Bulldogs push for Friday night

[Axe Man]

Four to six seems optimistic after none for 3 seasons straight. At least two would be a good start.

Bulldogs push for Friday night (http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/2015-07-16/bulldogs-push-for-friday-night)

http://s8.postimg.org/mzhsgthvp/Stringer.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

The Western Bulldogs will lobby for greater opportunities on the AFL’s big stage, with Club president Peter Gordon confirming the Bulldogs would push for Friday night matches in 2016.

The Bulldogs have not had a Friday night match since 2012, joining the Gold Coast Suns and GWS as the only sides to not participate in a Friday night match in the past three seasons.

Speaking with the Herald Sun this week, Gordon said the Bulldogs deserve a chance at the prime timeslot, in order to continue building fan base and revenue.

“My expectation would be that the AFL would be thinking of giving us four to six Friday night games on the basis of the promise that we’re showing on the field.

“(There’s) the exciting brand of football that we’re showing, the growth potential for us in the competition and last but not least, in some form, to redress the fact that we’ve had none since 2012.”

The ability to showcase the Club’s brand and capitalise on the commercial opportunities that a Friday night match presents is driving Gordon and the Bulldogs’ push.

“We are meant to build our membership… but we are denied the most important tools, which enable us to do it, which is the sort of exposure you get from those Friday night games.”

The Bulldogs have won nine matches in 2015 and currently sit sixth on the AFL ladder, already surpassing last year’s total of seven wins.

[Murphy'sLore]

Ambit claim.

[F'scary]

But good on him.

[Bulldog Joe]

Wouldn't mind if we managed a Thursday game. That would give great exposure.

Would possibly be a better outcome than the mooted Good Friday.

[Happy Days]

An absolute STERLING article about this in the Sun today.

How is playing Port at 2:10 on a Saturday a "showcase game". And lucky us, we get a home game against Collingwood.

"The schedule will not be used as a means of equity" - omfg.

[Mantis]

I think we deserve 2 or 3 Thursday/Friday night games.. However our maximum exposure games in recent weeks (thinking Saturday night) weren't great viewing, but I guess the opposition you play effects that greatly.

[Greystache]

I think we deserve 2 or 3 Thursday/Friday night games.. However our maximum exposure games in recent weeks (thinking Saturday night) weren't great viewing, but I guess the opposition you play effects that greatly.

I thought other than the last quarter it was pretty horrible too, but I had a number of neutral fans telling me how much they enjoyed it. I guess high scoring bursts are so rare these days that fans are excited by just a taste of it.

[Remi Moses]

I get annoyed by the crap that gets trotted out about everyone wanting to watch the " big boys".
For those who don't follow these teams want a decent game between two decent teams.
The neutrals ( and believe it or not there are plenty) are sick of crap teams getting a gig

[Mantis]

I thought other than the last quarter it was pretty horrible too, but I had a number of neutral fans telling me how much they enjoyed it. I guess high scoring bursts are so rare these days that fans are excited by just a taste of it.

Was thinking more about the St.Kilda & Carlton games which were both broadcasted by 7 in their prime Saturday night slot.

[Eastdog]

It's crazy we don't get Friday night games and we are the only Victorian team that doesn't get them. Very happy Peter is pushing for this to happen. We need kids who may be watching on Friday night and who may not have a team to watch us and may and possibly support us. Great time is now as we are playing some really good footy. My hope also is we can secure a good stadium deal at Etihad where we can make a profit.

[Twodogs]

What we need is some economic modelling and forecast projections about how much better off we will be if we play Friday/Thursday night games (prefer Thursday night),or how much worse off under the current schedule.

[GVGjr]

Is our argument hurt by our poor crowd attendance? Even our Saturday evening games aren't drawing good crowds.

[Eastdog]

What we need is some economic modelling and forecast projections about how much better off we will be if we play Friday/Thursday night games (prefer Thursday night),or how much worse off under the current schedule.

