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Why the hell isn't Wembley packed to the rafters?


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Its a huge ground, the bulk of fans are based in the North of England, still a huge crowd.

We dont need to tackle this one game, we need to tackle growth of the game overall which helps fill these events.

On Club Wembley, i believe either next year or the year after the CC Final is no longer included in the Club Wembley package meaning we can sell it ourselves.

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Its a huge ground, the bulk of fans are based in the North of England, still a huge crowd.

We dont need to tackle this one game, we need to tackle growth of the game overall which helps fill these events.

On Club Wembley, i believe either next year or the year after the CC Final is no longer included in the Club Wembley package meaning we can sell it ourselves.

Excellent news!

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For Wembley to be full year on year we have to sell upwards of 50k neutral tickets before the semi-finals are completed. To do that you need to sell 20k+ tickets to fans in London and the south. This probably needs a dedicated team working solely on the Cup Final and Grand Final. Unfortunately for the RFL, they have a small team trying to sort out Magic, Challenge Cup, Test Matches, Grand Final, Summer Bash etc. This means internationals get moth balled until after the Grand Final, Magic gets moth balled until after the World CS and so on and so on. We get what we get.

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Spend years and years selling the game as the budget product, dont be surprised when your core customer base cant afford to fill a 90k stadium in London.

Maybe focusing on London with SL and internationals would have had the benefits, but then blokes from Northern villages would complain about that too.

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Spend years and years selling the game as the budget product, dont be surprised when your core customer base cant afford to fill a 90k stadium in London.

Maybe focusing on London with SL and internationals would have had the benefits, but then blokes from Northern villages would complain about that too.

 

No doubt other marginalised sports (such as the AFL and Sydney) if put in a similar position would have at least 3 London 'events' per year and a London-based sales/marketing/events team charged with pre-selling to the huge market there. Then the northern and club finalist sales would take care of themselves.

 

The RFL are not this - just get used to it. We have even started booking at 24k stadium for a Challenge Cup replay and test matches against NZ - cheap and easy.

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The comp got 20,000 for two semis, over 70,000 for the final is a miracle. What other sports gets that?

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What percentage of the London sporting public were aware that the Challenge Cup final was on?

Lack of match day awareness is costing the game millions.

 

Very true. We keep going back to the well to the same fans over and over - cheap and cheerful. We have a massive market in the south east and an iconic match to sell, but we have to sell it!

 

It was obvious that Wire had taken more in previous years but this was their 4th Wembley in 7 years. However, an event is built on the core and the tight wad approach is eating at the core. I got criticised for saying some at the RFL would have their fingers crossed until Catalans got knocked out - but that is basically the strategy. Hoping to shift 30-40k from the finalists and making do.

 

Wonderful game - I really love the Challenge Cup. That is why it grates.  

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But what happens if/when Catalan make it. Can't keep ignoring the decline

 

Having Huddersfield as a venue for the replay was even more revealing about the strategy going forward. What's the point in holding a Challenge Cup final replay if you are only going to sell 20k tickets? Same bemusement that Eng v NZ being played at Huddersfield when the series in 2015 averaged 31k. Corner shop mentality.

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Very true. We keep going back to the well to the same fans over and over - cheap and cheerful. We have a massive market in the south east and an iconic match to sell, but we have to sell it!

 

It was obvious that Wire had taken more in previous years but this was their 4th Wembley in 7 years. However, an event is built on the core and the tight wad approach is eating at the core. I got criticised for saying some at the RFL would have their fingers crossed until Catalans got knocked out - but that is basically the strategy. Hoping to shift 30-40k from the finalists and making do.

 

Wonderful game - I really love the Challenge Cup. That is why it grates.  

For little cost the London sporting public could have been aware of today's game.

We really should be selling out the Challenge cup final every year.

The NFL do it why cant we?

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Having Huddersfield as a venue for the replay was even more revealing about the strategy going forward. What's the point in holding a Challenge Cup final replay if you are only going to sell 20k tickets? Same bemusement that Eng v NZ being played at Huddersfield when the series in 2015 averaged 31k. Corner shop mentality.

Spot one. We are selling the game short. We have to think mega store instead of Joe's discount store

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check the return to wembley final crowd 2007

 

The pre-sales for the return to Wembley 2007 (i.e. before the finalists were known) were probably higher than at any point in the last 20 years. It is not really worthy of a comparison.

 

Incidentally, the pre-sales for the GF seem to be growing every year. With the Challenge Cup, only increased local sales can take the crowds back on an upward scale. Sadly, the RFL's tiny sales/marketing team is spread far too thin.

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For little cost the London sporting public could have been aware of today's game.

We really should be selling out the Challenge cup final every year.

The NFL do it why cant we?

that isnt a great comparison. The NFL teams are worldwide brands, Hull and Warrington are not.

We should be doing better, but dont compare to NFL, people in London have an interest in say Miami Dolphins, they dont in Hull FC.

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With a budget of next to nothing you can target users online with banners ads based on demographics, location and website content/placements (sports, rugby forums).

display ads are not cheap and tge RfL do use them. The product I manage at work finds this a very expensive channel, although it should form part of a multi-channel approach.
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