London need to take at least one game to a 'big' stadium

[roughyedspud]

28 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

QPR is a terrible ground for the spectator. Loftus Road was modernized on the cheap, so the seat legroom is punishingly small and there's a high percentage of obstructed views.

In the short term, for a game at a larger venue than Trailfinders, Broncos might be better off courting a football club with decent facilities but not a huge capacity. The likes of AFC Wimbledon, Dagenham & Redbridge, Dartford, Leyton Orient.

None of them are in west London..

[JoneslessBishop]

23 minutes ago, roughyedspud said:

None of them are in west London..

Wimbledon is, just given their current Kingston home. If it’s ever decided that Ealing is not going to work long term, I do think their new stadium could be worth exploring. 10k capacity not too big, much better transport links, a footy club not awash with money and a fan base who might relate to their intinerant history and Crazy gang approach, plenty of antipodeans in the area, and close enough to the Broncos west London roots.

[Tre Cool]

On ‎3‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 9:44 PM, The Daddy said:

Either Craven Cottage or Brentford's new stadium. 

It's been a great fairytale story so far this season and amazing to be back in Super League. I still get the feeling that we are not being promoted well by the sport in the UK and our story isn't being told. We should be shouting from the rooftops about London. 

Taking at least one game to a soccer stadium will help raise the profile of the club and broaden it's supporter base. Trailfinders is a neat little ground but I'm not convinced that it's what should be defined as a SL quality ground. 

no they don't.

[meast]

14 hours ago, burnleywelsh said:

I seem to recall London (Harlequins) doing that before with the Harlequins RU side. Can’t remember who either team played, but I don’t think it was particularly successful.

April 29th 2006

Harlequins RU V Plymouth Albion

Harlequins RL V Huddersfield.

I managed to "watch" about 20 minutes of the RU game, the best thing about it was the comments from the Plymouth fans we were sat near!

[Dr Tim Whatley]

Done a bit of digging - I was definitely at this one:

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/stoop-to-host-harlequins-rugby-double-header/

I wonder if they thought having the RU game against Leeds might help smooth things along a bit (folk from Leeds being likelier to want to watch an RL game than folk from Gloucester or Leicester)

[Gooleboy]

5 hours ago, Dr Tim Whatley said:

Done a bit of digging - I was definitely at this one:

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/stoop-to-host-harlequins-rugby-double-header/

I wonder if they thought having the RU game against Leeds might help smooth things along a bit (folk from Leeds being likelier to want to watch an RL game than folk from Gloucester or Leicester)

I went to that one too. The Union game had about 13 - 15k there and they could stay for the League game FOC, but they streamed out in their thousands, no interest whatsoever. The Union fans who did stay didn't seem to keen on the League game either. It is a hard sell to out and out Union fans.

[Lobbygobbler]

What a lot of people have forgotten is that Craven Cottage is the spiritual home of London Broncos.

They have never played a game there since the mid 80’s unfortunately, and I think if they’d played there in the mid to late 90’s it would have been packed.

I do think it is one place where the football fans might also turn out because of the history. It’s also the best located of all the grounds. It would be great to have a night out in Fulham after a game

[Manx RL]

1 hour ago, Lobbygobbler said:

What a lot of people have forgotten is that Craven Cottage is the spiritual home of London Broncos.

They have never played a game there since the mid 80’s unfortunately, and I think if they’d played there in the mid to late 90’s it would have been packed.

I do think it is one place where the football fans might also turn out because of the history. It’s also the best located of all the grounds. It would be great to have a night out in Fulham after a game

Not close to a tube station though, is it?

[Smudger06]

10 hours ago, JoneslessBishop said:

Wimbledon is, just given their current Kingston home. If it’s ever decided that Ealing is not going to work long term, I do think their new stadium could be worth exploring. 10k capacity not too big, much better transport links, a footy club not awash with money and a fan base who might relate to their intinerant history and Crazy gang approach, plenty of antipodeans in the area, and close enough to the Broncos west London roots.

I thought Wimbledon played at Kingsmeadow? Only fits in a couple of hundred more than Ealing! 

[Yakstorm]

The idea of creating an 'event' game for the Broncos is arguably the safest way for the club to generate some media attention and draw a decent crowd without completely moving again.

Trailfinders has been a solid base for London the last few years and has brought some good stability, but the reality of it is even if London had a marketing team, they really couldn't fit many more people into the ground.

If they picked one or two games (they would need to do this before season start), found a venue, contracted a sports marketing company (this is what Saracens did, they didn't do it themselves), get Sky on board to televise it and then did something with the rest of the London Rugby League community it could work.

Maybe turn it into an 'old boys' day as well and wheel out as many past players as possible.

Would it be a big money spinner? Most likely no, but even if it only drew 10K, that is the equivalent of 4x home game crowds currently. Pick the right opponent and right time of year and give it a decent push period and 20K+ is very realistic.

With people becoming more and more time poor and Rugby League having such a small presence in the capital, the only way to even spark the curiosity of sports fans (or even former London Broncos / Quins / Crusader fans) is to push a flagpole event.

[daz39]

23 hours ago, burnleywelsh said:

I seem to recall London (Harlequins) doing that before with the Harlequins RU side. Can’t remember who either team played, but I don’t think it was particularly successful.

