: Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:58 pm  

'Hitman' Norvern Soul wrote:

Rlfans made up fact of the day.

Really?

2008 Galpharm - 24500 - Leeds v Saints 19842
2008 Keepmoat - 15321 - Hull FC v Wakefield 14716
2007 Halliwell Jones - 13024 - Catalans v Wigan 10218
2007 Galpharm 24500 - St Helens v Bradford 14316
2006 Odsal 27000 - Hudds Leeds - 12574
2006 Galpharm 24500 - Hull KR Saints 12868
2005 Galpharm 24500 - Hull FC Saints 16171
2005 Galpharm 24500 - Leeds Tolouse 10553
2004 Halton Stad - Warrington Wigan 11175
2004 Halliwell Jones 14200 - Hudds Saints 13124
2003 McAlpine 24500 - Leeds Saints 19118
2003 McAlpine 24500 - Bradford Wigan 15359
2002 Headingley 22000 - Cas Wigan 10380
2002 JJB 25000 - Leeds Saints 17475
2001 JJB 25000 - Leeds Saints 16416
2001 McAlpine 24500 - Bradford Warrington 13856

Like to try again?

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:02 pm  

I apologise, I thought you were referring to general Super League fixtures.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:13 pm  

behind the stick wrote:

The fixture dictates the stadium, not the other way around, you might as well say 5,000 empty seats in an 50k stadium is just as good.

And it would be. Surely?

Deepdale <24,000 Reebok <28,000

I've seen that the most expensive tickets are priced £25, most of which will actually be took by corporate and sponsors. Not exactly promoting a family atmosphere.

Be much better to charge £15/£10 all around the stadium and make the effort like the Wigan and Leeds 'big one' are trying to do.

A capacity crowd of 13,350 is nothing to be pleased about. Wigan and Warrington get that in a normal league game. RFL have shot themselves in the foot big time. It may not sell out, but will sell less tickets than if it was at a bigger ground.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:17 pm  

Wire On The Telly wrote:

And it would be. Surely?

Deepdale <24,000 Reebok <28,000

I've seen that the most expensive tickets are priced £25, most of which will actually be took by corporate and sponsors. Not exactly promoting a family atmosphere.

Be much better to charge £15/£10 all around the stadium and make the effort like the Wigan and Leeds 'big one' are trying to do.

A capacity crowd of 13,350 is nothing to be pleased about. Wigan and Warrington get that in a normal league game. RFL have shot themselves in the foot big time. It may not sell out, but will sell less tickets than if it was at a bigger ground.

Agree with you on this one, the RFL should have looked at bigger stadiums like the Reebok.

People watching the Challenge Cup semis on TV as newcomers to the game will think the sport is small time, hosting semi finals of the RFL's flagship competition at Ikea flatpack stadia.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:19 pm  

Wire On The Telly wrote:

And it would be. Surely?

Deepdale <24,000 Reebok <28,000

I've seen that the most expensive tickets are priced £25, most of which will actually be took by corporate and sponsors. Not exactly promoting a family atmosphere.

Be much better to charge £15/£10 all around the stadium and make the effort like the Wigan and Leeds 'big one' are trying to do.

A capacity crowd of 13,350 is nothing to be pleased about. Wigan and Warrington get that in a normal league game. RFL have shot themselves in the foot big time. It may not sell out, but will sell less tickets than if it was at a bigger ground.

But had we sold 18k we would have had 10k empty seats at the Reebok.

Also, how much extra does a football stadium cost to hire anyway, if it was available at all?

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:25 pm  

behind the stick wrote:

Not a chance, the only time that number of sales has come anywhere near is when Leeds and Saints play.

I covered myself really by saying 'up to 20k'. As seen at the Wigan v Catalans Semi, Wigan took 8 or 9k to that game, I would be surprised if demand wasn't higher for this game for their fans.

We took a good 6k to the Widnes semi in 2004, and that was with the same restrictions as now (1 ticket per Season Ticket).

Wigan and Wire have had limited success recently, and I think with the right stadium, the right pricing, and the right ticketing rules, there could be up to 20k there.

That said, I am not too critical of the RFL, as I think their options were limited.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:31 pm  

Wire On The Telly wrote:

And it would be. Surely?

Only in the minds of fans. In reality, when people have to pay above and beyond their season ticket the figures don't hold out.

Wire On The Telly wrote:

Deepdale <24,000 Reebok <28,000

Which is twice as much capacity as required.

Wire On The Telly wrote:

I've seen that the most expensive tickets are priced £25, most of which will actually be took by corporate and sponsors. Not exactly promoting a family atmosphere.

Be much better to charge £15/£10 all around the stadium and make the effort like the Wigan and Leeds 'big one' are trying to do.

