Some might look at this as being harsh but I think it's fair. When are the Rugby League going to stop persisting with this fantasy expansion. If it hasn't worked by now, it never will! I'm all for reaching out to a wider audience with our game but not at the expense of historical clubs in the homelands.
The current magic weekend. To basically copy what I said in the other thread, Wire catalans played last year and got 18,000, if we market it to the Catalans public we could get a similar figure to that game, there's loads of space in a fantastic city, accomodation's cheap, flights arent bad and if the other teams took an average of 1000 each (topped easily by some) we'd have over 30,000.
Oh, and the weathers great. I'd be there; wouldn't you?
The current magic weekend. To basically copy what I said in the other thread, Wire catalans played last year and got 18,000, if we market it to the Catalans public we could get a similar figure to that game, there's loads of space in a fantastic city, accomodation's cheap, flights arent bad and if the other teams took an average of 1000 each (topped easily by some) we'd have over 30,000.
Oh, and the weathers great. I'd be there; wouldn't you?
I just said on another thread, Wire Catalans got 18,000 in Barcelona just last year. Take the magic weekend there, I bet it wouldnt cost much more
You think we'd get around 35,000 fans out to Barcelona easily and cheaply? Sleezyjet and Ryanair would jack the fares in an instant, at least Dublin has the ferry as an alternative.
Some might look at this as being harsh but I think it's fair. When are the Rugby League going to stop persisting with this fantasy expansion. If it hasn't worked by now, it never will! I'm all for reaching out to a wider audience with our game but not at the expense of historical clubs in the homelands.
The current magic weekend. To basically copy what I said in the other thread, Wire catalans played last year and got 18,000, if we market it to the Catalans public we could get a similar figure to that game, there's loads of space in a fantastic city, accomodation's cheap, flights arent bad and if the other teams took an average of 1000 each (topped easily by some) we'd have over 30,000.
Oh, and the weathers great. I'd be there; wouldn't you?
For fans it probably wouldn't cost much more. For the RFL it would probably cost hundreds of thousands more. Would be nice though if Barcelona were willing to pay.
Back up all you have said with proof or wind yer neck in I'll carry on tying you up in knots any time you like. So when has MCC been approached and said no. How much did Edinburgh get paid? How much damage does a game of RL do? How many non football events can be held at COM? Howm many have been held since it opened? Is 2m not a big enough target area for development? How many live in Edinburgh??? Why London, as it does not qualify under your criteria? ....
I know you're just trolling, but even so....
The COM planning permission at the time it was built specified a limit for the number of non-football events the stadium can be used for. They tend to use those slots for big pop concerts, which obviously generate a lot more cash than an RL event could. In any case, given the near 100 year history of playing internationals and championship finals in Manchester, it's kind of hard to see why playing a weekends fixtures would inspire the youth of Trafford, Tameside etc. to start playing RL.
"Visit Wales" stumped up half a million quid to get the RFL to hold the event in Cardiff. We don't know the terms of the Murrayfield deal (presumably much less advantageous), but I'd assume the RFL do get some money from Scotland for taking Magic weekend to Edinburgh. Can't see the Northwest tourist body wanting to spend big money on winning the event, as it's not exactly going to fill hotel rooms.
Given the ease of travel, i think you would get people staying longer and becoming more involved in the event itself. No day trippers rushing to get home because they have a long trip back. I don't know what the breakdown is of those who day tripped or bought tickets for both days.
Any potential drop in whatever payments are made could easily be covered by a huge increase in ticket sales. 52,000 tickets sold for Edinburgh, I can't see any reason why that won't top 80,000 in Manchester.
I personally think you'd get an awful lot of younger fans having a night out in Manchester and staying over, and it would make it a hell of a lot cheaper for families to go along.
No one knows what the deal RFL has with Edinburgh, but is this event primarily a money maker? Given the huge population around the AGMA region, and the complete lack of development that goes on, isn't it about balancing profit and development of the game?
In a far off location almost all people that go will prefer to stay overnight (or at least in the eyes of a tourist board there is a greater likelihood). So close to home people will just go to the games and go home. Hotels in Manchester will not make money as ones in Edinburgh do and I don't think that any of the alternatives such as caravan parks and camping sites that persuade some people to stay around Edinburgh and Cardiff exist near Manchester. That decreases the tourism value for the city massively.
There is no evidence that people would attend in numbers much greater than they have at Cardiff and Edinburgh so that is just conjecture.
Families going along because it is cheaper are going to find it even cheaper to watch the games and drive home than to fork out for accommodation an hour away from home so they would go home.
The event is unlikely to make much more for Manchester than a single home game for United or City does as they would have attendances of 76k and just over 40k with one happening each week for every week of the football season. Given this and the fact that the city already hosts one large event (that it can base expected earnings on) I don't expect that Manchester will bid to host it. They will certainly not stand to earn as much from tourism as other cities so will not be willing to pay as much. Payment from a host city is guaranteed income for the RFL, a hoped for increased attendance is not guaranteed and I can only see them going for the guaranteed money from the host city's tourist board.
You think we'd get around 35,000 fans out to Barcelona easily and cheaply? Sleezyjet and Ryanair would jack the fares in an instant, at least Dublin has the ferry as an alternative.
i think they would struggle with the amount of airports within commutable distance to Barcelona. Im not sure 35k would be too much trouble for a city of barcelonas size considering over 5million people go there a year and they have hosted much much bigger events
the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys would be ideal in both size and infrastructure, it would also give us a fantastic opportunity to advertise to the people of Catalonia and southern france and give us a fantastic boost in spain.
Saying that, they dont seem to be offering us any money for it, and the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys would be quite expensive for us to pay to rent
i think they would struggle with the amount of airports within commutable distance to Barcelona. Im not sure 35k would be too much trouble for a city of barcelonas size considering over 5million people go there a year and they have hosted much much bigger events
Oh aye, I know that and I think it would be fantastic, but you can see the pound signs in Michael O'Leary's eyes at the thought of it.