Get off the couch and into the crowd

Time to fill out the resolution list for 2018. Not the one about eating wisely, drinking less and getting in some exercise but the one about going to a sporting event rather than taking the easy option with the sofa and remote control.

The balance sheet always favours the home content. You don’t have to pay twice for the same event or worry about the weather, there are no traffic issues, food and beverages are on tap

and if the game is a dud you can change channels or do something else.

However, at home you haven’t fully invested in the event and you are insulated from the atmosphere. The buzz, the expectation and the atmosphere are the elements which are not translated in your living room.

You can be as provocative and interactive as you like with your friends but it does not match the experience of being at the event. Try it and compare.

That’s the challenge for sports promoters who have to find ways to encourage spectators to their events and then to hold that connection. The shortest forms of cricket do that with their quick-fire games which suit the evening crowds or holidaymakers.

Tennis is about to test more ideas as the women start their Stanley St tournament where director Karl Budge has been working on ideas to give the fans more bang for their buck in a visit to the courts.

If sports promoters want fans to invest a big chunk of their day in their events then they have to provide

If sports promoters want fans to invest a big chunk of their day in their events, they have to provide wider value.

wider value. They can’t control what happens in the cricket, tennis, bowls, wood-chopping, stockcars or surfing but they can surround it with quality amenities and entertainment.

There are sensible limits and whoever decided there should be riffs of music between deliveries at a oneday cricket match the other day rather than at the end of an over or better still after a change of batsman should be given time out.

As people age, the eyesight gets a little sketchy, interests waver and counter-attractions grow, it is much easier to hit the record button or hit the couch.

If we count ourselves as a sporting nation then we should get more skin in the game and support those who are doing it for a living.

Let’s make that New Year’s resolution and come the end of summer let’s see our scorecard and whether we’ve walked the talk or taken the easy trip to the sofa.