Jump to content

Is SL set for improved crowds and a higher profile in 2017?


Scubby

Recommended Posts

New season is a blank canvas. We have got a new name in there in Leigh (what many have hoped for with P&R) and we put Leeds, a giant of the game, in sight of the abyss last year. We also got a new Wembley winner and a great season for Hull, plus a 50/50 GF.

 

I don't closely follow a SL club so I don't know how things are going in terms of anticipation for the new season. Are we going to finally see a nudge up in terms of crowds this time? The most important thing is that we try and increase the profile of SL. We cannot let it become a side show. I do have a concern that we might sleepwalk through this season passing the buck on a system rather than the clubs working are to get the curve moving up. Let's hope SL gives us some great and exciting stories this time. We have hit 10k averages before so we shouldn't accept that we can't improve things in this area. Some clubs in SL have shown they can work hard and create an upturn in crowds and profile in the last couple of years. Hopefully more will follow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 62
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Wigan's season tickets are going very well indeed. Our marketing team seem to step up each year using every means available to them (getting Gelling to do the text commentary during the extraordinary Trinity home win being a brilliant example) to make it enticing and easy to buy and renew tickets. I know we have lots of advantages, but we work hard to get the crowds in.

I think there was a stark realisation that simply winning more than we lose wasn't going to be enough and that the club needs to be open and responsive in this day and age.

Being champions and winning in style helps of course but I like what I see from the club these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is SL set for improved crowds and a higher profile in 2017?

My response was going to be why what have you heard?

 

But I think you're absolutely right the problem and the key for TGG is the profile. As far as moving the game on - to paraphrase "Profile isn't one thing it's the only thing!"

 

And we should never just see this as an individual club issue but how things are changing for the game as a whole.

Only as strong as your weakest link .......

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard for me to judge being in Australia but the competition was far more comeptitive last year with the fall of Leeds and clubs like Hull and Warrington challenging. I think off the back of a close competition we will hopefully see some improvement with crowds etc. The closer the comp and the more teams being comeptive should help

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wigan's season tickets are going very well indeed. Our marketing team seem to step up each year using every means available to them (getting Gelling to do the text commentary during the extraordinary Trinity home win being a brilliant example) to make it enticing and easy to buy and renew tickets. I know we have lots of advantages, but we work hard to get the crowds in.

I think there was a stark realisation that simply winning more than we lose wasn't going to be enough and that the club needs to be open and responsive in this day and age.

Being champions and winning in style helps of course but I like what I see from the club these days.

 

This is interesting and partly what I am getting at. Systems can be workable or unworkable but ultimately it is down to the clubs to raise their profile and crowds. I noticed that Warrington had a massive push to change the culture last year while others appears to be sitting on their hands and letting things wither away.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is, underneath it all, a club by club issue though - each club has peculiarities which you can to a degree discern at this stage. It's hard to say how they will unfold until we see how the teams perform, but I can visualise clubs being grouped like this in terms of season ticket sales:

 

Up a lot - Hull

Up a bit - Wigan, Cas

Steady - Wakefield, Widnes

Down a bit - Leeds, Warrington, Salford

Down a lot - Saints, Hudds

 

Don't know about Catalan really and Leigh will probably be similar overall to Hull KR if not a bit lower?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, it's a brand issue and for the RFL and all the clubs to work together!

 

If Wigan, for example, sell twenty thousand S T's but no one wants to go and see them play Salford or anyone else for various reasons and the Red Devils can't increase their crowds it affects both and the image of the game if it's shown on Sky. If the club at the bottom shows they're an easy beat people will stop turning up because there's no point. RL is game that falls on its own sword over the fact that it's only at its best when truly competitive. Answering questions like these takes the whole sport to respond and not just one club.

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, it's a brand issue and for the RFL and all the clubs to work together!

 

If Wigan, for example, sell twenty thousand S T's but no one wants to go and see them play Salford or anyone else for various reasons and the Red Devils can't increase their crowds it affects both and the image of the game if it's shown on Sky. If the club at the bottom shows they're an easy beat people will stop turning up because there's no point. RL is game that falls on its own sword over the fact that it's only at its best when truly competitive. Answering questions like these takes the whole sport to respond and not just one club.

