Funnel Webb
Member
So I've recently gotten a little into the English Premier League, and it made me realise how bad the NRL's atmospheres are. The NRL really has no atmosphere at its games, it really kind of does feel like I'm missing out, chanting and carrying on with the lads, making offensive chants insulting opposition players and its fans. It does make me wish I could just be a young lad drunk with all of the lads, packing out the stadium every other weekend with that sort of atmosphere. The English Premier League gets criticised by other European football leagues for having bad atmospheres. Their atmospheres pale in comparison to Germany's for example, but I would give anything just to have English Premier League like atmospheres in the NRL.
I understand they have a larger population and whatnot, but it shouldn't excuse the NRL for having bad atmospheres. Playing at better venues could contribute to fixing this, not playing at Accor Stadium that has a capacity of 80,000, completely killing the atmosphere when there's 17,000 there. Even CommBank is still pretty bad, averaging about 60-65% of its capacity when clubs play there. It would be nice if every club had a 20,000 capacity stadium with steep seating putting the fans on top of the action in a tight footprint, creating a tight atmosphere, averaging 90-95% capacity every game. I know this will never happen because it would be seen as a waste of money giving every club their own stadium, but maybe the NRL could propose a 20,000 capacity stadium for clubs that are stuck at Accor?
I think this would genuinely be beneficial for the NRL and growing its TV audience, especially overseas. The crowds would look good on TV and so would the atmosphere coming through the speakers, depending if they use their brains when building the canopy. And don't say there's CommBank, I can see the empty seats on TV when Parramatta play there, averaging about 18,000 since moving there. Even when Penrith play there they only fill out about 65% of the stadium, averaging north of 19,000 this year. Ideally it would be very similar to CommBank but 20,000 instead of 30,000. Essentially just the top level of CommBank at ground level, then finish it off with a canopy that wraps around the whole stadium, covering all of the seats and trapping the noise.
Any thoughts on this?
I understand they have a larger population and whatnot, but it shouldn't excuse the NRL for having bad atmospheres. Playing at better venues could contribute to fixing this, not playing at Accor Stadium that has a capacity of 80,000, completely killing the atmosphere when there's 17,000 there. Even CommBank is still pretty bad, averaging about 60-65% of its capacity when clubs play there. It would be nice if every club had a 20,000 capacity stadium with steep seating putting the fans on top of the action in a tight footprint, creating a tight atmosphere, averaging 90-95% capacity every game. I know this will never happen because it would be seen as a waste of money giving every club their own stadium, but maybe the NRL could propose a 20,000 capacity stadium for clubs that are stuck at Accor?
I think this would genuinely be beneficial for the NRL and growing its TV audience, especially overseas. The crowds would look good on TV and so would the atmosphere coming through the speakers, depending if they use their brains when building the canopy. And don't say there's CommBank, I can see the empty seats on TV when Parramatta play there, averaging about 18,000 since moving there. Even when Penrith play there they only fill out about 65% of the stadium, averaging north of 19,000 this year. Ideally it would be very similar to CommBank but 20,000 instead of 30,000. Essentially just the top level of CommBank at ground level, then finish it off with a canopy that wraps around the whole stadium, covering all of the seats and trapping the noise.
Any thoughts on this?
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