What you hate most about live sport

Why leave home when the sporting experience at major events is so underwhelming?

Even the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship are struggling to put bums on seats in smaller venues.

Markets like the US and UK are bucking the trend of declining crowds — that helps when you have decades of fan tribalism and can spend billions on arenas and entertainment.

The best we have in New Zealand is a pre-match band, irrelevant cheerleaders and a naff halftime obstacle challenge put on by a game day sponsor.

A new research paper out of Sydney asked fans what they hate most about live sport.

They said: Food — fans are over greasy, over-priced food. They don’t want pies, chips and hot dogs any more.

2 Entertainment — fans want more bang for their buck.

3 Screens and scoreboards — there aren’t enough, they’re too hard to see.

4 Transport to and from stadiums.

5 Stadium management — how security treat punters on game day.

These findings are in keeping with the hours of talkback I’ve taken on this issue over the years. Paying through the nose for food you wouldn’t buy anywhere else is far and away the biggest reason fans are saying no to live sport.

I know stadiums are looking at the issue but as long as you have one central caterer, I fear things aren’t going to change in a hurry.