By NICOLAS HIGGINS
NRL DOUBLE- and triple headers: they don’t have to embarrass our games’ ability to attract crowds and viewership. In fact they could achieve the opposite effect.
Let’s be honest, regular season Sydney Roosters v Penrith Panthers matches will always attract at most 15,000 to 18,000 fans if played at Moore Park or Penrith. This match up isn’t alone, as many Sydney derbies will attract the same if not lower crowd sizes irrespective to how you build them up. So why not identify these poorer performing Sydney derbies and make something of them?
Why not create four major triple headers at ANZ Stadium throughout the season and build them as major themed events? One of the biggest problems to date with the NRL scheduling double headers is that they do not create any meaning around them. I will cover this point in a separate article, about how the NRL fails to see or produce its product as a drama series, but to the point of double headers or expanding to triple headers – there must be a theme or meaning behind them. Think about the WWE, and how they build storylines leading to major events to sell more WWE Network subscriptions.
If we were to produce four triple headers at ANZ Stadium throughout the season, that gives the NRL an opportunity to showcase what is great about our game, to bring major entertainment to fans and to theme each event in its own right.
So we have four triple headers to build. Perhaps the lineups would like something like this:
Triple header one: As I mentioned in an earlier article, the NRL should open its premiership season with an opening ceremony. Otherwise you’re going from your Super Bowl Sunday (grand final day) back to a potential 12,000 attended round one game. It should look and feel like an opening ceremony. For illustration purposes, let’s consider it will involve Rabbitohs v Panthers, Dragons v Tigers and Bulldogs v Eels. Ordinarily, the combined crowds of these three games based on historical averages would be between 50,000-60,000 at most and being optimistic. That means we have the potential to add an extra 23,000-33,000 extra ticketed attendees, factoring ANZ Stadium capacity, to this NRL game day. Theoretically, and if done correctly when considering this will be one of four major triple header events, this means we could see an extra 90,000 to 100,000 attendees through the gates over the course of the season from these four events alone.
But to achieve that, you must not only rely on these ‘events’ but you must absolutely put on a show. Perhaps we could see something like this:
Triple header one: Opening ceremony day
Let’s consider what an opening ceremony is and what it should include when tailored towards the NRL Premiership. For illustration purposes it may look something like this:
– The season ahead: A showcase of what the season ahead has to offer. You can do this by creating an Olympic style opening ceremony performance, using the NRL Premiership, State of Origin and significant events and games as themes for it;
– Cultural recognition: Could we see Indigenous, Maori and Pacific Island performances? How good would it be to see stand-off or match-up performances between Samoan, Tongan, Indigenous and Maori performers?;
– Kids performances: For one, putting on a show doesn’t necessarily have to mean splurging from the coffers, you already have performers ready to go, the fans. Why not dress up fans kids in supporter shirts and parade every them for every club? It gives parents something to distract their kids for an hour or two during the day;
– Hall Of Fame inductee: I will talk about the need for the formation of an NRL Hall Of Fame in a separate article, but there should be an annual NRL inductee presented every season;
– NRL Premiership trophy presentation: A look back at the prior NRL grand final and the delivery of the NRL Premiership trophy via Blackhawk helicopter. If we use the 2017 season as an example, could it be Cameron Smith and Craig Bellamy jumping out of the helicopter with the trophy and placing it on a mantle piece that lights up the field just before kick-off? That could give the trophy more meaning, by signifying it’s now up for grabs for the season ahead. It also gives the most recent winner some representation and recognition which generally gets forgotten about when a new season kicks-off. More importantly, it should signify or be sold as any team can now win it;
– NRL anthem: As I will talk about in a separate article on creating an NRL Summer League, the NRL must have a new anthem for each premiership season ahead. It doesn’t have to be a big name international performance. Why not hold a competition amongst local Australian performers to become the official NRL anthem? The act could debut the winning NRL anthem just before kick-off of game one. I love the idea of holding a concert in the middle of the field before kick-off on NRL grand final day, with a crowd forming around it, so perhaps that would work for this too?
Triple headers two and three: Should these be held at Easter, to align with the Royal Easter Show? On ANZAC Day or on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend? It doesn’t have to be but may make sense to do so. Last year’s Easter weekend game at ANZ Stadium between the Eels v Tigers drew a paltry 28,000. Did it actually try to become an Easter-themed event? Or align itself to the adjacent Royal Easter Show taking place in Olympic Park? It didn’t seem like it;
Why not promote it as an Easter game, with an Easter-themed parade? Offer some NRL-themed Easter eggs upon entry. How about an Easter egg hunt on ANZ Stadium? I don’t think any missed eggs on the hunt will injure any players who crack or fall on them. What about bringing some of the Royal Easter Show events inside ANZ Stadium like the wood chopping or horse shows? So long as someone cleans up the remains before kick-off or the second-half. Do you see my point here? You need to create an event. Something fun to do or attend. There is so many creative things that can be done to attract fans, and you don’t really need a great budget to do it. We just have to be smart in how we promote it;
If it’s an ANZAC Day event, schedule the largest dawn service at ANZ Stadium. Give fans something to do for the hours ahead before a midday kick-off. Align with the Australian Defence Force to showcase something during that time or throughout the day. It could become an equally beneficial opportunity for the ADF to recruit? Bring in the ADF marching bands and choirs, showcase the relationship between rugby league, war and the defence forces historically. This could be a really interesting, educational and enjoyable event on the calendar;
Triple header four: Closing ceremony day
This is one idea I think needs to be carefully thought-out but if done right can turn dormant matches, for teams not in finals contention, into something meaningful. I think this event needs to be tailored against the status of each Sydney club on the Premiership ladder. But also present all six teams equally. A closing ceremony day should mirror the opening ceremony day, in terms of performances and fanfare, but should also align to the finals series ahead, focusing on the Sydney clubs participating on the day, but also promoting the following season ahead for those not in contention. The contents of the day is minor detail and can include anything really, so long as it’s exciting and built up correctly.
The bottom line here is that you can build these events to be anything or as big as you want them to be. They don’t have to be expensive, setting aside the Opening Ceremony which may cost a little more to produce, you just have to be creative to get crowd attendees and more importantly broadcast viewer buy-in. Having 83,000 seats filled is a good start. Creating exciting events on top of full-houses, even better.
