Magic attendance

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

If these are the sums of money being offered for this event it is hardly the cash cow that some try to make out. If it's not a real money spinner and it's not being used as an expansion tool then what is the point of it?

The event makes sense, this years edition was just poor. On top of the venue, the fixtures were on the whole poorly selected, the marketing/advertising has clearly been below par. I don't have anything against Liverpool as a city, I actually quite like it, but just think that without the docklands stadium its just not equipped for this sort of event.

Will be interesting to see how they spin this.

[meast]

Could it be that a lot of the "missing" fans were people who would usually go for the weekend?

Could it be that due it to being probably an hour's most journey for most heartland fans ( plus another hour and a half to get to and from Anfield) didn't bother with it as they could just go for the day as opposed to staying over because of the distance involved in getting to Newcastle?

Also with the other events in Liverpool, the lack of hotels etc could have put some other off?

[Guest]

People seem to be ignoring Anfield paid more than Newcastle.

So crowd aside, it generated more money for the clubs.

If it is a 3 year deal, I think next year would do a fair bit better.

Have seen this years, I would be interested in going now.

[Tommygilf]

8 minutes ago, Leonard said:

People seem to be ignoring Anfield paid more than Newcastle.

So crowd aside, it generated more money for the clubs.

If it is a 3 year deal, I think next year would do a fair bit better.

Have seen this years, I would be interested in going now.

You don't know that though. What I do know is that purely compared to the last at St James' Park (which was also the worst at that venue), it got nearly 8000 less customers through the gates. Averaging the tickets at 17 quid thats over £130k less straight up.

They were also pushing the half price for season ticket holders much later this year - which will impact revenues.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

You don't know that though. What I do know is that purely compared to the last at St James' Park (which was also the worst at that venue), it got nearly 8000 less customers through the gates. Averaging the tickets at 17 quid thats over £130k less straight up.

I would assume Anfield gets the bulk of the cash to recover its guarantee and then overages are split. Otherwise no reason for Anfield to hold it is there.

So nowhere near as simple as that.

Might even be that with concessions, the guarantee is all SL get and then Anfield assumes the risk of sales.

Both models can apply to music events I have some knowledge of, but the guarantee and then some overage mechanism is usually the model. But I don't have direct experience of Magic Weekend.

[philipw]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

I would assume Anfield gets the bulk of the cash to recover its guarantee and then overages are split. Otherwise no reason for Anfield to hold it is there.

So nowhere near as simple as that.

Might even be that with concessions, the guarantee is all SL get and then Anfield assumes the risk of sales.

SL clubs received all proceeds of their direct sales. I don't know how ticket revenue direct from SL/RFL ticket website was divided though. 

[Oxford]

49 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

Surely Liverpool won’t be considered again though... 

It's not Liverpool that's the problem.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, philipw said:

SL clubs received all proceeds of their direct sales. I don't know how ticket revenue direct from SL/RFL ticket website was divided though. 

Thank you.

Would be interesting to know what Anfield pay and how they recoup that and costs then. Can't imagine it is simply beer sales.

 

[tec]

Play derby games not rocket science is it .

[Oxford]

Just now, tec said:

Play derby games not rocket science is it .

nah!

[Guest]

 

2 minutes ago, tec said:

Play derby games not rocket science is it .

But then Leeds wouldn't get a hand up to stay in the league......

[Tommygilf]

10 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I would assume Anfield gets the bulk of the cash to recover its guarantee and then overages are split. Otherwise no reason for Anfield to hold it is there.

So nowhere near as simple as that.

Might even be that with concessions, the guarantee is all SL get and then Anfield assumes the risk of sales.

Both models can apply to music events I have some knowledge of, but the guarantee and then some overage mechanism is usually the model. But I don't have direct experience of Magic Weekend.

The reported figure is only £50,000 for the guarantee though. 130k divided any reasonable which way is still more. I also am under the impression Anfield offered money due to the problems witht the recent England test as a sweetner.

Elstone has also referred to a break even figure, so I'd assume it was SL taking on the risk - it is their event after all.

