yipyee

Or rented out on match days (including cricket) or turned into offices etc

Good shout, saints went out of town whilst rebuilding( somewhere new) and saw attendances increase and have remained higher ever since!

The safety certificate must state the capacity and therefore someone will know... Maybe if they stop playing so rubbish they may get a sell out and we will all find out!

Being pedantic here but isn't one stand only half yours?

When you buy a new car do you expand the capacity or keep the capacity the same but upgrade to a newer model with better / newer features and comforts?

You miss the point

It so doesn't #race to the bottom.

Value for sponsorship money... is there cheese and crackers after the 5th course. Sponsorship = free sponsors lounge and VIP tickets on the company expenses. Sponsorship = transfer of money from wealthy individuals to their clubs/mates clubs whilst avoiding tax/financial fair play rules

Toronto choked in MPG last year might do again... Maybe the players who would have been released in SL decided Toronto is a nice place.....

Part the problem is over exposure. So many televised games now that cup games loose the special appeal. This is the same for soccer. Secondly the BBC being stuck in the past forcing sat and sun games. Saints moved all their home games to Friday night and saw a rise in attendances. Saints play on Friday night's. BBC moved the game to Saturday afternoon for no good reason other than being out of touch. Shock horror this leads to a poor attendance. Thirdly and this has been overlooked by everyone who discuss this topic... The challenge cup is played the weekend after the marathon of Easter weekend. This weekend traditionally sees large attendances with many casual fans attending and many ST holders going to away games all at an extra cost. This coupled with the players picking up knocks and players being rested/ not playing at 100% the week after leads to lower intensity games. Fans who pay extra choose the derbys over the challenge cup the week after. Then the next round is after magic weekend. Again a big expense to fans and fans choosing magic weekend away over paying extra for CC. Then all momentum is lost as the next round is 6 weeks away. Is this scheduling A ploy by SL to downgrade the RFL comp and ensure SL gains the kudos of the top trophy in the country?

Yes, increase attendances by making the biggest supported teams play away in smaller stadiums with smaller ground capacitys that should do the trick!

Ok maybe not Hull... but as you say they were hardly the top team each time they won it so it's not predictable and upsets are not few and far between. It therefore isn't too easy. Catalan were tipped to beat hull and were turned over royally. Catalan beat saints last year in similar circumstances

What if the 5 sponsors are mates with the board of directors? What if the sponsors are fans of the club and want free hospitality tickets on their buisness and the associated tax relief?

I agree that it's misleading to use attendances as a metric. 10 people in hospitality are worth 50 through the turnstiles. 5 good sponsors are worth 1 sponsor and 2k season ticket holders.

Well that is the beauty of the cup which adds the luck of the draw. If Leeds had beaten Bradford then Halifax this would have fallen into your category... but they didn't and now saints will play Halifax and not Leeds in the semi. The beauty of the cup is that you can get a lucky draw and progress far into a tournament. In football the FA cup is a good moneyspinner for lower league clubs and I am sure Halifax are reeping the rewards of a good cup run. Catalan, Hull and Sheffield are all teams who have won the cup who wouldn't have if it was made 'harder' In fact when you look at seeded comps like tennis it is in the better players favour constantly. Therefore it's hard to raise back up to easy street. This is why there is an outcry for maternity leave as it effects the rankings and they need to play all the good players one after the other.