Barcelona record crowd?

[BenGilesRL]

So over 30.000, and the promising thing is that the original numbers of Wigan and Catalans tickets sold were overstated. On Friday night Sky said these were 12.000 Catalans, 4,000 Wigan and 7,000 Barcelona club. Now some of these would have been Wigan or Catalans purchases but would have to think most not, and the final attendance suggests that there was at least 10,000, if not up to 15,000 sold via the club in advance or on the day. I said 10.000 would be decent, and 20.000 excellent, so by definition I surmise that’s ‘very good’. Best the the Dragons won too, really.

Given that Magic Weekend is getting bidded on to attract visitors, would it be possible to turn on the road Super League games such as this into tourism paid for events? Wigan and Hull laid a blueprint with the Australia game that was sponsored by their tourist board and that’s far further and far less travelling fans in attendance as a result. Got to be scope for it in attractive cities around Europe?

[Cumbrian Fanatic]

Good article on the BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/48327428

[westside]

6 minutes ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

Good article on the BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/48327428

Very good. I like how McNamara says they represent Catalonia not just Perpignan.

[Padge]

10 minutes ago, Cumbrian Fanatic said:

Good article on the BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/48327428

Nice peice that

[DoubleD]

Did this break into the press down under, or is that a silly question?

[Dave T]

32 minutes ago, BenGilesRL said:

So over 30.000, and the promising thing is that the original numbers of Wigan and Catalans tickets sold were overstated. On Friday night Sky said these were 12.000 Catalans, 4,000 Wigan and 7,000 Barcelona club. Now some of these would have been Wigan or Catalans purchases but would have to think most not, and the final attendance suggests that there was at least 10,000, if not up to 15,000 sold via the club in advance or on the day. I said 10.000 would be decent, and 20.000 excellent, so by definition I surmise that’s ‘very good’. Best the the Dragons won too, really.

Given that Magic Weekend is getting bidded on to attract visitors, would it be possible to turn on the road Super League games such as this into tourism paid for events? Wigan and Hull laid a blueprint with the Australia game that was sponsored by their tourist board and that’s far further and far less travelling fans in attendance as a result. Got to be scope for it in attractive cities around Europe?

The tourism thing has been a feature of games being big for for a long time now. Being paid to take Magic Weekend to Cardiff in year 1 was due to the tourism it creates.

[kiwis 13 6]

Magic Weekend Barcelona 2020 seems like a no brainier especially if they can get some tourism sponsorship to help with marketing and cover accommodation & airfares of players and officials.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

1 minute ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

Magic Weekend Barcelona 2020 seems like a no brainier especially if the can get some tourism sponsorship to cover accommodation & airfares of players and officials.

Anfield has a three-year deal for Magic, I believe. 

[GeordieSaint]

Hold your horses about the MW in Barcelona; one very successful game involving a ‘local side’ doesn’t mean we should up sticks... leave Barcelona to Catalan to develop; it’s their patch and they have a form of identity with the locals. 

[kiwis 13 6]

Well have to see if Catalan dragons can keep the interest going for 3 years as well as see how Magic weekend goes in Liverpool

[deluded pom?]

3 hours ago, TheConductor said:

Often dream of a alternative universe where TGG is more popular than Rugby Union. 

That’s not a parallel universe. That was fact before the Second World War.

[paulwalker71]

1 hour ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

Magic Weekend Barcelona 2020 seems like a no brainier 

Is there any evidence that FC Barcelona would even consider that?

I believe that this game came about due to the a personal invitation from the FCB President to Bernard Guasch. It's one thing having a one-off game in stadium, as a personal 'favour' to Catalan Dragons, it's something very different to having 6 or 7 games on the pitch over two days. 

[The 4 of Us]

1 hour ago, BenGilesRL said:

So over 30.000, and the promising thing is that the original numbers of Wigan and Catalans tickets sold were overstated. On Friday night Sky said these were 12.000 Catalans, 4,000 Wigan and 7,000 Barcelona club. Now some of these would have been Wigan or Catalans purchases but would have to think most not, and the final attendance suggests that there was at least 10,000, if not up to 15,000 sold via the club in advance or on the day. I said 10.000 would be decent, and 20.000 excellent, so by definition I surmise that’s ‘very good’. Best the the Dragons won too, really.

Given that Magic Weekend is getting bidded on to attract visitors, would it be possible to turn on the road Super League games such as this into tourism paid for events? Wigan and Hull laid a blueprint with the Australia game that was sponsored by their tourist board and that’s far further and far less travelling fans in attendance as a result. Got to be scope for it in attractive cities around Europe?

I purchased 8 tickets direct from the Barca website. Countless other Wigan fans who were in the main stand must have done as well, because I think Wigan RLs allocation was behind the sticks. I suspect the local purchases included a fair number like us. 

[bazzzz65]

44 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

I purchased 8 tickets direct from the Barca website. Countless other Wigan fans who were in the main stand must have done as well, because I think Wigan RLs allocation was behind the sticks. I suspect the local purchases included a fair number like us. 

