The Brisbane Tens is yet to find its sweet spot halfway through its Queensland deal, Duco Events CEO Rachael Carroll admits.
The tournament, in its second year of a four-year contract, attracted just 11,430 on the first day, with an estimation of closer to 20,000 at the time of writing on Saturday.
This year’s competition was tweaked from 2017, with games starting later in the day and being held on Friday and Saturday, rather than Sunday.
Carroll admitted the attendances were below what they had hoped for and said Duco would sit down with the government for a debrief after.
“You learn each time, don't you? When we announced we're going to Friday-Saturday, we're going to day/night, unanimously every bit of feedback I got was, 'right decision, fantastic’,” she said.
“We had a slower build crowd yesterday, which we expected and probably less people than we would've liked.
“Certainly as an event promoter, you need to be agile and you need to be able to respond to the market, you need to be able to learn each time you put your event on and make those changes to make it successful.”
Carroll admitted there was still work to do to make the Tens a more attractive tournament, including exploring a move back to a Saturday-Sunday timeslot or looking at a different venue, though she was quick to praise the Queensland government for its commitment to the event.
"The Queensland State Government and Brisbane City Council are tremendous partners and they're true partners," he said.
"They helped us promote the event, they even helped us make some of the decisions, like day-night and one-day ticketing.
"They are certainly with us and they believe in this product, absolutely, 10-a-side. They like us would want to see greater attendance and they want to see visitation.
"What we can see, though, is there are a lot of Kiwis here. a lot of Kiwis are here engaging with this event."
New Zealand fans attended in their droves, and the speculation that it could work better in New Zealand has never really faded since its inception , but Carroll said there was no guarantee it would be better over the ditch.
“It's really hard to predict,’ she said.
“It's hard to predict how the product's going to go in each market, you've got to think about, 'What is the product, what is the market like, what's the timing as well?'
“The fortunes of sides, even the home teams, go up and down at any one time. The performance of the home team really does make a difference.
One of the biggest issues for the tournament is the lack of star power, with most Super Rugby franchises bringing second-string teams to the competition.
That was one issue Carroll dismissed as a major problem.
“Certainly, we're the first to appreciate if someone's been carrying a niggle and we've seen it with Kurtley Beale for example, they did everything they could to get him onto the field, but it's not a World Cup final, is it?
“We understand you've got to be realistic about it.
“It's not just about Wallabies and All Blacks. Yes, it's about stars and big names, but I tell you what, people are just as excited about those young up and comers that you’re seeing.”
