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

[Oxford]

Lets not get involved in another discussion about the RFL's marketing plan or lack of it

Agreed as it will only be the usual suspects but I'd love to find out they had one. A plan not a suspect that is.

 

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 don't 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.

This is especially true where the clubs don't encourage fans to be opposite the cameras.

And I hope there's some new found spring in their step this season.

But don't you think every game should be a showpiece at the heart of it I know I get frustrated and annoyed whenever Eddie comes out with his best tie of the round spiel.

[South Wakefield Sharks]

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.

 

Wow! I'd say this forum is very unrepresentative of RL fans in general. In my experience, the vast majority of RL fans care only about their local side who they think are victimised by everyone else, are mostly ignorant of anything happening in the game outside their immediate locality, and think travelling to one end of the M62 or the other makes them some kind of explorer.

 

On here, whilst there's the usual mix of folk who would argue black was white or folk who've never set foot outside the village they were born in, most folk tend to have a wider understanding of the sport and consider the interests of the game as a whole, rather than just their own club's interests. 

[Oxford]

Wow! I'd say this forum is very unrepresentative of RL fans in general. In my experience, the vast majority of RL fans care only about their local side who they think are victimised by everyone else, are mostly ignorant of anything happening in the game outside their immediate locality, and think travelling to one end of the M62 or the other makes them some kind of explorer.

 

On here, whilst there's the usual mix of folk who would argue black was white or folk who've never set foot outside the village they were born in, most folk tend to have a wider understanding of the sport and consider the interests of the game as a whole, rather than just their own club's interests. 

I don't agree with you but I enjoyed your post.

[South Wakefield Sharks]

I don't really see any reason why SL should be much different this year to last year. There should be lots of excitement and coverage for the game outside SL. Hull KR will be a good story, and if Toulouse are competitive (I have my doubts) then that will be a very good story. Toronto being on TV each week will add a new dimension, and hopefully it is done a bit like S4C did when Celtic Crusaders first came on the scene.

 

Hope for an increase in the buzz in SL could come from the England v Samoa mid-season international, though expect the RL public to come out and slag it off. That weekend Wire play St Helens, so rather than focus on the opportunity that the absence of Hill and Clark and Percival and Lomax give to a young Wire or Saints' player, we'll focus on how bad it is that they have to play without their star players.

 

The fact that the Thursday night games for the 23 normal rounds have already been picked and only 5 of them are cross-pennine matches is a plus. It'll remove one excuse from those who like to justify why they don't go to games.

 

If Leigh can get off to a decent start, that could add a little extra too, but it'll probably all come down to whether Hull, Wire & Cas can improve yet again.

[Mumby Magic]

Apologies for my being naïve but were crowds down last year in the regular rounds?

[South Wakefield Sharks]

Apologies for my being naïve but were crowds down last year in the regular rounds?

About the same as the year before.

[Mumby Magic]

About the same as the year before.

 

That's what I thought.

[redjonn]

I would disagree...

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

 

I guess for me some degree of consistency of when games are played are  factor in slowly building your spectator core base.

 

Whatever day is best should be determined by the marketing team based upon its target audience.   The club should stick to that. Exception being the TV rights games as the piper calls the tune.

 

Sports with huge spectator demand, like soccer, it doesn't matter much. For a sport with low demand it is more important.  

 

Personally I prefer Fridays and it certainly helps on the commercial sales side.  Unlike some other major events, say a Ascot or major soccer game getting sponsors or corporate hospitality full,  RL on a week-end day doesn't have much attraction at all. Thus a key revenue stream is impacted.

 

Plus as someone says above Fridays are more family friendly that other week nights, we like to be a family friendly game.

[Defender1]

Marketing Plan?

 

 

Participation Evidence 2.pdf

Participation Evidence.pdf

[The Parksider]

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 to get the curve moving up.

 

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.

 

Until all 12 clubs create an upturn??

 

Nice thoughts Scubby, your always a positive guy but here's the reality....

 

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

 

What drives short term movement in crowds/customers as M j M points out  is the success or anticipated success of the product. or the failure or anticipated failure

 

For every winner we have a loser. All clubs cannot have successful seasons that help drive the crowds up, in general the clubs who are on the up will have crowds on the up and the clubs on the down will have crowds on the down, 

 

To get crowds up across the board the game has to improve across the board, this is why Solly clumsily tried to get a situation where all games were more competitive and meant more to fans across the board. 

