Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:06 am  

William Eve wrote:

Thanks for the info. On further investigation, it turns out that Bradford are offering heavily discounted tickets for the forthcoming home games against London, Widnes and Catalan Dragons! Hull KR are also offering a "friends for a fiver" deal at tomorrow's home game against Bradford. The increasing urgency this season to avoid chalking up further embarrassing attendances in SL via desperate cheap ticket offers is duly noted.

I quite like this thread, but the truth behind it all is coming out with comments like this. All sports have offers on throughout the season at various points. Lancashire cricket were doing a ticket offer of all 5 home games in the 20/20 comp for £40. (£8 per game. Sound familiar?) Does this show 'increasing urgency to avoid embarrassing attendances' as well? Or is it just in RL?

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:49 am  

JB Down Under wrote:

I have no problem with clubs using marketing strategies to get more people to games. Hopefully some of those who may be getting a taste for SL for the first time will become long term fans. If Rovers would have got 7k and get 8k instead due to the offer then that can only be a good thing.

The best marketing strategy for any sport is the quality and meaningfulness of the SL product itself. If the product is good enough, it doesn't need to be constantly flogged at bargain-basement prices in order to attract an attendance. Clearly, the SL product isn't good enough.

With all the best will in the world, the constant flogging of heavily discounted tickets is nothing more than a desperate papering-over-the-cracks measure. Is there any evidence that sundry mega-cheap ticket deals encourage long term fans? I would imagine that most people introduced to the game at a price of £5 or £10 a ticket won't be quite so enthusiastic at turning up when they suddenly have to pay in excess of £20.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:51 am  

Talent Spotter wrote:

I quite like this thread, but the truth behind it all is coming out with comments like this. All sports have offers on throughout the season at various points. Lancashire cricket were doing a ticket offer of all 5 home games in the 20/20 comp for £40. (£8 per game. Sound familiar?) Does this show 'increasing urgency to avoid embarrassing attendances' as well? Or is it just in RL?

Is there any sport which does cheap ticket deals with the same relentless regularity as in SL? The embarrassingly low attendances in the SL play-offs highlight the current malaise in the game with regard to attendances. No cheap ticket deals = low turnout from supporters, despite the importance of those SL play-off fixtures.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:37 am  

William Eve wrote:

The best marketing strategy for any sport is the quality and meaningfulness of the SL product itself. If the product is good enough, it doesn't need to be constantly flogged at bargain-basement prices in order to attract an attendance. Clearly, the SL product isn't good enough.

With all the best will in the world, the constant flogging of heavily discounted tickets is nothing more than a desperate papering-over-the-cracks measure. Is there any evidence that sundry mega-cheap ticket deals encourage long term fans? I would imagine that most people introduced to the game at a price of £5 or £10 a ticket won't be quite so enthusiastic at turning up when they suddenly have to pay in excess of £20.

Nonsense, every product/company that is in a competitive market has regular offers to attract more customers/purchasers. It is marketing 101. There is a big difference between what Bradford did and trying to get a thousand more people who wouldn't have attended through the gates with discount tickets like Rovers are doing.

The core of support is season ticket holders, the rest are casuals, discount tickets are aimed at getting more casuals to become regulars and new people to attend their first games.

Are you really complaining about dropping crowds AND clubs efforts to address the problem? You are sounding increasingly like a troll which is a shame as this thread is one of the better nes on here for reviewing facts about the game!

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:23 am  

JB Down Under wrote:

Nonsense, every product/company that is in a competitive market has regular offers to attract more customers/purchasers. It is marketing 101. There is a big difference between what Bradford did and trying to get a thousand more people who wouldn't have attended through the gates with discount tickets like Rovers are doing.

The core of support is season ticket holders, the rest are casuals, discount tickets are aimed at getting more casuals to become regulars and new people to attend their first games.

Are you really complaining about dropping crowds AND clubs efforts to address the problem? You are sounding increasingly like a troll which is a shame as this thread is one of the better nes on here for reviewing facts about the game!

Wholesale ' open ' offers of discounted or free tickets is bad business, controlled distribution of cheap or free tickets to targeted new potential customers is good business practice, but it requires planning and work, unfortunatley RL management is inherently lazy

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:37 am  

JB Down Under wrote:

Nonsense, every product/company that is in a competitive market has regular offers to attract more customers/purchasers. It is marketing 101. There is a big difference between what Bradford did and trying to get a thousand more people who wouldn't have attended through the gates with discount tickets like Rovers are doing.

Regular discounting of the product inevitably leads to the permanent discounting of the product and a cheapening and lessening of it's overall value. Is that what you mean by marketing 101? And is that all the SL clubs and the RFL have up their marketing sleeve?

JB Down Under wrote:

The core of support is season ticket holders, the rest are casuals, discount tickets are aimed at getting more casuals to become regulars and new people to attend their first games.

One way of reducing core season ticket sales is to regularly offer discounted tickets throughout the season to casual supporters. The season ticket then becomes less attractive a purchase, does it not? More crazy marketing 101 strategy by the SL clubs perhaps?

JB Down Under wrote:

Are you really complaining about dropping crowds AND clubs efforts to address the problem? You are sounding increasingly like a troll which is a shame as this thread is one of the better nes on here for reviewing facts about the game!

None of this is addressing the real issues. It's merely an exercise in window dressing... a papering-over-the-cracks... a cursory glance at the symptoms rather than the causes of the problems which may well add to the issues we already have... lack of income in the game and lack of knowledge by those in charge of how to address this issue. Regular flogging of cheap tickets is not the answer... it's just going to contribute to longer term problems in the future.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:38 am  

William Eve wrote:

Is there any sport which does cheap ticket deals with the same relentless regularity as in SL? The embarrassingly low attendances in the SL play-offs highlight the current malaise in the game with regard to attendances. No cheap ticket deals = low turnout from supporters, despite the importance of those SL play-off fixtures.

I would say the low play off crowds are more down to the awful top 8 system. No one from 8th is ever going to win it, and the top 4 get another chance even if they lose the first game. No wonder no one turns up.

The point I was making about ticket offers is that it devalues this thread if you keep bringing them up, when they have happened on a regular basis for the last few years.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:43 pm  

Rubbish, Rovers will do ticket deals on 3 games only this year and they will generally be the low drawing games such as london and Les Catalans. The deals are usually bring a friend not just wholesale free tickets. Maybe you can tell us which clubs are offering discounted tickets for majority of games?

I see the Western Farce are offering discount tickets to the up and coming Lions match in Perth, the RU must be in a really bad state if they are discounting their best product! My local cinema offers discounted tickets on a Tuesday night, EVERY week, business must be bad.

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:59 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Rubbish, Rovers will do ticket deals on 3 games only this year and they will generally be the low drawing games such as london and Les Catalans. The deals are usually bring a friend not just wholesale free tickets. Maybe you can tell us which clubs are offering discounted tickets for majority of games?

I see the Western Farce are offering discount tickets to the up and coming Lions match in Perth, the RU must be in a really bad state if they are discounting their best product! My local cinema offers discounted tickets on a Tuesday night, EVERY week, business must be bad.

I agree with you JB......if it is "structured" then there is value in offering. Data collection and following up....habit forming is key. There is no benefit in haphazzard offerings......

just checked ticketek btw....only $50 tickets left for the farce v lions game. What offers are they doing at ground level?

Re: Opening SL weekend sees attendances tumbling by 12.66% : Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:42 am  

No wonder this site is dying.Admin must be very pleased with themselves.