While the small island of New Zealand may offer its fair share of beauty for all various forms of culture and landscapes, the sporting genre has also garnered a significant sum of attention from all related audiences with the sport of football/soccer emerging as a lively choice for fans to enjoy during their spare time.
Whilst the New Zealand football pyramid has continued to gain a greater sum of traction and widespread media attention over the past few years, it still has its own ways to go before it can be considered as one of the most prominent footballing league’s/pyramids on the planet today.
Some of the most highly respected and successful teams that compete in the league today include the likes of Auckland City FC, Team Wellington, Waitakere United, Wellington Phoenix and Eastern Suburbs, all of whom are widely supported across the nation and continue to draw in an increased number of crowds to every venue for league and cup games.
However, when comparing some of these teams to some of the richest clubs in the world today, there is still a major gap in terms of their overall worth and intrigue from other professional outlets.
The English Premier League and other related domestic competitions could likely be the preferred starring candidate that the New Zealand footballing pyramid may look to replicate when it comes to overall fan culture, investment and overriding success due to this league now earning the credibility from many outlasting sources in various forms of media and commercial opportunities.
When delving deeper into the many growing aspects and potential shortcomings for the New Zealand football scene, these are some of the individual factors that could increase the league’s overall viability and earnings both within the nation and across the world as a sporting division that is on the rise:
- Viewership and matchday attendance:
When it comes to the most viewed sporting events and individual outings within the country of New Zealand, the likes of rugby, cricket and basketball may all reign supreme as the quintessential favorites for all fans within this providence.
However, despite these being amongst the beloved sports that fans and aspiring athletes will often tune into on a regular basis, football is still a rising commodity within the region which is dubiously merited with the various attendance and viewership records that the nation has set.
The largest single football match attendance dates back to the 2017 clash between the men’s national team against Peru which clocked in around 37,034 spectators, with the largest individual league game attendance coming in 2010 when 32,792 fans watched the Wellington Phoenix take on the A-League giants Newcastle Jets in a contest.
The largest registered exhibition game is also a noticeable figure as 31,853 fans watched Wellington Phoenix’s game against the popular MLS side LA Galaxy during a preseason friendly encounter, which was also the same season that saw Phoenix claim the largest average matchday attendance of any team with just shy of 12,000 spectators on a gameday basis.
While these figures may not seem overly impressive compared to other more established and highly popular sporting leagues, this is still a significant amount of intrigue that the New Zealand Premier League and National side has continued to garner across all wider contests which can be related to the prior years of existence for the English Premier League and other clubs that have since entered into establishment.
- Merchandising and commercialism:
Many clubs within the New Zealand Premier League and other related divisions will often rely on their fan’s interest to increase their income and overall revenue stream which can often include the increase in buys for merchandising at club shops for any fans attending the games.
While the overall figures for the average sum of merchandise raised for every club in the New Zealand football league are certainly difficult to track or pinpoint, there is certainly an increased amount of fan investment in their respected local teams that are sure to keep them afloat and working in full operation for the foreseeable future.
Commercialism at the highest level of football such as the English Premier League can include the involvement in brand deals between several notable teams, which includes Manchester United’s sponsorship deals with Chevrolet or Chelsea’s involvement with travel agencies such as Trivago.
This is still a relatively new sector for most New Zealand teams to truly delve into meaning that it is solely dependent on how much of an influx of popularity that such an amenity can truly generate from all locals within the region of origin.
This league is gaining traction in regards to its overall fan culture and investment yet it still has to endure an intriguing prolonged period surrounding its current future due to its competitive ties with other sporting professions and the wider impact that such leisure’s have provided on the nation’s sporting complex, yet there is certainly plenty of optimism surrounding the New Zealand football scene and further developments are sure to be added to improve the game’s overall enjoyment amongst fans for the future.