I may have brought this up before but what if we played a home game or two at the G would that improve our revenue.

[bulldogtragic]

I may have brought this up before but what if we played a home game or two at the G would that improve our revenue.

May Easty? :)

[Bulldog4life]

May Easty? :)

Is that Easty's first name BT?

[Eastdog]

Is that Easty's first name BT?

Nope :)

[bulldogtragic]

Is that Easty's first name BT?

I always thought of Eastdog as an only name akin to Prince or Madonna.

[jeemak]

I may have brought this up before but what if we played a home game or two at the G would that improve our revenue.

Easty, you never let us down! :)

[Eastdog]

Easty, you never let us down! :)

Is that compliment jeemak :)

[azabob]

Easty, you never let us down! :)


Is that compliment jeemak :)

Yes it is Easty.

[Eastdog]

Yes it is Easty.

Cool ��

[ledge]

Hard for the AFL to knock us back after the Carlton debacle.

[Twodogs]

Hard for the AFL to knock us back after the Carlton debacle.


Debacle is a plural now?

[G-Mo77]

Hard for the AFL to knock us back after the Carlton debacle.

Look for the Bombres to be rewarded for their 2015 season. They've earnt Carlton's Friday night spot.

We'll get 1, maybe 2 at best.

[GVGjr]

Hard for the AFL to knock us back after the Carlton debacle.

Do we draw a big enough crowd to warrant a lot of Friday nights?

[Twodogs]

Do we draw a big enough crowd to warrant a lot of Friday nights?



The only way to find out is to start giving us some games on Friday night. I don't think what you ask is a relevant question the AFL should be asking anyway Friday night is Friday night. People come anyway.

And how to we grow our attendances without exposure to the big drawing games anyway? We are owed them,we have underpinned this competition for many years now.

[Bulldog Joe]

Do we draw a big enough crowd to warrant a lot of Friday nights?

The key on Friday is television exposure. This also applies to Thursday. Our form warrants the exposure.

[GVGjr]

The only way to find out is to start giving us some games on Friday night. I don't think what you ask is a relevant question the AFL should be asking anyway Friday night is Friday night. People come anyway.

And how to we grow our attendances without exposure to the big drawing games anyway? We are owed them,we have underpinned this competition for many years now.

Given the season we have had if we can't draw a crowd on a Saturday night I'm not sure Friday night simply becomes more fan friendly for us. This is not the field of dreams ;)

We need to get 3 Fridays next year with 2 of them being home games but our supporters need to come along to these games as well.
If we stumble around 25k attendances we hand momentum back to the AFL. If we get 30K to games we will have a lot more say.

[Bulldog Joe]

Given the season we have had if we can't draw a crowd on a Saturday night I'm not sure Friday night simply becomes more fan friendly for us. This is not the field of dreams ;)

We need to get 3 Fridays next year with 2 of them being home games but our supporters need to come along to these games as well.
If we stumble around 25k attendances we hand momentum back to the AFL. If we get 30K to games we will have a lot more say.

For the AFL 25K on Friday is the same as 25K on Saturday. The important area is TV Ratings and exposure for clubs. We deserve an equal chance.

[Flamethrower]

The criteria for Friday night games is more about television ratings than actual attendance, but we did draw more to our Saturday night game (31,445) v Carlton than Essendon and North did on Friday night 31,025).

Give us a Friday night game against Collingwood or Richmond at Etihad and attendance wont be a problem.

[GVGjr]

For the AFL 25K on Friday is the same as 25K on Saturday. The important area is TV Ratings and exposure for clubs. We deserve an equal chance.

I don't believe so, Friday night is the prime spot because of the ratings and exposure you have mentioned and therefore needs stronger attendances.

If we draw good crowds and play good football then we will keep getting Friday night games. The AFL put a lot of faith in Carlton who are vastly down on form and attendances so we need to be a lot better than that in both area's.