It was 2006, i was there, the union side had won promotion and played Plymouth Albion and then the League side played Huddersfield, problem was there was nearly 2 hours between games so by the time the League game got underway most of the union fans had left leaving a few hundred watching the league match.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

58 minutes ago, Manx RL said:

Not close to a tube station though, is it?

About a ten-fifteen minute walk. It’s a fantastic walk through a park next to the Thames. 

 

[Lobbygobbler]

57 minutes ago, Manx RL said:

Not close to a tube station though, is it?

Putney Bridge is close - nice walk down by the river too. 

1.5 mile walk/bus from Hammersmith

[Oliver Clothesoff]

10 hours ago, Dr Tim Whatley said:

Done a bit of digging - I was definitely at this one:

https://www.premiershiprugby.com/news/stoop-to-host-harlequins-rugby-double-header/

I wonder if they thought having the RU game against Leeds might help smooth things along a bit (folk from Leeds being likelier to want to watch an RL game than folk from Gloucester or Leicester)

Walked into that game for free. I didn’t bother going to the Union game and I wasn’t going to pay to get in as I’m sure they increased the ticket prices but took a walk up to the ground, walked up to a gate as all the middle class, tweed jacket wearers were departing and waltzed in for free. 

A small victory after 100+ years of bigotry and bullying and one I’m still proud of today. 

[Sports Prophet]

Speaking of giving a team/sport an arena to host an event that will draw new supporters...

The women’s AFL Grand Final in only its third season drew a 53k+ crowd in Adelaide last weekend.

I think London really need to focus on small steps. Taking a game to a larger stadium is ludicrous when they cannot even create a once a year event at their home ground for 8k+.

Newtown Jets are a great example. A second division Sydney RL club, they focus their energy on special events for three home games a year. One of which drew a crowd of over 8k. That was more than the crowd at Manly for an NRL match taking place the same day!

To be fair, Newtown Jets and London broncos have a lot in common. Probably have a similar sized and funded back office. Swamped by much larger sports teams from various sports. Similar playing standard. Enough potential to draw a 10k crowd on a well designed day.

[roughyedspud]

6 hours ago, scotchy1 said:

£500k doesnt really seem that much in the scheme of things. Seems quite cheap.

Not for the broncos obviously but in total.

 

Cheap?? Lol

I believe spurs actually negotiated them down to £350,000 a game probably cause they where stuck at wembley for 18months  

[Yakstorm]

9 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I think London really need to focus on small steps. Taking a game to a larger stadium is ludicrous when they cannot even create a once a year event at their home ground for 8k+.

You know that their current ground can't hold anywhere near 8,000 right? Realistically the max they could possibly get into the ground is 3.5K, and they charge £23 for the privilege.

Taking a game to a venue that could hold 10K would be a 'big venue' for them. 

[westlondonfan]

What I would say is that we haven’t even sold out Trailfinders once yet. Let’s aim to to that for an “event” match first?

[JoneslessBishop]

12 hours ago, Smudger06 said:

I thought Wimbledon played at Kingsmeadow? Only fits in a couple of hundred more than Ealing! 

Please read ‘their new stadium’. On the site of the old greyhound stadium, a stones throw from the old Plough Lane. Well done AFC

[JoneslessBishop]

18 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

Considering its a 90k seater stadium, its £5.55 a seat. Sell out averaging 20k a ticket and its a £1.3m profit, plus your share of concessions, merchandise sales etc

Obviously london arent going to do that but you could see how it could pay

Maybe the RFL could consider selling it out for the Challenge Cup or England?

[Hopping Mad]

13 hours ago, Smudger06 said:

I thought Wimbledon played at Kingsmeadow? Only fits in a couple of hundred more than Ealing! 

Capacity is 4,850 (2,265 seats). It's a tidy little stadium. Unlike Trailfinders, Kingsmeadow offers all spectators a reasonable view of the game.

[Man of Kent]

9 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Capacity is 4,850 (2,265 seats). It's a tidy little stadium. Unlike Trailfinders, Kingsmeadow offers all spectators a reasonable view of the game.

It belongs to Chelsea now and there is zero chance of Broncos playing there. The new Wimbledon ground may be an option, however.

[gingerjon]

10 hours ago, roughyedspud said:

Cheap?? Lol

I believe spurs actually negotiated them down to £350,000 a game probably cause they where stuck at wembley for 18months  

Presumably Spurs then had to pay extra for stewarding, policing etc on top of that?

And, again presumably, got nothing from the bars inside the ground?

[Mr Wind Up]

Somewhat related, but Saracens will be playing their ‘big game’ at Spurs new stadium for five years. Certainly scope for Broncos to do something similar

[londonrlfan]

I don't think anyone's suggesting fill out Wembley, but there's no reason why we can't take one of the bigger games (Wigan, Leeds, Saints etc) to a bigger capacity stadium, 10-15k, and aim to fill it or at least 75%. The club can't compete with 2.5k max crowds and there's no scope to improve that at Ealing. Somewhere like Craven Cottage in June, so no one will moan about the pitch, Saturday evening kick off on Sky with a big push would be great. Sadly, the club have no interest/idea/plan to do anything like that and are happy to remain insignificant in the capital.