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Season ticket sales? very low?


Col81

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14 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

The £99 offer isn't new though is it.

I mean the club is quite clearly well backed by its leading investor as without him or an investor to the same extent as him the club wouldn't be sustainable in its current form.

The club isn't sustainable in its current model, but not many SL clubs are, Ken and his family take massive financial hits every year and it's to the Davy family's credit that they are still trying to find the magic solution to get the people of Huddersfield to back the town's  rugby league club like they backed the football club.

It isn't through lack of trying I can assure you, and as a long standing fan it's extremely frustrating that the town can't or won't back Ken Davy after all he's done for the town.

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6 minutes ago, Spidey said:

£99 just cheapens the club IMO

Sadly I have to agree with Spidey ,the Davy family have been brilliant and considering that the Giants are a well established SL side nowadays its disappointing that they just cannot seem to get the crowds they deserve.

Selling tickets dead cheap doesn't work in the long term I afraid

 

Paul

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Anybody remember when Ken Davy threw open the gates of the Galpharm Stadium for free with the promise that some of the biggest news ever for Huddersfield Giants would be announced by him at halftime. While furious keyboard klattering took place pre- match speculating on Darren Lockyer's immenent arrival. Ken's eventual announcement of a £ 99 season ticket fell somewhat flat.

Still you cannot have it both ways, on the one hand slating the birthplace of Rugby League for their low crowds, and then on the other hand when the club announces a ST that is attractively priced for working people who have suffered through this pandemic, slate the club for cheapening the game.

The key to success for Huddersfield will be attracting a bigger season ticket base, hoping the team performance matches the hype then controlling the ST price with a gradual rise that minimises the drop off.

A strategy unlike a certain Championship club that doubled the price of its Season Ticket.....

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Let's be honest without Ken Davy Huddersfield would be a League 1 club.

The public of Huddersfield simply don't want to pay money to watch Huddersfield Giants. Maybe Ken Davy should try paying people to attend? Even then I don't think it would make too much difference.

The club died when it languished in the doldrums for more than a generation. It's a lost cause now.

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3 minutes ago, DimmestStar said:

Let's be honest without Ken Davy Huddersfield would be a League 1 club.

The public of Huddersfield simply don't want to pay money to watch Huddersfield Giants. Maybe Ken Davy should try paying people to attend? Even then I don't think it would make too much difference.

The club died when it languished in the doldrums for more than a generation. It's a lost cause now.

Alternatively we could point them out as Rugby League success story. Is there another club out there in this country which has grown their crowds by a greater % over the past 35 years? Why aren't other clubs asking what they've done right?

It all depends on what narrative you want to come up with.

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4 minutes ago, DimmestStar said:

Let's be honest without Ken Davy Huddersfield would be a League 1 club.

The public of Huddersfield simply don't want to pay money to watch Huddersfield Giants. Maybe Ken Davy should try paying people to attend? Even then I don't think it would make too much difference.

The club died when it languished in the doldrums for more than a generation. It's a lost cause now.

Don’t Wakefield, Salford, Leigh and every Championship club get lower attendances than Huddersfield? 

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Well it's more difficult when you are charging full price and in a lower division.

Huddersfield are devaluing the sport of Rugby League with their bargain bucket prices and even then the public of Huddersfield are not really interested.

Huddersfield are actually very lucky to be a Rugby League area and get big away followings from the likes of Leeds, Castleford & Wakefield. And not to mention the 2,000 or so from Hull FC and Hull KR. Their own following is frankly pathetic.

Ken Davy is a very rich man but he is flogging a dead horse.

 

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I think they missed a trick here to link with the strengthened 1895 branding.

Season tickets at a higher ‘normal’ single price (say £150) but offer 2 from the same household for £189.50. Kids and students at £18.95 each.

Or regular season tickets at £189.50 but with a big discount if bought by a certain date or with ‘free’ club shirt etc.

Something along those lines anyway 😎

 

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10 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

They aren't devaluing the sport by trying to attract people to it. The problem the Giants have is the stadium is simply too big. Paradoxically, if the stadium was half the size I think they could be pushing 7000 / 8000. Watching sport in a half empty stadium is always worse for the atmosphere. 

I think both are true tbh. As the marketing people will tell you there is a point where cheapening the price of your product starts to have a negative effect on its perceived value.

That said I totally agree on the stadium. Stick Huddersfield in a 10k compact ground like York with some terracing and the atmosphere would improve massively. Likewise stick Cas in a 24k capacity all seater and their crowds would look pathetic too.

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I don’t really get the criticism of Huddersfield Giants. What do people expect them to do? Accept it and Idly stand by and watch their fanbase grow older, decrease and not be replaced by younger generations? 