I m sure most of the 'local' purchases were from the UK. 

We bought tickets from the Barca site because the Wigan allocation was behind the goal.

[Whippet13]

From the sports supplement in the Barcelona Sunday paper.

[saintspete83]

8 hours ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

Magic Weekend Barcelona 2020 seems like a no brainier especially if they can get some tourism sponsorship to help with marketing and cover accommodation & airfares of players and officials.

I have lost count of how many times I have seen people mention magic for barcalona, its an absolute non starter for me. Let's say 60k is needed over both days, at least 35-40k would be expected to go from the UK. How on earth would that number of people get there?? There is absolutely nowhere near the capacity on flights for that. 

To fly that number of people on a 737 (what Ryanair operate) would need roughly 280 flights from the UK or using A320 (what easyjet operate) would need roughly 215 flights full of only RL fans 

There are options to get there via driving and stuff but unless superleague planned on getting its own charter flights then to suggest MW in Barcalona is just unrealistic. 

[saintspete83]

6 hours ago, Whippet13 said:

From the sports supplement in the Barcelona Sunday paper.

I'd rather they had not put that middle picture in the report. As excellent as the attendance was people in that area are use to seeing abit more occupied then that. 

[Dave T]

7 hours ago, saintspete83 said:

I have lost count of how many times I have seen people mention magic for barcalona, its an absolute non starter for me. Let's say 60k is needed over both days, at least 35-40k would be expected to go from the UK. How on earth would that number of people get there?? There is absolutely nowhere near the capacity on flights for that. 

To fly that number of people on a 737 (what Ryanair operate) would need roughly 280 flights from the UK or using A320 (what easyjet operate) would need roughly 215 flights full of only RL fans 

There are options to get there via driving and stuff but unless superleague planned on getting its own charter flights then to suggest MW in Barcalona is just unrealistic. 

Your numbers are flawed by counting 60k as unique visitors.

More people are likely to go to both days in a place like Barca. You may target 40k unique visitors, maybe 20k from the UK.

[JonM]

6 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Your numbers are flawed by counting 60k as unique visitors.

More people are likely to go to both days in a place like Barca. You may target 40k unique visitors, maybe 20k from the UK.

His point still holds though. Even flying 20k people from the UK to Barcelona for a weekend requires ~100 flights. That's a long way beyond the point where you could just have everyone who wants to go getting a ticket off Ryanair or Easyjet. It would need a pretty significant number of charter planes, or a lot of people prepared to travel by road or train.

[RayCee]

The thing I wanted to see was plenty of locals coming along. It was an exhibition event, the Catalan connection and the football season is at it’s end so it needed the number of locals that did attend to do so. The downside is if locals who enjoyed it want more, there’s nothing on the horizon. Another game next year against a different team would be good.

As for a magic weekend in Barcelona, I think that’s too ambitious and too risky at this stage. 

[Whippet13]

The airlines would have a field day with prices if they found out 20k fans were flying out there over a few days.

Magic in Barcelona also invloves taking kids out of school which rules out a lot of people who would make it a family trip.

There's also travel disruption risks, quite a few fans got caught up in the Manchester airport problems yesterday, including myself, stuck here an extra 2 days now.

[iangidds]

24 minutes ago, RayCee said:

The thing I wanted to see was plenty of locals coming along. It was an exhibition event, the Catalan connection and the football season is at it’s end so it needed the number of locals that did attend to do so. The downside is if locals who enjoyed it want more, there’s nothing on the horizon. Another game next year against a different team would be good.

As for a magic weekend in Barcelona, I think that’s too ambitious and too risky at this stage. 

Organise magic weekend for 3 years in advance and implement something that’s rare in RL ..A Marketing Plan? Make it the must attend fixture of a lifetime and we might surprise ourselves

[saintspete83]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

Your numbers are flawed by counting 60k as unique visitors.

More people are likely to go to both days in a place like Barca. You may target 40k unique visitors, maybe 20k from the UK.

Even 20,000 from the UK his a high number of flights needed. As mentioned the airlines would have a field day price wise. Add to. This costs for families, I'd imagine it would also hit catalans as fans would pick the MW over the league game in perpignan. Barcelona is as I previously said an absolute non starter. 

[Dave T]

2 hours ago, JonM said:

His point still holds though. Even flying 20k people from the UK to Barcelona for a weekend requires ~100 flights. That's a long way beyond the point where you could just have everyone who wants to go getting a ticket off Ryanair or Easyjet. It would need a pretty significant number of charter planes, or a lot of people prepared to travel by road or train.

How many people travel to Barcelona and nearby airports from the UK weekly?

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, saintspete83 said:

Even 20,000 from the UK his a high number of flights needed. As mentioned the airlines would have a field day price wise. Add to. This costs for families, I'd imagine it would also hit catalans as fans would pick the MW over the league game in perpignan. Barcelona is as I previously said an absolute non starter. 

Nothing you have said makes it a non starter at all.