Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:28 am  

RLBandit wrote:

TBH, a sold-out final and an England win will overcome any 'bad' media - such as the press focusing on empty seats, etc. It's a long shot (the England win), but if it happens, we'll be presented with the best opportunity to drive the game forward in a generation.

You are spot on there. It would be huge and should generate an open top bus parade in Leeds or Manchester at the very least. We will have to see if a visit to the palace ensues.

It should at least give Sky pause for thought on their refusal to televise the tournament and maybe bring them on board for the next one of the four nations.

If the final and many of the other games are full of flowing rugby and top class tries and the other lot at Twickers have a penaltython and scrum orgy for their games at the same time and lose to boot, it will be a massive opportunity for the game to seize the public's attention.

As you say though, it's unlikely that England will win but I live in hope.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:20 am  

keighley1 wrote:

You are spot on there. It would be huge and should generate an open top bus parade in Leeds or Manchester at the very least. We will have to see if a visit to the palace ensues.

It should at least give Sky pause for thought on their refusal to televise the tournament and maybe bring them on board for the next one of the four nations.

If the final and many of the other games are full of flowing rugby and top class tries and the other lot at Twickers have a penaltython and scrum orgy for their games at the same time and lose to boot, it will be a massive opportunity for the game to seize the public's attention.

As you say though, it's unlikely that England will win but I live in hope.

When England RU won their world cup, it did wonders for that sport's profile. But, notwithstanding the natural advantage of their ra-ra mates in the media, you can bet that the RFU had a bunch of talented marketing professionals lined up making sure that every possible advantage was squeezed out of the opportunity presented by the England win. Whilst an England win in the RLWC will get reasonably good media PR on its own, one thing we can be pretty sure of is that the RFL will not have the slightest clue how to best take advantage. They're just not up to standard, simple as that. In the event of a win, what we'll see is the best coverage for years, but also that it'll be a very short-lived increase in profile relative the impact seen when England RU won ( banging on about it for years afterwards ). We'll blame 'media bias' - which is partially correct, but also a convenient excuse for the RFL's utter cluelessness in marketing. I hope the "what if England win?" PR plan is in place and includes more than a list of press releases telling us what a great governing body the RFL is

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:33 am  

keighley1 wrote: It should at least give Sky pause for thought on their refusal to televise the tournament and maybe bring them on board for the next one of the four nations. That's not going to happen. Sky have been reducing their RL portfolio for several years now. No NRL coverage, no Championship coverage, no international coverage. “BBC Sport has extended its commitment to Rugby League with broadcast rights confirmed for the Four Nations in 2014 and 2016, and the World Cup in 2017 to add to our current coverage of the Challenge Cup and Super League.” Good news too. Sky have been killing international RL with their joke coverage and kick off times at 6pm on a Saturday evening in the past. What next if Sky had the TV rights? Thursday night test matches? Pffft. Good riddance to Sky. Let them concentrate on screwing over their own SL product instead.

keighley1 wrote: It should at least give Sky pause for thought on their refusal to televise the tournament and maybe bring them on board for the next one of the four nations. That's not going to happen. Sky have been reducing their RL portfolio for several years now. No NRL coverage, no Championship coverage, no international coverage. “BBC Sport has extended its commitment to Rugby League with broadcast rights confirmed for the Four Nations in 2014 and 2016, and the World Cup in 2017 to add to our current coverage of the Challenge Cup and Super League.” Good news too. Sky have been killing international RL with their joke coverage and kick off times at 6pm on a Saturday evening in the past. What next if Sky had the TV rights? Thursday night test matches? Pffft. Good riddance to Sky. Let them concentrate on screwing over their own SL product instead.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:14 pm  

Great news the more RL on fta the better.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:35 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Great news the more RL on fta the better.

Exactly!

Better that 4 million are watching on terrestrial tv during a prime TV Saturday afternoon slot at 3pm rather than a mere 150k watching on Sky Sports at 8pm on a Thursday night.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:59 pm  

JB Down Under wrote:

Great news the more RL on fta the better.

Featherstone Television Association??

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:12 pm  

Tre Cool wrote:

Featherstone Television Association??

That can't be right television has got to Featherstone has it yet?

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:27 pm  

MOT wrote:

That can't be right television has got to Featherstone has it yet?

They're hoping to launch TV in the area on the back of the RL World Cup TV rights.

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:03 pm  

Top tier open at Wembley.

Have a look at the graphic, the Final and for Huddersfield - looks impressive!

Re: World Cup Ticket Sales : Tue Sep 17, 2013 4:22 pm  

geordiesaint wrote:

Top tier open at Wembley.

Have a look at the graphic, the Final and for Huddersfield - looks impressive!

Wow!