SL Grand Final must sell out

[Death to the Rah Rah's]

There's between 4and 8 of us go every year from Cumbria to the grand final but not going this year as couldn't get hotel rooms mainly due to the RU game and the deliberate planning of the RFU to try and upstage RLs big day out.

There aren't enough rooms available in Manchester for two big games to be played on the same day, I'm actually surprised the police allowed it.

So, based on regulars not travelling due to lack of hotels I do expect the crowd to be down slightly on previous seasons, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and we will return for 2016 !

I would love to see a pre season exhibition game between Queensland and Brisbane in Feb as well, that would bring in a good crowd and raise the profile of the game

[Saintslass]

I don't think we need to worry unduly about numbers at this year's Grand Final.  RU tried to undermine us by deliberately choosing to stage a game in Manchester when OT turned them down but that won't be the case next year so we will just carry on and take the hit if a hit is what we get. 

 

As for any longer term problems with attendances at the GF, having fewer games outside the season ticket might help or perhaps returning the Challenge Cup final to earlier in the season and so spreading out the pain a bit might help.  Either way I think despatching with the Magic Weekend would be a good idea because not only does that create an unnecessary game and additional costs, it has also taken away some of the carnival element to the Challenge Cup final.

[Yorkknight]

How about getting Virgin to put a train on so people down south can actually get back after the match?!

[Roughyedz]

How about getting Virgin to put a train on so people down south can actually get back after the match?!

 

 

I saw a pig fly past then ........ we dont want yanion fans there , as they are the only ones that would pay the £140 train ticket and £30 match ticket and a 16 hour day .....lol 

[sweaty craiq]

There's between 4and 8 of us go every year from Cumbria to the grand final but not going this year as couldn't get hotel rooms mainly due to the RU game and the deliberate planning of the RFU to try and upstage RLs big day out.

There aren't enough rooms available in Manchester for two big games to be played on the same day, I'm actually surprised the police allowed it.

So, based on regulars not travelling due to lack of hotels I do expect the crowd to be down slightly on previous seasons, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and we will return for 2016 !

I would love to see a pre season exhibition game between Queensland and Brisbane in Feb as well, that would bring in a good crowd and raise the profile of the game

 

You'll get a decent hotel in Haydock/Wigan for £75 for 2 people

[GeordieSaint]

I saw a pig fly past then ........ we dont want yanion fans there , as they are the only ones that would pay the £140 train ticket and £30 match ticket and a 16 hour day .....lol

You want as many fans at the game. They could be Union, NFL, or tiddlywinks fans. I wouldn't care as long as they paid their money, enjoyed themselves and hopefully rocked up to another RL event in the future. Parochialism will not move RL forward in an increasingly competitive market.

[DeadShotKeen]

Out of interest, where would you play it? Every year since 2001 the attendance has been above 60 000 unless we're prepared for less than that I think we would be limited to Wembley, Twickenham, The Millennium Stadium or Murrayfield if its not to be Old Trafford.

 

It should probably be Wembley. But an immediate priority for the sport should be funding a purpose-built 60K+ RL stadium somewhere in heartland territory. Old Trafford is a serious player injury waiting to happen.

[GeordieSaint]

IMO if SL GF doesn't sell out it will be embarrassing given the crowds at the RU over the past few weeks.

It looks like it well sell out...

[Futtocks]

RU tried to undermine us by deliberately choosing to stage a game in Manchester when OT turned them down

Yes, but it was supposed to be the crowning victory of step 1 of England's triumphant and heroic road to world domination. Interesting to see how that plays out now.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

It should probably be Wembley. But an immediate priority for the sport should be funding a purpose-built 60K+ RL stadium somewhere in heartland territory. Old Trafford is a serious player injury waiting to happen.

Yeah, great solution. Build a stadium that is smaller than OT, will cost hundreds of millions of pounds and only just a few games a year.

Great idea...

[IM2]

good news its on the brink of a sell out. i believe will be announced tomorrow!

[Exiled Wiganer]

That's good (just got ours), but I disagree with the premise that it HAD to sell out.

It hardly ever sells out - in fact, has it ever sold out before since Old Trafford was redeveloped?