[GVGjr]

The criteria for Friday night games is more about television ratings than actual attendance, but we did draw more to our Saturday night game (31,445) v Carlton than Essendon and North did on Friday night 31,025).

Give us a Friday night game against Collingwood or Richmond at Etihad and attendance wont be a problem.

Same would be said for Saturday night games if we were to play those team including Sunday at 4.40pm.

[hujsh]

I don't believe so, Friday night is the prime spot because of the ratings and exposure you have mentioned and therefore needs stronger attendances.

If we draw good crowds and play good football then we will keep getting Friday night games. The AFL put a lot of faith in Carlton who are vastly down on form and attendances so we need to be a lot better than that in both area's.

Why. The atmosphere may add something to the game but surely all that matters is ratings. Channel Seven would prefer a million people watch a game in front of 25k than 800,000 watch a game in front of 50k

[Eastdog]

Why. The atmosphere may add something to the game but surely all that matters is ratings. Channel Seven would prefer a million people watch a game in front of 25k than 800,000 watch a game in front of 50k

That shouldn't be what only matters it should be a balance between the fans attending the games and the TV ratings.

[hujsh]

That shouldn't be what only matters it should be a balance between the fans attending the games and the TV ratings.

If you mean fixtues need to be balance between allowing fans to attend and maximsing ratings then I agree. If you mean that the allocation of prime time games like Friday night games should take into account the crowds the team will draw then I disagree and would still like to hear the reasons why that's the case.

[Eastdog]

If you mean fixtues need to be balance between allowing fans to attend and maximsing ratings then I agree. If you mean that the allocation of prime time games like Friday night games should take into account the crowds the team will draw then I disagree and would still like to hear the reasons why that's the case.

Every team regardless if they are big crowd pullers or not should get an opportunity to play at least once on a Friday night.

[hujsh]

Every team regardless if they are big crowd pullers or not should get an opportunity to play at least once on a Friday night.

I'm still a bit confused as now it appears you're agreeing with what I initially said. When you say 'crowd pullers' do you mean in terms of ratings? My initial point was that it's better for say Dogs vs North to be the Friday game with 30k attending as opposed to say Carlton vs Collingwood with 50-60k attending as more neutrals are likely to tune in and stay with a more interesting match. Do you agree with that or not?

I can get behind every team having at least one Friday night game but at the same time you don't a repeat of this year where there's too much of an under-performing team (Carlton) so I don't mind it being weighed more towards games between likely top 4/8 contenders.

[GVGjr]

I'm still a bit confused as now it appears you're agreeing with what I initially said. When you say 'crowd pullers' do you mean in terms of ratings? My initial point was that it's better for say Dogs vs North to be the Friday game with 30k attending as opposed to say Carlton vs Collingwood with 50-60k attending as more neutrals are likely to tune in and stay with a more interesting match. Do you agree with that or not?



I don't see the logic in that.

[Eastdog]

Has the Friday night footy criteria always been like that.

[bornadog]

Has the Friday night footy criteria always been like that.

they make it up as they go along.

[Greystache]

Has the Friday night footy criteria always been like that.

When the big clubs are up they say it's about earning them through on field performance. When the big clubs are down they say it's about maximising attendances.

When it's about maximising attendances the smaller clubs like ours get 7-8 home games a season against interstate clubs to prevent us from producing crowds that will justify that criteria. Carlton got 16,000 at home against GWS, even Collingwood the biggest club in the AFL only got 36,000 on Saturday night against West Coast. Of course they'll only get fixtured those types of games a couple of times a year so the AFL can point to the average crowd numbers and give them another 7-10 prime time games next year.

The sad thing is a lot of people can't see through their bullshit.

[Eastdog]

I'm still a bit confused as now it appears you're agreeing with what I initially said. When you say 'crowd pullers' do you mean in terms of ratings? My initial point was that it's better for say Dogs vs North to be the Friday game with 30k attending as opposed to say Carlton vs Collingwood with 50-60k attending as more neutrals are likely to tune in and stay with a more interesting match. Do you agree with that or not?

