Re: Cup final crowd : Mon May 09, 2022 8:06 pm  

I’m at a wedding in Colechester the day before so heading across from there. Managed to get 2 train tickets for £30 each (from Wakefield to Kings Cross) for my 2 lads who we will have to meet down there in the day.

Got tickets all be it in the wrong end (North side of the stadium) as couldn’t get 4 together in any of the other stands, for £170 and the hotel prices are astronomical.

Given we are proud of our working class roots as a sport I do sometimes worry we are pricing ourselves out of that market especially when there is no guarantee of who is going to be playing until 3 weeks prior to the game limiting saving time.

It’s always a cracking day out and I normally go every year regardless of who is playing but probably would have second thoughts if Wigan (or Wakefield) don’t reach the final in the future.

Re: Cup final crowd : Mon May 09, 2022 8:34 pm  

jonh wrote:

I’m at a wedding in Colechester the day before so heading across from there. Managed to get 2 train tickets for £30 each (from Wakefield to Kings Cross) for my 2 lads who we will have to meet down there in the day.

Got tickets all be it in the wrong end (North side of the stadium) as couldn’t get 4 together in any of the other stands, for £170 and the hotel prices are astronomical.

Given we are proud of our working class roots as a sport I do sometimes worry we are pricing ourselves out of that market especially when there is no guarantee of who is going to be playing until 3 weeks prior to the game limiting saving time.

It’s always a cracking day out and I normally go every year regardless of who is playing but probably would have second thoughts if Wigan (or Wakefield) don’t reach the final in the future.

I agree. I'm fortunate to be in a position where I can make the trip, however aware that lots possibly can't. Due to the current climate its probably the most horrendous time to have made to the final in London.

Highest ever utility bills.
Highest ever petrol/diesel prices.
Increased inflation hitting food prices, mortgages....etc.
Post pandemic job loss/insecurity.

There's already been debates around 'heating versus eating' on various news channels. I think the days of clubs taking 30,000 to 40,000 down to Wembley as we used to in the 80's and 90's are well and truly over. To be honest they have been for years, certainly since New Wembley.

As a family of five wanting to go down to the final, imagine this:

Match Tickets x 5 - £150 (2 adults, 3 kids)
Coach Tickets x 5 - £250
Food & Drinks at Services/Stadium x 5 - £150

£550 for a day trip, that doesn't include merchandise, match day programme, cost getting to and from Robin Park for the coach.

This family of five could surely be forgiven if they decided to sort out a small homemade buffet, invite the extended family round, decorate the house in cherry and white and all watch it on live TV for less than £100. Or treat it like any other day and it costs nothing.

Certain rival supporters may no doubt use it against us and Huddersfield when you see blocks of empty seats but the true hard facts are people are struggling at the moment. That said I like others on here will be confident to see 10-15,000 Wigan supporters in total make the trip.

Re: Cup final crowd : Mon May 09, 2022 9:30 pm  

I feel peoples concerns regarding the cost are spot on,frankly but for it being our birthday this month we wouldn’t have bothered with it,our kids text on Saturday to say it’s our treat for us,which was nice,they spluttered a bit when we said how much it would be,but it’s now a combo birthday/anniversary present.

Time for the sport to wake up and smell the coming storm,London is very expensive at the best of times but now with the Funchal storms hitting most of us it’s time to put to bed this London or bust mentality and bring the final closer to home.

Re: Cup final crowd : Mon May 09, 2022 10:36 pm  

If there is 30 k i would be surprised The cost is OVERPRICED save your money watch the game on tv

Re: Cup final crowd : Mon May 09, 2022 10:47 pm  

MR FRISK wrote:

If there is 30 k i would be surprised The cost is OVERPRICED save your money watch the game on tv

Yes, just watch in on t.v. and when the club/game dies blame it on somebody else!