Yes and no. The most important emotional connection the large majority Rugby League fans in this country have is with their club - like it or not, wish it wasn't the case or not, it is our reality. If the game is booming but St Helens fans are seriously upset with the direction of travel at the TW Stadium, Saints crowds will decline.

 

Now where the greater game can have more of an input is on generating new fans, making the sport more appealing or more worthy of a second look. But I doubt much the RFL does from year to year, other than getting a successful England team together, can ever have more than a marginal impact on crowds at individual clubs. In the medium term they need to ensure the rules as enforced ensure the game remains entertaining. In the long run they can have an effect by altering perceptions - there needs to be a long-term move to address how the sport presents itself and is perceived. But that is a years/decades long process and one which I doubt is actually really happening anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes and no. The most important emotional connection the large majority Rugby League fans in this country have is with their club - like it or not, wish it wasn't the case or not, it is our reality. If the game is booming but St Helens fans are seriously upset with the direction of travel at the TW Stadium, Saints crowds will decline.

 

Now where the greater game can have more of an input is on generating new fans, making the sport more appealing or more worthy of a second look. But I doubt much the RFL does from year to year, other than getting a successful England team together, can ever have more than a marginal impact on crowds at individual clubs. In the medium term they need to ensure the rules as enforced ensure the game remains entertaining. In the long run they can have an effect by altering perceptions - there needs to be a long-term move to address how the sport presents itself and is perceived. But that is a years/decades long process and one which I doubt is actually really happening anyway.

I know we're disagreeing here but what's going on on this forum if people are only passionate when it comes to their club? Is it that they believe everything from S C to refs, from P-R to the state of the international side, from the demise of a club to the media is just and only about their club?

 

I give you this forum as evidence you're mistaken here M j M.

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know we're disagreeing here but what's going on on this forum if people are only passionate when it comes to their club? Is it that they believe everything from S C to refs, from P-R to the state of the international side, from the demise of a club to the media is just and only about their club?

 

I give you this forum as evidence you're mistaken here M j M.

Firstly this forum isn't likely to be representative of all RL fans, especially those for whom the club level is the most important consideration. Moreover I didn't say "only" emotional connection fans have with the sport, I said "most important" - people can have lots of opinions on wider RL matters, but in my view the relationship with the club they support is likely to be at the heart of their relationship with the sport for the clear majority of the people who attend Super League games.

 

This is especially the case when we are discussing whether crowds in SL will go up or down - it needs breaking out into 12 different clubs, each of which have dozens of different local factors at play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Firstly this forum isn't likely to be representative of all RL fans, especially those for whom the club level is the most important consideration. Moreover I didn't say "only" emotional connection fans have with the sport, I said "most important" - people can have lots of opinions on wider RL matters, but in my view the relationship with the club they support is likely to be at the heart of their relationship with the sport for the clear majority of the people who attend Super League games.

 

This is especially the case when we are discussing whether crowds in SL will go up or down - it needs breaking out into 12 different clubs, each of which have dozens of different local factors at play.

This still ignores SL as a brand and talks more about those already in the game than growing the fan base.

 

I think this forum is very representative of RL fans and their broad understanding of the game even the bit where we can't agree about anything! Actually that's the best bit. :derisive:

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me under Lewis direction circa 2009 SL had its best crowds? That year the competition was played in 6 countries. In Edinburgh and Barcelona too. I felt it had gravitas at that moment in time and hasn't recovered it. Since we've lost London, Wales and Bradford from the top tier. Hopefully the march back can start with Toronto and Toulouse from next year. Fingers crossed.