Whichever way you shape it this hasn't lived up to expectations.

 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Leonard said:

 

But then Leeds wouldn't get a hand up to stay in the league......

You do realise Leeds only won by 2 points today right? I mean there is literally no easy game for us at the moment??

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

The reported figure is only £50,000 for the guarantee though. 130k divided any reasonable which way is still more. I also am under the impression Anfield offered money due to the problems witht the recent England test as a sweetner.

Elstone has also referred to a break even figure, so I'd assume it was SL taking on the risk - it is their event after all.

 

Interesting and thanks.

For £50k they might as well pay no Guarantee - unless SL is that skint it uses that upfront sum for its marketing, which would make sense given the lack of promotion.

Anyhow - swap London for Widnes and they might not have been far off the figure last year.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

You do realise Leeds only won by 2 points today right? I mean there is literally no easy game for us at the moment??

Imagine the meltdown about attendances of Toronto replace Leeds next season.....

[tec]

If you want higher attendances play games the loyal and neutral fans want to watch .As a neutral fan I never even bothered watching the TV games  not interested .

[DoubleD]

30 minutes ago, Leonard said:

People seem to be ignoring Anfield paid more than Newcastle.

So crowd aside, it generated more money for the clubs.

If it is a 3 year deal, I think next year would do a fair bit better.

Have seen this years, I would be interested in going now.

Is it definitely a 3yr deal at Anfield? I’ve not seen anything official on that

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Interesting and thanks.

For £50k they might as well pay no Guarantee - unless SL is that skint it uses that upfront sum for its marketing, which would make sense given the lack of promotion.

Anyhow - swap London for Widnes and they might not have been far off the figure last year.

I mean the 50k is AFAIK at the moment but I assume some clarification will come out soon enough.

Whilst the attendance would go up with Widnes I don't see them bringing 8000! Though they do have a loyal band of followers.

I think what should be borne in mind is that that 8000 less figure at Anfield is for the lowest crowd Newcastle ever got in 4 years. 

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Imagine the meltdown about attendances of Toronto replace Leeds next season.....

I don't even want to contemplate this forum! 

[DoubleD]

32 minutes ago, meast said:

Could it be that a lot of the "missing" fans were people who would usually go for the weekend?

Could it be that due it to being probably an hour's most journey for most heartland fans ( plus another hour and a half to get to and from Anfield) didn't bother with it as they could just go for the day as opposed to staying over because of the distance involved in getting to Newcastle?

Also with the other events in Liverpool, the lack of hotels etc could have put some other off?

Possibly but the 8k is also probably the loss of Geordie fans who went. I think Newcastle generates c. 20% local ticket sales. I bet not many locals went to Anfield magic

[RayCee]

52 minutes ago, Damien said:

2nd worst Magic attendance ever is pretty bad no matter how you try to dress it up.

It doesn't need dressing up. The fact is that attendances at all the MW venues have historically been surprisingly close. Nearly 57,000 isn't 'pretty bad' IMO. Just because it isn't stellar doesn't deserves the put down many have on it. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Is it definitely a 3yr deal at Anfield? I’ve not seen anything official on that

sorry - confused with Dacia deal

[solly]

So an average Magic Weekend attendance of 30,000+ for heartland-type areas is good but 26,000 for a non-rugby league area is bad?

The depressing ability of rugby league fans to only see backwards is a problem.... 

[RayCee]

58 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

The whole concept needs a re-think in my opinion

In fact it's three years in a row the attendances have fallen so these things always need reviewing to see how to maintain interest.

[EastLondonMike]

Just over 8k average per game (if my maths are about right), which is not really that impressive. More than some clubs get on average, but not all, and for this type of event it should be much more.

Liverpool isn't the problem, it's the failure from those in charge (the RFL previously, and now the SL and its clubs) to grow the event and improve the experience year on year. The fact that there's not been any real growth since the first one in Cardiff speaks volumes.

I'm a big fan of the concept, but like the Challenge cup, we don't have the creativity to improve the event and really do it justice.