Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

[Timbo]

^^^

I feel it's an A-League thing. It isn't new and sexy anymore so a lot of hanger-onerers have bailed.

[Egan]

It will be interesting to see what sort of crowds the Rebels pull when they start next year. I must admit to being mystified about the drop in the Victory's crowd figures considering it's a much better stadium for football that Etihad is. And it's a fairly sizable drop too...

Many sports administrators claim that big venues attract a certain amount of people that wouldn't normally go to a venue of smaller capacity. The 'venue' impact it should be dubbed...

[cam]

Don't forgot Etihad Stadium is much better positioned. It's in the city, right next to the main train station, has ample parking underneath. AAMI while certainly not far away by any stretch, it is located more than walking distance from the city and there's no parking on site. Being just that little bit harder to get to may turn stop a few people going. As for the Victory though, maybe they should have actually recruited some players. If they were still at Etihad, they would be attracting more, but would still be less than last year. Still early days though, no doubt the crowds will improve around the whole league once the AFL & NRL is finished.

[Adelaide_United_Red]

It will be interesting to see what sort of crowds the Rebels pull when they start next year. I must admit to being mystified about the drop in the Victory's crowd figures considering it's a much better stadium for football that Etihad is. And it's a fairly sizable drop too...

Many sports administrators claim that big venues attract a certain amount of people that wouldn't normally go to a venue of smaller capacity. The 'venue' impact it should be dubbed...

Is this because they fear not getting a ticket, and thus wasting the journey to get to the game, the energy getting gee'd up for the big game etc?

Hindmarsh only holds 16,500 and AUFC's average over 5 years has been about 11k, but hold a game at AO, much much worse viewing sightlines than HS and watch 25k turn up. Surely this isn't just because AO is easier to get to.I personally find Hindy pretty easy to get to(without needing to drive even) Is it the 'event' that gets built up by the media? or as you hypothesise, the thrill of being in a bigger crowd. This years new stand should increase capacity to 33.5k

[bazza]

It will be interesting to see what sort of crowds the Rebels pull when they start next year. I must admit to being mystified about the drop in the Victory's crowd figures considering it's a much better stadium for football that Etihad is. And it's a fairly sizable drop too...

Many sports administrators claim that big venues attract a certain amount of people that wouldn't normally go to a venue of smaller capacity. The 'venue' impact it should be dubbed...

Is this because they fear not getting a ticket, and thus wasting the journey to get to the game, the energy getting gee'd up for the big game etc?

Hindmarsh only holds 16,500 and AUFC's average over 5 years has been about 11k, but hold a game at AO, much much worse viewing sightlines than HS and watch 25k turn up. Surely this isn't just because AO is easier to get to.I personally find Hindy pretty easy to get to(without needing to drive even) Is it the 'event' that gets built up by the media? or as you hypothesise, the thrill of being in a bigger crowd. This years new stand should increase capacity to 33.5k

This year a couple of NRL games played at the SCG got big crowds.
If they played it next door at the SFS the crowd would probably be slightly less even though it is better viewing.
All to do with novelty and hype

[mattwinter]

The Victory would lose 2-3,000 in Medallion Club members by being at AAMI, wouldn't they? They wouldn't make any money from those fans anyway...

[hot_dogma]

Have to say I was impressed with the crowd figure tonight. Was expecting sub-10k.

[Jeffles]

Good point. As the AFL and NRL seasons draw to a close, people will turn to the A-League for their fix.

[Karl]

Crowds will pick up at AAMI Park once the two clubs are given better time slots. Victory have great crowds on Friday and Saturday nights.
Round 1 got 20,000+ v Glory on a Saturday night. 3pm Sunday slots are always a bad slot for the Victory if you look over the years and we have had two so far plus a Wednesday night.

The stadium is bloody hard to get to. Victorys fan base is mainly in the North East, North and North Western Suburbs and there is no direct train to AAMI from any of the train lines in these areas which might also turn people away for weeknight matches etc.

Swan Street after a match is a joke as well. When you have 13,000+ streaming out onto it and you cant cross the bottle neck of people is pritty bad. Should close the road and Divert around the stadium.

[deejaybee]

I've read all the arguments re: access to AAMI park, and tbh I see right through them.
You can drive and park in Yarra Park-just as you would with the MCG, and its likely to cost less.
It is just as easy for everyone east of Coburg to get to the stadium via the train as the MCG.

The only obstacles for fans from the North and NE suburbs taking public transport (getting off at Jolimont station) is the annoying walk past the MCG and Hisense Arena, which really needs to be improved. The main problems are the eyesores: the Great Southern Stand (the concourse is really quite sh*t to traverse relative to the Northern side), the Richmond railway lines (there are two bridges over this-a narrow one from Yarra Park and one deviating off the GSS concourse, ideally there should be a massive flat concourse built right over the top of the lines) and the Melbourne Park carpark/front yard of Hisense arena.
This is a problem because both Melbourne HAL clubs have large bases in this area, and also where the interest in football is perhaps most concentrated. This is further compounded by that little bit extra hassle from PT commuters coming from the West, which is also a strong football area (and a growing general population base as well). But there isn't a good enough reason for it: it is an 800m walk from Flinders Street Station and though Melbourne's most beautiful park.


Most people flowing out of AAMI park get stuck crossing Swan street.
The Melbourne park redevelopment is only going to worsen this situation though-the plans clearly show new tennis courts built right over the problem area. They are only going to worsen the situation, unless they are planning on repositioning crossings or closing swan street and diverting cars down batman ave, but part of those roads are CityLink tollways and I'm not sure how Transurban would feel about that.

There should really also be a southern exit to the stadium, It wouldn't be hard building an exit over Batman Ave to give people an alternate route back to the city or richmond.

[Jeffles]

A bridge over Swan St would be beneficial. I remember the farce it was after the RL Test. It would have to be fairly high. I assume a lot of trucks use the road to avoid the city on their way to the Port.

[deejaybee]

No that's why there is Citylink, the Burnley and Domain tunnels run along the yarra and start just before the precinct and end at the back of southbank and run on to the West Gate and the Bolte bridge.

Swan street is still the main artery to the CBD from the East, and is usually the best way out of the city via car.

**edit: there is no best way in peak hour

[yob]

Melbourne's crowds are down because the Melburnian Sports Fan has higher expectations than normal which they're used to not having met by Docklands, which made them even more passionate, which caused them to dislike a superior venue on account of their passionateness. A large number of Melburnians would attend a trivial sporting contest.

[Jeffles]

No that's why there is Citylink, the Burnley and Domain tunnels run along the yarra and start just before the precinct and end at the back of southbank and run on to the West Gate and the Bolte bridge.

Swan street is still the main artery to the CBD from the East, and is usually the best way out of the city via car.

**edit: there is no best way in peak hour

Still, it is a bad road to cross. In no way is that an excuse. It's more an observation that will improve the experience of a visitor to the stadium. The ambulance chaser in me looks out for things like this.

[Bunagaya]

Renders released as part of the Melbourne Park Redevelopment show a new footbridge built over Swan Street. It's stupid that it wasn't done at the same time that the stadium was built...