If our concern is how our game looks generally, then the answer is in making the international game the priority - now, if someone started a thread saying we HAVE to sell out the Olympic Stadium, then we'd be cooking with gas...

[MaverickX111]

If we had a national stadium it would need to be an existing one

I suggest headingley re developed and of course kicking the union team out

[sweaty craiq]

The hope would be Leeds share a stadium with LUFC in the centre of the city, 60000 capacity bowl that allows the top tier to be shut off

[Mister C]

3 more tickets purchased. My 6 year old girls first game of Rugby!

[shrek]

Managed to get 5 together this morning from Wigan, not sure if that bodes well for a sell out or not, but trade appeared "brisk".

[Rob]

Looks like it will definitely sell out.

 

If you try ringing the RFL the phone system now cuts you off....I guess they cannot cope with the volume of calls right now.

 

I've just called the group bookings contact and added another 5 onto our club's allocation, but these were £40 seats in the hospitality area.  The tickets in the normal other areas for the group bookings are now sold out.

 

It seems the International RU game has not affected the sales of the Grand Final in the slightest.  Maybe a completely different market for the tickets?

 

I was trying to get through to the RFL ticket office at the weekend to add more tickets onto our order.  The RFL's ticket office was closed at the weekend and you're directed to Ticketmaster (who can't help with anything other than simple ticket sales in the areas where they have tickets).  Its a bit poor from the RFL that at highly predictable peak times for sales their ticket office is closed.  It's pretty obvious once the finalists are known interest from the the clubs involved will peak.  Surely the RFL's own ticket office should be open 24 hours a day at this time of year?

[GeordieSaint]

I was trying to get through to the RFL ticket office at the weekend to add more tickets onto our order.  The RFL's ticket office was closed at the weekend and you're directed to Ticketmaster (who can't help with anything other than simple ticket sales in the areas where they have tickets).  Its a bit poor from the RFL that at highly predictable peak times for sales their ticket office is closed.  It's pretty obvious once the finalists are known interest from the the clubs involved will peak.  Surely the RFL's own ticket office should be open 24 hours a day at this time of year?

 

Considering there are also four internationals they are selling tickets for that takes place in less than a month, it is surprising that the ticket office is not open on a weekend. Appreciate we live in a modern world with access to the internet, but...

[Amber Avenger]

Got my tickets this morning - tried looking last night on my phone and there were basically only the tickets very high up - 3rd Tier/Quads. Seemed to be a few lower tier ones come up this morning though that weren't there before, so I don't know if they are returns or recalled ones from sponsors that are going unused, but I've got some pretty decent seats near-ish to the halfway line for £30 which I'm surprised at as I've left it quite late. Vast areas of the stadium sold out though it seems.

[RSN]

Yeah, great solution. Build a stadium that is smaller than OT, will cost hundreds of millions of pounds and only just a few games a year.

Great idea...

 

It's a good idea. Trying to extract £300,000,000 from rugby league to build a 60k stadium will definitely not bankrupt the sport in anyway shape or form. 

[DeadShotKeen]

Yeah, great solution. Build a stadium that is smaller than OT, will cost hundreds of millions of pounds and only just a few games a year.

Great idea...

 

So what do you recommend then?

 

Constantly playing second fiddle to soccer and putting our lads at unacceptable risk of injury?

 

Great strategy.

[Yorkknight]

I saw a pig fly past then ........ we dont want yanion fans there , as they are the only ones that would pay the £140 train ticket and £30 match ticket and a 16 hour day .....lol

Erm, there's a big group of us for one who aren't coming up because we can't get back.

[sweaty craiq]

Only one section of hospitality has tickets remaining also

[UxbridgeBunny]

So what do you recommend then?

Constantly playing second fiddle to soccer and putting our lads at unacceptable risk of injury?

Great strategy.

Once the etihad is expanded further to 62k it would become a viable alternative to Old Trafford. It's a much more modern ground and we'd be guaranteed sell outs which may build further interest

[JonM]

Once the etihad is expanded further to 62k it would become a viable alternative to Old Trafford. It's a much more modern ground and we'd be guaranteed sell outs which may build further interest

 

Etihad planning permission has quite tight constraints on how many non-football events they can hold.