I can get behind every team having at least one Friday night game but at the same time you don't a repeat of this year where there's too much of an under-performing team (Carlton) so I don't mind it being weighed more towards games between likely top 4/8 contenders.

Crowd pullers meaning fans going to the games.

[hujsh]

I don't see the logic in that.

More interesting (even if they're less attended) games would make for a better spectacle on TV and generate higher ratings=pay more for TV rights. Friday night games would present more value to the AFL because of the ratings they bring in rather than attendances at those games. Wouldn't that generate more money?

And wouldn't the Carlton-Collingwood game be likely to get as many spectators on a Saturday arvo as on a Friday Night?


Crowd pullers meaning fans going to the games.

Then I've no idea what you're trying to day.

[Eastdog]

Then I've no idea what you're trying to day.

Confusion :)

[Webby]

The whole point about Friday night football is that it's the highest rating TV slot. Most AFL TV viewers on Friday nights are neutral fans. Therefore I fail to see the point of people focusing on whether 30k or 50k are at the actual ground?

Surely the 1M plus national TV audience is the main focus!? Some on here need to get with the times. The AFL makes $250M p.a. On TV revenue alone. That's not including the sponsorship etc that comes with ratings.

As most TV viewers are neutral fans (fact), the biggest impact on TV ratings is the quality of the actual game, the relevance to the actual competition and the closeness of the contest, itself.

If we climb the ladder and play good, entertaining footy, we'll get Friday night games. As it is, we played dour footy under McCartney and were cellar-dwellers. Irrelevant.

Now, however, we are playing entertaining footy and should be contending for top 4-6 next year. Carlton and Essendon , for example, will certainly not. Therefore, it's as plane as the nose on your face that we will be playing Friday night footy next year. As the fixture is beginning to be drawn up at the moment, the club is smart to be ramming our case home.

[westdog54]

More interesting (even if they're less attended) games would make for a better spectacle on TV and generate higher ratings=pay more for TV rights. Friday night games would present more value to the AFL because of the ratings they bring in rather than attendances at those games. Wouldn't that generate more money?

And wouldn't the Carlton-Collingwood game be likely to get as many spectators on a Saturday arvo as on a Friday Night?



Then I've no idea what you're trying to day.

This isn't a crack at you, but you just reminded me of a Martin/Molloy Sketch from their radio show years ago.

It was a 60 minutes 'forum' on Youth Unemployment run by the late Richard Carleton. After a few minutes of booing, Peter Reith and some random from the audience saying 'National Shame', Rich pops a bottle of champagne and says to the audience "Oh, you people can all go now, we've got enough for the promo. Even if they switch over to The Simpsons after 20 minutes the points go to us. Cheers!"

My point being that TV ratings don't tell the full story, as much as the AFL might like to tell us otherwise.

[Ozza]

I was at the North v Essendon match on Friday night. It was the second time these two teams have played each other on a Friday night in the space of about 8 weeks.

As it was an Essendon away game...there didn't seem to be many of their supporters in attendance. The atmosphere felt pretty lackluster to me.

[Greystache]

23000 tonight for Essendon Port at Etihad. It's not just the Bulldogs who don't pull big crowds, it's just the "big" clubs don't get 8 home games a season against interstate teams.

[Bulldog4life]

23000 tonight for Essendon Port at Etihad. It's not just the Bulldogs who don't pull big crowds, it's just the "big" clubs don't get 8 home games a season against interstate teams.

40,000 today at our match I was told

[azabob]

40,000 today at our match I was told

40,500.

Gordon announced before the game that Dogs and Pies want a permanent round one fixture at the MCG and will approach the AFL jointly on the concept.

[ledge]

Well pretty much impossible for the AFL not to give us Friday night games now no matter how much they try and spin it.
40,000 at a home game on a Sunday arvo against a side that's 11th.