutha, Queenstown, etc. That way people there would get a chance to watch top class rugby.

5. Better marketing
Yes it has to be said, the rugby unions could do with better marketing people. They need to take a look at what the Wellington Phoenix and Warriors have done - and what MLB teams do in America -and try and make every home game special, i.e. a 2 for 1 Lovers Special, Club Day (make it even more significant), etc. Right now, it feels like unions are not making the effort to get people through turnstiles and rather giving the ball to people who are the worst decision makers when it comes to going to games. A bit more marketing is needed to nudge people through gates.