Re: Cup final crowd : Mon May 09, 2022 11:01 pm  

MR FRISK wrote:

If there is 30 k i would be surprised The cost is OVERPRICED save your money watch the game on tv

Serious question here cause I know that for years you have 'almost' gleefully declared your reluctance to attend a Wigan match, instead hark back to when things were better in the 90's.

So my question to you would be.... If I paid for you a match ticket to the final, along with coach travel, would you go?

Re: Cup final crowd : Tue May 10, 2022 7:53 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Yes, just watch in on t.v. and when the club/game dies blame it on somebody else!

Or they get a better TV deal because more people are watching it. I remember listening to something a RU player said when a fan rolled out the old "I pay your wages" line, the majority of income in RU comes from TV and sponsorship & not fans through the gates.

Re: Cup final crowd : Tue May 10, 2022 9:00 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Or they get a better TV deal because more people are watching it. I remember listening to something a RU player said when a fan rolled out the old "I pay your wages" line, the majority of income in RU comes from TV and sponsorship & not fans through the gates.

Channel 4 are well pleased with the viewing figures as well hopefully this could be the kick start we want in getting a better deal for TV rights. Cant see the BBC paying more but for a commercial channel with adverts that could sell the game .Channel 4 on terrestrial TV with adverts at the moment Channel 4 only show games on a Saturday afternoon and not Thursday nights were spectators stay at home. The difference with our game and Football if the games are not scheduled for TV most are played on a Saturday afternoon something to look forward to a day out for some and it is the National game .

Re: Cup final crowd : Tue May 10, 2022 9:09 am  

You are quite right about the cost. Official coach from Huddersfield is £55. Mid range stadium seats same price. Cheapest adult train fare we could find from Huddersfield was £63 - train worked out cheaper for us as the teenagers in our party have railcards which brought the train fare down to £30-35, plus I’d rather travel by train as don’t have to rush off.
No official announcement on ticket sales from the club but I did a quick count up of “red dots” this morning and Huddersfield look to have sold about 4000 tickets on the online site. So not too shabby- 10 coaches are just about full.
The online site won’t take Mastercard so some folk will have to buy at the ticket office so I suspect some will buy on Thursday, also I reckon there could also be a surge on the 17th depending on the outcome of the Football as town could potentially be in the playoffs at Wembley the day following the CC.

Re: Cup final crowd : Tue May 10, 2022 9:26 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Or they get a better TV deal because more people are watching it. I remember listening to something a RU player said when a fan rolled out the old "I pay your wages" line, the majority of income in RU comes from TV and sponsorship & not fans through the gates.

So how come we have any one of the numerous threads relating to the lack of Fans at a game every time there's a final, semi final, low crowd, half empty stadium etc.?
And Season Ticket/Match day ticket sales at Rugby League clubs are proportionately a larger % of it's income than RU or Football for example. So it is More important to RL/Wigan that people come.
Do you think the TV people would pay as much if we got half the crowds we do now??? Or would they say "Look, you can't even get people to come and watch so why should we pay you more?". That's a particularly Dicey game to play.

I'm not going to have too much to say about other teams attendances etc. and 95% of what I read is about Wigan and their attendances.
But I will categorically tell you that Wigan themselves would Love another 2k per week watching the club and get averages up nearer the 13/14k mark rather than 11/12k and it would definitely NOT have a detrimental effect on the TV Deal, quite the opposite.
And most fans would Love having those 2k or more fans at the stadium rather that writing a million Posts on FB/Twitter/Forums etc. berating the club and the lower attendances.

End of the day Rogues has replied to Mr Frisk knowing full well that he/she isn't actually interested/has any intention of going to a game.
But the reply also needs to reverberate with other fans who read Social media etc. who purport to have more than a passing interest in the game and comment Thousands of times, but don't go to games in General.
It's simple
The more people go the better things will get
The less people go, whilst doing nothing other than whinge about one thing or another and influence others into not going the Worse things will get.