Back to, lets drop the price and hope more people come. The ticket prices are cheaper for kids and concessions than they were 5 years back. The semi final has a value, I don't hear anyone complaining about ticket prices.

Wire On The Telly wrote:

A capacity crowd of 13,350 is nothing to be pleased about. Wigan and Warrington get that in a normal league game. RFL have shot themselves in the foot big time. It may not sell out, but will sell less tickets than if it was at a bigger ground.

Now you're just being silly and illogical.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:38 pm  

Dave T wrote:

I covered myself really by saying 'up to 20k'. As seen at the Wigan v Catalans Semi, Wigan took 8 or 9k to that game, I would be surprised if demand wasn't higher for this game for their fans.

But they didn't, they maybe took 5k with around 2-3k extra neutral sales and corporate plus a lot of comp tickets.

Dave T wrote:

We took a good 6k to the Widnes semi in 2004, and that was with the same restrictions as now (1 ticket per Season Ticket).

We took 5600 in 2004 and had three lots of tickets after Wigan only sold 3750. The actual attendance on the day was just over 10k

Dave T wrote:

Wigan and Wire have had limited success recently, and I think with the right stadium, the right pricing, and the right ticketing rules, there could be up to 20k there.

Sorry but the figures just don't show that to be the case, it's same argument people use for early rounds and simply doesn't play in practice.
Have a look at the semi figures I posted before, even if are "slightly inflated" we'd be lucky to get 14k for a semi which means a full Stobart.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:47 pm  

behind the stick wrote:

But they didn't, they maybe took 5k with around 2-3k extra neutral sales and corporate plus a lot of comp tickets.



We took 5600 in 2004 and had three lots of tickets after Wigan only sold 3750. The actual attendance on the day was just over 10k



Sorry but the figures just don't show that to be the case, it's same argument people use for early rounds and simply doesn't play in practice.
Have a look at the semi figures I posted before, even if are "slightly inflated" we'd be lucky to get 14k for a semi which means a full Stobart.

I'm not convinced by your claim that only half the people in the HJ for the Wigan game were Wigan fans, but that is a minor point.

Look, I am not disagreeing with the principle of what you are saying, but one of the reasons the Semi final crowds have gone down, IMO, is due to some of the small time thinking of the RFL (more evident in their Test venues).

I have made the point before, maybe in this thread, but they have made it pretty difficult to get new fans to attend these games alongside season ticket holders. I have made the point, that instead of the three tickets I will be purchasing, had the rules been different, I could have bought 10 or 12 tickets, attracting some potential new fans to this game. I have other friends and family interested in this, however as we are getting our tickets tomorrow, they probably wont bother.

I work in Chester, and know a few people who would be interested in watching a game, this is a perfect one to get them involved. I can't do that under these rules.

Like I said earlier, if Saints had their new 18k stadium available, I have no doubts that would have been used, and the crowd would be higher than we will get at Widnes, as there could have been some relaxation of the rules.

Saints fans can get 4 per ticket, and Hudds fans have no limits at all.

: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:59 pm  

Dave T wrote:

I'm not convinced by your claim that only half the people in the HJ for the Wigan game were Wigan fans, but that is a minor point.

Look, I am not disagreeing with the principle of what you are saying, but one of the reasons the Semi final crowds have gone down, IMO, is due to some of the small time thinking of the RFL (more evident in their Test venues).

Again, look at the figures I posted, the Galpharm/McAlpine with a capacity of 24500 has been used 8 out of the last 16 semi finals and the closest it came to selling out was almost 5k below capacity. Headingley at 22k, The JJB at 25k and Odsal at 27k have all been used - as I said before the fixture now fits the venue.

Dave T wrote:

I have made the point before, maybe in this thread, but they have made it pretty difficult to get new fans to attend these games alongside season ticket holders. I have made the point, that instead of the three tickets I will be purchasing, had the rules been different, I could have bought 10 or 12 tickets, attracting some potential new fans to this game. I have other friends and family interested in this, however as we are getting our tickets tomorrow, they probably wont bother.

I agree, there is a possibility for new fans, but equally there is space at a normal league game to tempt people. The extra capacity for the precious semi finals didn't make much headway though, I'm not sure how other teams sell their allocation.

Dave T wrote:

I work in Chester, and know a few people who would be interested in watching a game, this is a perfect one to get them involved. I can't do that under these rules.

So why not another big game? Saints, Wigan and Leeds at the Haliiwell Jones offer similar for a first timer.

Dave T wrote:

Like I said earlier, if Saints had their new 18k stadium available, I have no doubts that would have been used, and the crowd would be higher than we will get at Widnes, as there could have been some relaxation of the rules.

It's nice to think that would be the case.

Dave T wrote:

Saints fans can get 4 per ticket, and Hudds fans have no limits at all.

See my previous comment on why I think that is.