Professional club rugby gets off to a good start as Austin Huns Elite host Old Mission Beach
Since announcing in March of 2016 that a professional rugby program was in development, the Austin Huns have seen a flurry of preparation and a number of high-profile press releases. Highlights include a partnership with French professional side Racing 92, adding US Eagle Todd Clever as a partner, hiring the South African U19 and Lions (Super 14) coach Eugene Eloff, and the addition of new seating and other upgrades to their facilities.
On Saturday, Jan 28, 2017, 10 months of preparation came together as the Huns Elite team took on Cal Cup champions Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) at the Huns facilities in the eastern suburbs of Austin in a pre-season friendly.
While watching the match live via online streaming I made a list of things that seemed to go well and others that need some work.
In short, the Huns should be proud of the very respectable start they made to their inaugural professional season. The short-term test will be how they can improve throughout the current season — on and off the pitch — and wether they can sustain and expand their ticket-paying audience.
Things they got right
1. Exciting Rugby: The match was close and exciting the entire time and there were not many errors to slow down the action. The lead changed twice after full time expired with the Huns getting a try at the final whistle to win the match. The officiating also seemed quite good in terms of allowing the match to flow, and even making the correct call on what looked to be a clear try (the Assistant referee correctly saw that the ball was dropped in-goal).
2. Live TV Broadcast: Producing a high-value rugby match is difficult. Very difficult. I was impressed that the camera followed play pretty well, zoomed in/out appropriately, and used instant replays effectively. Not only was the match was broadcast live on YouTube but also into two million homes on Spectrum Sports. Anecdotal reports suggest that Spectrum even re-broadcasted the match later in the evening increasing the reach.
3. Attendance: A local newspaper reported an attendance of about 1000 throughout the day, and Huns General Manager Thierry Daupin confirmed that 650 tickets were sold. This is very comparable to many of the crowds during the 2016 PRO Rugby season and by that measure should be considered a success for the first match. If you assume each person spent on average $10 in concessions, $5 in parking ($10 per car), and $25 per ticket ($20-$60 tickets), that’s an on-premise revenue estimate of $26,000.
4. Revenue Sources: The Huns had all the revenue sources you would expect at a professional sports event: apparel, concessions, and paid tickets. They even set up a VIP area (incidentally, the only seating at centerfield) for those willing to pay extra. They also sold season tickets online. Regardless of the attendance, it is impressive that the infrastructure for revenue was thorough. Importantly, the apparel was available online and heavily promoted in the broadcast for viewers at home. I wouldn’t be surprised if online apparel sales outpaced direct sales at the venue.
5. Fan appreciation: With a clear nod to delivering a professional experience, fans at the match received a lot for their entrance and parking fees. One ticket gave access to three matches (including local collegiate and club matches), an opening ceremonies featuring the Huns mascot and the National anthem, and a post-match concert.
6. VIP area: The VIP area did not appear to have any fancy amenities but had the best field location. It also featured table/chair service and access to the players as they took the pitch at the beginning of the match. As such, it was a nice up-sell opportunity and a great place to host sponsor representatives.
7. Sponsor opportunities: I imagine that the Huns sponsors were quite satisfied with the event. The pitch-side signage was clear, and the advertisements before and after the match and at halftime were well-produced, relevant, and most importantly beamed directly into homes and across the internet simultaneously.
8. Branding: This is an area that the Huns have excelled at from the moment they announced their plans for a professional team. One of the ads they played before the match even promoted the Huns as a “lifestyle brand” with folks on and off the pitch sporting the club apparel. This is clearly designed to maximize the revenue side of the equation noted above, but was so impressive I thought it deserved a special note.
Things that need polish
1. Pitch quality: The quality of the pitch looked to be poor on video with many patches of thin/missing grass. It did not appear to affect the match but the players I am sure would appreciate a better surface. I am sure the new stadium planned for the other end of the facility will fix this.
2. Inconsistent optics: While the production value of the video exceeded my expectations, there were a few things that caught my eye. At one end of the pitch, an open/in-use utility vehicle could be seen during conversion and penalty kicks. On the attendance front, the stands did not appear anywhere close to capacity and I counted approximately 125 people in the stands at one point (see below for example).
A few small parts of pitch were not visible when the play was very close to the touchline nearest the camera: in some cases items near the video equipment appeared in the lower corners of the screen. Finally, camera angles for kicks were not ideal nor consistent.
2. Commentating: I thought the commentators did a reasonable job and I expect it will improve as Kit McConnico learns more about the sport and the relationship with Grant Cole grows. At times, I did find the content a bit heavy on the player details while there was clearly interesting things happening on the pitch. That would have been great content for a match preview segment prior to kickoff.
I also had a discussion with Mr. Cole about the right balance between educating the new-to-rugby viewer and not over-explaining every law. I have yet to experience that sweet spot during a domestic match in the US, but I was certainly very happy that the audience was not talked down to regarding the laws and nuance of the game (as that is the absolute worst!). As a good rugger should, I did call out Mr. Cole on Facebook for a half-time hot-mic moment where the commentators were decidedly off-script. Thankfully, the topic being discussed and — unbeknown to the commentators — being broadcast to the world was just some boring work details!
4. Rosters: The roster display left a lot to be desired. After the match had already started, a text-only list of each team was hastily displayed while the commentators did their best to get through everyone before the action on the pitch resumed. There were also no photos to go with any of the names, unlike the roster that was published on Facebook (see below). I suspect the production team will pre-record this in future and give the rosters it’s due attention.
And based on the commentators detailed player info, there is lots of information available to carry a 5–10 minute pre-match segment, as indicated by Mr. Cole:
“We worked hard this week to study players and coaches. It’s such a fun job.”
5. News and video links: While the build up to the match was well done, it is Monday afternoon and there are still no links to the match result on the Huns website. Further, the “next match” on the homepage still shows the OMBAC fixture.
If the Huns want to maintain the professional atmosphere and build on the success of all the promotion they received on the weekend, there needs to be a good plan to have the website updated very quickly following the match including score, tickets for the next match, and video highlights. Some of this content made it to social media, but not the website.
And speaking of video, there needs to be a solution to have a permanent link for YouTube that can be advertised and bookmarked by fans. The pre-match promotion instructed people to “search YouTube” (see above). To add insult to injury, the video link on the Huns website is currently broken.
Enjoy a great match
As I said above, i was impressed by the Huns operation and I think they have put together a professional product. It remains to be seen whether or not the venture is financially viable, but I am excited to see where it goes!
If you read this far and have not yet watched the match, do yourself a favor and have a look:
