Sporting bodies wary of changing habits of fans as crowds return in 2021

For many years Australia’s top sporting leagues thought they were in competition with each other. They were wrong.

Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley said Australia’s leading sporting codes want fans to feel comfortable when they return to stadiums Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley is concerned the pandemic may have altered the way fans will want to consume their favourite sports in coming years.

Having secured the Australian Open for 2021 after prolonged negotiations with state and federal governments, discussions continue as to the crowd capacity for a month of tennis in Melbourne in February.

Tennis Australia is hopeful of having total attendances of over 400,000 in January for the Australian Open.

There will also be several lead-in tournaments held in Melbourne the week before the grand slam, headlined by the ATP Cup.

Tennis Australia has released protocols which effectively divide the grounds at Melbourne Park into three separate viewing zones for fans, effectively based around the roofed arenas on the site.

But Tiley is assessing the negotiations with a broader viewpoint than simply his role leading Tennis Australia after he took charge of the COMPPS alliance earlier this year.

The body represents the AFL, NRL, Rugby Australia, Cricket Australia, Football Federation Australia and Netball Australia in negotiations with governments.

Cricket Australia has been able to expand the crowd capacity for the Boxing Day Test against India at the MCG to 30,000 per day.

The return of crowds in increasing number will be welcome in 2021, provided COVID-19 is held at bay.

But Tiley said sports needed to be proactive in courting fans who have spent the past 12 months watching from their lounge rooms, offering them incentives to attend.

“It is interesting. I said to the group, it is funny how we always thought our competition was each other. But our competition is actually the couch and the mobile devices,” Tiley told The Weekend Australian.

“If we do more in partnership and leverage each other’s IP (intellectual property) and expertise, we can achieve a lot. That is happening and that is what has been great.”

Attracting crowds is a conundrum all sporting bodies are contemplating at a time where so much is broadcast on television and radio networks, as well as through streaming services.

Sports will need to introduce COVID safe guidelines for venues, which could detract from what the experience was like prior to the pandemic.

Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson last week said luring fans back to the state’s racetracks in significant numbers was “a concern”.

“We don’t know how people are going to respond post-pandemic,” he told RSN 927.

“It is a challenge, but it is a challenge we are aware of.”

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is hopeful a significant crowd will be in attendance when reigning premiers Richmond host Carlton at the MCG on March 18 next year.

While the majority of the group comprising COMPPS faced significant challenges this year, the Australian Open was one event successfully held in 2020.

But months of negotiations with federal and state governments, medical officials and the respective men’s and women’s tours to guarantee an Australian Open in 2021 have been challenging.

Tiley said discussions with his fellow sporting executives had been beneficial but acknowledged the challenges COVID-19 has presented this year have been extraordinary.

“When I took on the role chairing the group – I took it on just before COVID – I thought it was going to be a little more straightforward than it has been,” he said.

“It has been tough in the fact that every sport, all major professional sports are hurting, and we spent a lot of time with each other sharing intelligence, talking each other through it and, for the first time ever, all sports made a joint submission to the government for support.”

The collaboration between rival sporting parties in 2020 has been a surprising but crucial ingredient in reducing the carnage COVID-19 has wreaked.

COMPPS forwarded a submission to the Federal government in April requesting a relief package for sport post the pandemic.

The 18-page submission details the measures the elite sports have taken to reduce cuts and the damage that has been inflicted from the top end to grassroots.

But Tiley believes that if the sporting organisations can continue to co-operate, they can help the broader community rebuild in coming years.

“That is currently with the Federal government being considered. I think it is a fantastic submission,” he said.

“It is about rebooting Australia and helping the local clubs at grassroots with sport. We all partnered in it.”