I hope Huddersfield pull in the crowds. The product on the field this year is probably as good as they’ve had since that side that won the minor premiership in about 2015. 

If clubs have learnt anything from Toronto, it’s enhancing their gameday experience, so hopefully Huddersfield take that on board and offer more than just a game. 

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18 hours ago, DimmestStar said:

Let's be honest without Ken Davy Huddersfield would be a League 1 club.

The public of Huddersfield simply don't want to pay money to watch Huddersfield Giants. Maybe Ken Davy should try paying people to attend? Even then I don't think it would make too much difference.

The club died when it languished in the doldrums for more than a generation. It's a lost cause now.

The problem we have is that in and around Huddersfield, the Giants, or Fartown have been perceived as being rubbish, as you say, for (more than) a generation, we were rattling around the 2nd and 3rd division in a crumbling, shell of a ground watched by a few hundred diehards,

The people of Huddersfield, are by and large glory hunting, bandwagon type fans, in football terms, they ( the vast majority of people who live in Huddersfield) will follow one of the big,rich, global premier league clubs until Huddersfield Town have a slight bit of success then they are all over it.

In RL, it doesn't work to such an extent, we had the exodus of Bradford and Leeds glory hunters in the early SL days, and indeed, attracted maybe a couple of thousand ourselves in the late 00's early 2010's, the success didn't last and neither did they, we are more or less down to the loyal hardcore now, 3500-4,000.

But even without Ken, we would probably be a fairly stable club with a loyal fanbase of around 2000-2500, maybe even 3,000 playing out of good facilities, with a very good academy system, so I don't agree that we would be struggling as much as you think.

17 hours ago, M j M said:

Alternatively we could point them out as Rugby League success story. Is there another club out there in this country which has grown their crowds by a greater % over the past 35 years? Why aren't other clubs asking what they've done right?

It all depends on what narrative you want to come up with.

Exactly, which other top flight club has gone from the 3rd tier, playing on front of a few hundred in a ramshackle stadium to growing to average 0ver 7,000?

Yes, Ken's money has helped, but more importantly, so has the loyal supporters, the ones most people claim don't exist.

No other SL club in the entire history of the competition has grown as much as Huddersfield has in terms of on field, off field, and attendance wise, admittedly, another few thousand bums on seats and more importantly revenue would help.

But people aren't going to pay £300 to watch a team that has generally been poor on the field for such a long time.

17 hours ago, DimmestStar said:

Well it's more difficult when you are charging full price and in a lower division.

Huddersfield are devaluing the sport of Rugby League with their bargain bucket prices and even then the public of Huddersfield are not really interested.

Huddersfield are actually very lucky to be a Rugby League area and get big away followings from the likes of Leeds, Castleford & Wakefield. And not to mention the 2,000 or so from Hull FC and Hull KR. Their own following is frankly pathetic.

Ken Davy is a very rich man but he is flogging a dead horse.

 

Another myth, no club brings 2,000 regularly to Huddersfield, including the Hull clubs, while they do travel in good numbers, this taking 2,000 fans thing is a myth, on their day, like most clubs they are capable of drawing a big following, as Hull did a few years ago, but generally, they bring the same amount, or less than Wakefield and Salford do.

Huddersfield isn't a big RL area, despite being the birthplace of the game and boasting a decent amateur tradition, compared to most other towns where RL is played, Huddersfield is nowhere near on the scale.

But you're right, the Huddersfield public don't seem interested in supporting the town's top flight sports club and backing the saviour of top flight sport in the town.

15 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

They aren't devaluing the sport by trying to attract people to it. The problem the Giants have is the stadium is simply too big. Paradoxically, if the stadium was half the size I think they could be pushing 7000 / 8000. Watching sport in a half empty stadium is always worse for the atmosphere. 

Spot on, I've said this for years, that Huddersfield are the only club whose crowds are judged by the amount of empty seats, Wigan and Hull also have lots of empty seats but it's fine for them.

Wakefield fans are some of the worst for pulling down our crowds and fanbase, but if roles were reversed and they had a 24,000 seater stadium that they'll never get anywhere near filling then their crowds would also look pathetic and embarrassing and we would be lauded for having a full atmospheric ground , same with Cas and to a point, Leigh, Widnes, they get lower crowds than we do but have far smaller ground which looks far better a half or 3/4 full even with lesser crowds, it's all relative really.

No rugby league club gets anywhere near to filling it's ground on a regular basis, except maybe Leeds, but then, you'd expect Leeds to fill their ground regardless.

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4 hours ago, Hela Wigmen said:

I don’t really get the criticism of Huddersfield Giants. What do people expect them to do? Accept it and Idly stand by and watch their fanbase grow older, decrease and not be replaced by younger generations? 