"It involves matters much greater than drafting the new rules...the original and existing games have their own powerful appeal to their players and public and have the sentiments which history inspires"  - Harold 'Jersey' Flegg 1933

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."  - Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

Si tu( Remi Casty) devais envoyer un fax au Président Guasch? " Un grand bravo pour ce que vous avez fait,et merci de m 'avoir embarqué dans cette aventure"

gallery_02-am31503_5b827265940b7_.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my experience growing up in Wigan but coming south 25 years ago, there are a range of people who could attend matches - existing enthusiasts who will find a way to watch their team, fans who would certainly go if persuaded/asked, and newbies who would go if either they were asked by fans or else saw the game in question as an event. Hence 10s of thousands support events in London whereas fewer than 10% of those will watch the Broncos and Skolars. For standard SL games, clubs need to ensure they do everything they can to keep their core happy, entice the occasionals and find ways to put on event matches that they can sell. As Wigan are getting adept at doing again. But which the Broncos never quite managed...

I think the SL brand comes more into sponsorship and tv viewing figures.

It is worth bearing in mind that the new normal represents record crowds for our game in the modern era - we would like the crowds to be higher but if we look back at the period to the advent of SL from the mid 60s our current levels are unimaginably high compared to then. Not that that is a reason not to want to continue to grow this wonderful game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Toronto will give the whole game a higher profile.

Even the provincial newspapers in the towns and cities that have League 1 teams will take more notice. The novelty factor should also ensure it's mentioned on regional tv too.

Ron Banks

Midlands Hurricanes and Barrow

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll be sitting down to watch all the SL games next season like I have for nigh on 20 years but I think next season will be a same again stagnation of the last season, and in relative terms going backwards. England failing again and no real wow factor at the moment brings same old feel to 2017. The only noticeable change will be no Stevo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is, underneath it all, a club by club issue though - each club has peculiarities which you can to a degree discern at this stage. It's hard to say how they will unfold until we see how the teams perform, but I can visualise clubs being grouped like this in terms of season ticket sales:

Up a lot - Hull

Up a bit - Wigan, Cas

Steady - Wakefield, Widnes

Down a bit - Leeds, Warrington, Salford

Down a lot - Saints, Hudds

Don't know about Catalan really and Leigh will probably be similar overall to Hull KR if not a bit lower?

Huddersfield should be well up given their cheap tickets 99 for a ST. They have sent leaflets to loads of schools and are advertising in all local leisure centres. Must have spent a fair bit. Really hope it pays off. Sadly, the move to Friday night home games may counter act any gain made as kids and families avoid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The biggest challenge to increasing gates is the unfamily friendly fixtures for a family sport, we are probably a million per club down on TV income to pack our grounds on Thursday and Friday nights every week.

I feel gates will be up in Lancashire and down in Yorkshire

i think less so the Friday - clubs have shown they can deliver good crowds in Friday but Thursdays are proving very difficult for clubs.

Id like to see more focus on the tv games, these are showpieces for our game and empty grounds dont help.

I see no reason why they would drop significantly, but neither do i see a reason why they would increase significantly - but maybe the new SL leadership team will bring some new energy there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Huddersfield should be well up given their cheap tickets 99 for a ST. They have sent leaflets to loads of schools and are advertising in all local leisure centres. Must have spent a fair bit. Really hope it pays off. Sadly, the move to Friday night home games may counter act any gain made as kids and families avoid

I would disagree...

Families dont attend thursday and monday night games... friday night games get a good family audience!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is, underneath it all, a club by club issue though - each club has peculiarities which you can to a degree discern at this stage. It's hard to say how they will unfold until we see how the teams perform, but I can visualise clubs being grouped like this in terms of season ticket sales:

 

Up a lot - Hull

Up a bit - Wigan, Cas

Steady - Wakefield, Widnes

Down a bit - Leeds, Warrington, Salford

Down a lot - Saints, Hudds

 

Don't know about Catalan really and Leigh will probably be similar overall to Hull KR if not a bit lower?

Ours should be up, but not sure by how much. Apparently we've sold more season tickets up to end of november, than in any previous year, with many, either new buys or returnees.

 

With a big, noticeable( for us) marketing campaign and with the help of businesses and fans we have hopefully got the word out that hopefully a new era is upon us, the #newstoneage or something.

Obviously the move to Friday nights might put a lot off, especially with families, but it hasn't worked for the last few years with sundays, so we will see how that pans out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.