Dylan Cleaver: Bosses have taken their eyes off the ball by ignoring fans

For too long sport's administrators have taken the hoi polloi's bums on seats for granted while appeasing the Great God of Television.

When you see the New Zealand Rugby Union roll out figures like the US$437 million ($612 million) value that has been placed on the latest Sanzar broadcasting deal, you can understand why, but here's a smaller figure that organisation can no longer ignore - $280,000.

That's a conservative estimate, based on the cheapest price of a ticket, of what it cost the NZRU to have 7000 empty seats at AMI Stadium last year when the All Blacks played Italy.

Add to that the inevitable reduction in the amount of merchandising sold at the ground and the NZRU tossing away some serious shekels.

More than a quarter of the Union's $15.9 million loss, announced on Thursday, was the result of a reduction in match income.

While part of that can be attributed to the Tokyo Bledisloe Cup test not reaping the returns expected, the downturn in people walking through the gates of grounds from Carisbrook to Eden Park, and in particular AMI Stadium, cannot be ignored.

While making the sport more palatable for "primetime" television, rugby's blazers have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to match-day experience and given the fans every reason to stay home.

Chief executive Steve Tew and chairman Jock Hobbs have both stressed recently times they can no longer take public support for the All Blacks for granted.

That sounds great, but the only way they can show that is by making the match-day - or more accurately, the match-night - experience more enjoyable.

Stadium upgrade projects at Auckland and Christchurch, and a new stadium at Dunedin, should alleviate some problems around comfort and viewing angles, but it is not enough.

The grounds are still, by and large, too difficult to get to unless you leave early. But fans have nothing to get there early for.

There are no boulevard of temporary bars and food stalls like you get overseas, the pre-match entertainment is usually oxymoronic and, unless you're a corporate mover and shaker, it's cold.

The NZRU can't expect people to risk frostbite in June, especially when the tests are often against understrength sides in essentially meaningless contests.

"We've got an issue around the June internationals, making them as attractive as we possibly can to our audiences," Tew said (all ideas no doubt gratefully received).

But even if the rugby was all that mattered, does attractive, meaningful footy necessarily attract bigger crowds? An edict went out this year for positive rugby in Super 14, but there are still issues at the turnstile.

"We've got some encouraging results, but we've got some problems still," Tew said.

"If you look at the five franchises, the Crusaders are up and the new stadium and the Deans Stand has made a difference for them.

"The Blues are up, they've hit capacity a couple of times, but they've only got 17,000 seats to sell, so it's possibly not the best indicator.

"The Chiefs are starting to struggle, the Hurricanes have had some problems and the Highlanders are the Highlanders."

People are more sophisticated when it comes to the discretionary dollar than rugby administrators have given them credit for. Sure, they want a great 80 minutes, but that's no longer enough.

They want a three-hour experience. Build them that ... and they will come.