 

Hull.v.HKR i.e. derbies means a lot and we have lost that one! We won't see Bulls and Leeds either that meant a lot. If we could get Toulouse and Catalans into regular SL derbies that may help crowd levels too. Playing out derbies is an across the board thing that excites fans to turn up win or lose. Let's hope Wigan.v.Leigh can put the crowds into the stadiums.

[BenGilesRL]

I think lethargy was setting in towards and during the super 8s in general, ommitting clubs with specific circumstances. The responses from Wigan fans for one off semi finals was also extremely disappointing.

I think there will be a decline - and it's because there's too many fixtures

[Mumby Magic]

The only way to adhere to a drop in Thursdays would be discounted ticketing which I'm sure some will try.

[redjonn]

Marketing Plan?

 

Thanks, interesting and I guess had forgotten about those goals. Anyway obvious general questions follows for anyone to answer:

 

- Any idea's how performance is against goals?

 

- Whilst good to see top level goals, any idea's how this was translated into action/projects to achieve

goals.

 

or have they been forgotten about and left on a dusty shelf, or actually been ceased or what?

[redjonn]

I think lethargy was setting in towards and during the super 8s in general, ommitting clubs with specific circumstances. The responses from Wigan fans for one off semi finals was also extremely disappointing.

I think there will be a decline - and it's because there's too many fixtures

 

Has that not always been the case, although I tend to agree it is a greater degree of lethargy or interest.

 

I think the Challenge Cup has lost its glamour and unless you make the final interest is very low for non regular game attendee's. Plus even regular game attendees show less and less interest.

 

I guess the Grand Final event has diminished the Challenge Cup plus its easier to get to as an event for where majority of game attending fans may live. Then again the play-off's have diminished the regular round games.   It also seems to me that Old Trafford marketing machine has set in mind the concept of "Theatre of Dreams" which outdo's the new Wembley for the younger fan base (main focus on soccer and hence Utd's dominance of recent past reinforce that Theatre of Dreams). Especially as the FA Cup also has lost its prestige impacting Wembley's glamour.

 

Take the season before.  It was one of the most exciting for league leadership, right down to the last minutes and last games.  Something that could have been of real media and fan interest outside of regular game attendee's. Yet play-off's diminish what should have been a real talking point - because it didn't matter, the real prize is the GF. Although not until you get their.

[Exiled Wiganer]

I think lethargy was setting in towards and during the super 8s in general, ommitting clubs with specific circumstances. The responses from Wigan fans for one off semi finals was also extremely disappointing.

I think there will be a decline - and it's because there's too many fixtures

Do you have any stats for event games in which Wigan have taken part in the last 30 years, so these can be compared against other clubs' efforts? Or is 1 night against once in a generation glory hunters going to be the stick to beat the club?

[Scubby]

Do you have any stats for event games in which Wigan have taken part in the last 30 years, so these can be compared against other clubs' efforts? Or is 1 night against once in a generation glory hunters going to be the stick to beat the club?

 

Regardless of stats, the Wigan showing for the Hull play-off SF last year was a shocker. Whether it was Wigan's lethargy or SL as a whole towards play-offs, it was an absolute shocker with a GF at stake.

[BenGilesRL]

Regardless of stats, the Wigan showing for the Hull play-off SF last year was a shocker. Whether it was Wigan's lethargy or SL as a whole towards play-offs, it was an absolute shocker with a GF at stake.

Mate even a Wigan fan I was speaking to agreed that their turn outs for the cup semi and the playoff semi were poor - it was blindingly obvious.

Are you saying we should start defending things like that instead of trying to find and cure the route cause, regardless of the club involved?

Surely the aim here is to have everyone excited about crunch games, and feeling like they want to 'bother' because it is must see and they're not spoilt so much with so much rugby they think they can miss it and it won't make much difference, whoever it is.

