Performance and value for money does have a lot to do with attendance, imo.Even if we did to move to Allianz we might get bigger crowds against Roosters,St George Illawarra and Tigers but I don't think it would make much difference for cowboys, Storm,raiders,panthers,eels etc.A lot of people have short memories, I went to heaps of souths games at sfs where the crowds were poor.
Sure performance affects it, but you should have a higher floor than 8-10k.
The simple reality is, if it was all as great as people want to excuse it to be, then there would be more people taking part in this ‘wonderful experience’ of live South Sydney Rabbitohs footy. They aren’t.
We’re at a point where the experience of watching Souths on tele is preferred by a large number of fans (for 80-90% of our games) as opposed to attending live.
And it’s not all on the punter. In fact, little of it is.
We haven’t really raised the problem that the vantage point of GA seats is atrocious if you’re used to watching the game on TV. Those seats should cost peanuts to access.
I know they are an outlier and there are a myriad of nuances to their live success, but the Broncos had a more/similarly disappointing year to us (given their 2023), but still managed an average attendance of just off 40k.
Some of that (excluding favourable scheduling and the Brisbane factor) indicates that if people are in the habit of going to the footy, have live footy as a staple of their weekly footballing lives, and you provide a for-purpose facility, and a quality atmosphere - then even in down years, people will still go to games.
If you don’t have that, the yes, you’ll be barren in any downturn.
We made a Prelim in 2022 with an average crowd of 14k for the season. Yes people were returning from COVID weirdness, but still.
I find it surprising that people feel the need to defend the situation or make excuses for it instead of just accepting that it is an area that could be improved, and either reading along or suggesting proactive solutions.
When the SFS was tired and stale and controlled by the SCG trust, and Accor was only competing with Brookie, Leichardt, and an old Parramatta Stadium, it was a good choice.
It’s not 2006 anymore.