[Konkrete]

All things being equal elsewhere I would expect a slight increase in crowds this year due to Leigh being in the competition.  You can throw a blanket over Wigan, Widnes, Saints, Wire and Salford so to add in Leigh to that and remove HKR should mean that probably all attendances at those matches - home and away, would be greater than if HKR were playing.  Even if you accept that HKR are a bigger club.  Obviously that increase would need to be off-set against any reduction in Yorkshire but I think it would be greater. 

 

So my view would be that Leigh will be a net contributor to increases in attendances for 2017.

 

The caveat being relative success of course.  If Leigh bomb (and I don't think they will) then that might see attendances stay the same.

[Exiled Wiganer]

Mate even a Wigan fan I was speaking to agreed that their turn outs for the cup semi and the playoff semi were poor - it was blindingly obvious.

Are you saying we should start defending things like that instead of trying to find and cure the route cause, regardless of the club involved?

Surely the aim here is to have everyone excited about crunch games, and feeling like they want to 'bother' because it is must see and they're not spoilt so much with so much rugby they think they can miss it and it won't make much difference, whoever it is.

Anyon looking at the state of the game and concluding that Wigan's crowds are the problem most worth highlighting is off their rocker.

[BenGilesRL]

Anyon looking at the state of the game and concluding that Wigan's crowds are the problem most worth highlighting is off their rocker.

Two winners of the prize for completely missing the point so far. Anyone else wanna join the club?

[Deranged Drunk Guy]

I'm Shocked that Super League does not get bigger crowds seems like a great league to watch personally i follow Catalan Dragons but i'd love to get over there if i ever find some bigger money to watch a few games too a few home Catalan games and a few away games in England. 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

I am not sure the issue of cup and play-off games attracting poorer crowds is just an RL thing.  I suspect that, for instance, British ice hockey may face the same dilemma.

 

Is it not likely that some of this is down to the issue of what a season ticket covers?  If I had a season ticket, I would be tempted to say that the cost of that meant I couldn't reasonably expect to spend even more on my favourite club, except perhaps if they got to a cup or play-off final, given the other demands on the domestic budget.  So I would skip the knock-out stages in the hope the pleasure - and cost - of seeing my team in a final.

 

We don't all have immeasurable numbers of grubby fivers in our pockets.  We have to say 'No' in certain contexts, not least of all for the sake of domestic harmony.

[Exiled Wiganer]

Two winners of the prize for completely missing the point so far. Anyone else wanna join the club?

 

Actually, my point is directly relevant. Anyone who comes at the subject matter of this thread and concludes that Wigan's crowds are a problem is completely off their rocker. I don't have a prize for your inability to read and think, but if there was a pat on the head emoji I would reach for that.

[The Parksider]

Actually, my point is directly relevant. Anyone who comes at the subject matter of this thread and concludes that Wigan's crowds are a problem is completely off their rocker. I don't have a prize for your inability to read and think, but if there was a pat on the head emoji I would reach for that.

 

Nice to be able to agree with you. Fans like to pay up front for the season and can follow the big games on TV. That fans aren't that fussed on knock outs even at semi final stage, has been the case for years in the Challenge Cup

[Scubby]

Mate even a Wigan fan I was speaking to agreed that their turn outs for the cup semi and the playoff semi were poor - it was blindingly obvious.

Are you saying we should start defending things like that instead of trying to find and cure the route cause, regardless of the club involved?

Surely the aim here is to have everyone excited about crunch games, and feeling like they want to 'bother' because it is must see and they're not spoilt so much with so much rugby they think they can miss it and it won't make much difference, whoever it is.

 

No I'm not saying that. It is a problem that has blighted SL (since 1997) and the Challenge Cup (since 1996). It reminds me of how the old top-8 premiership crowds used to be. What is the solution? I'm not sure it is pretty ingrained.

 

We could make a SL semi-finals weekend out of the games. Book a venue like Huddersfield for Friday and Saturday and market it through the season to all fans, corporates and neutrals. Then rather than talking about home semi-finals we would be talking about 'getting to Huddersfield'.

 

Pros to that is we could make getting to the semis as a real season achievement with an event feel.

Cons to that is that home advantage in the play-offs will be gone and 1-4 decides just the LLShield and who plays who

 

Saying that, the crowds in those play-off games are rotten. Maybe we need a radical change and more show piece weekends.