I hope Huddersfield pull in the crowds. The product on the field this year is probably as good as they’ve had since that side that won the minor premiership in about 2015. 

If clubs have learnt anything from Toronto, it’s enhancing their gameday experience, so hopefully Huddersfield take that on board and offer more than just a game. 

A lot of the criticism came about because of the early 00's, people didn't like or agree with the merger (neither did most Huddersfield fans)

Didn't agree or like the the fact that we finished bottom and didn't go down( neither did most Huddersfield fans, and something out of our control)

Didn't like the fact that we were able to stay full time after relegation and build good foundations that meant we came back as a stronger club and became competitive, no longer being seen as an easy 4 points for everyone.

After that, they couldn't criticise us for our on field performances so had to find another stick, so crowds, empty seats it was, the myth perpetuated was that Huddersfield have no fans and it's carried on until this day, despite us being somewhere in the middle when it comes to averages over, say a 20 year period.

We often get praised by opposition fans for our loyalty, humour, friendliness and general good nature, we take stick wherever we go, be it for lack of number, cowbells etc but we learn to take it and despite not being big in number, we try and back our team vocally at most away grounds.

It's easy for people to criticise when they're watching SKY sports from the comfort of their living.

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18 hours ago, DimmestStar said:

Let's be honest without Ken Davy Huddersfield would be a League 1 club.

The public of Huddersfield simply don't want to pay money to watch Huddersfield Giants. Maybe Ken Davy should try paying people to attend? Even then I don't think it would make too much difference.

The club died when it languished in the doldrums for more than a generation. It's a lost cause now.

Increasingly people do not want to pay to go to RL clubs.  I'm not sure about other sports.  Possibly similar.  Costs seem high and families have other things to do, and young people want to play video games and do crass things on holidays.

The virus has stunted a years worth of marketing.  More.  Many clubs seem like their attitude is antidiluvian.

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6 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I think both are true tbh. As the marketing people will tell you there is a point where cheapening the price of your product starts to have a negative effect on its perceived value.

That said I totally agree on the stadium. Stick Huddersfield in a 10k compact ground like York with some terracing and the atmosphere would improve massively. Likewise stick Cas in a 24k capacity all seater and their crowds would look pathetic too.

To be fair, those marketing people would be right. Their job is to add value to the product, not to make it cheaper and yes, perception plays a part here. It's hard to justify the "TGG" claim when you're then struggling to sell that product at bargain-bucket prices. RL fans like to make the point that RL is better than "the other code" but when punters see that we struggle to sell a quarter of the tickets to our internationals that RU sells, and at a third of the price, something doesn't make sense there to your average punter. 

I understand Huddersfield's issue that they have a supply and demand imbalance (or an over-supply problem, if you prefer) and @meast is right to argue that the club's crowds are made to look worse than they actually are due to the size of the John Smiths. But reducing the price of tickets only really works if the reason why the people of Huddersfield aren't interested in the Giants is price. If it's because tickets are too expensive then yes, the price reductions may work but if the reason that they're not turning up isn't because the price is too high, then the club doesn't solve the issue and instead, just ends up giving discounts to people who would have happily paid full price and therefore gives away margin - this is exactly what Bradford Bulls did with their "The Pledge" campaign before it all went south. I'm not sure you can just write it off to "people in this town are glory hunters" either - at some point, is the issue that the Giants aren't offering the people of Huddersfield what they want from a Sunday afternoon's entertainment? 

But at some point, either through choice or otherwise, Ken Davey won't be able to subsidise the club and it will more than likely become necessary for the club to wash it's own face. That might mean asking for a bigger contribution from fans and that's very difficult when you suddenly go from valuing your product at £99 to valuing it at quite possibly twice that much. 

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16 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

They aren't devaluing the sport by trying to attract people to it. The problem the Giants have is the stadium is simply too big. Paradoxically, if the stadium was half the size I think they could be pushing 7000 / 8000. Watching sport in a half empty stadium is always worse for the atmosphere. 

I often wonder what the atmosphere is like in the NRL when they play at some of those big stadium’s with crowds of 10/15,000. I’d imagine there is more noise up in space. 

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1 hour ago, Josef K said:

I often wonder what the atmosphere is like in the NRL when they play at some of those big stadium’s with crowds of 10/15,000. I’d imagine there is more noise up in space. 

Its harder to tell really as fans and fan culture there don't make anywhere near as much noise anyway - at least not through chanting. And I can say that its not terrible totally despite having gone to Gold Coast v Manly and Sydney Roosters v NZ Warriors, two grounds not reknowned for their atmospheres at all.

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23 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I think both are true tbh. As the marketing people will tell you there is a point where cheapening the price of your product starts to have a negative effect on its perceived value.

That said I totally agree on the stadium. Stick Huddersfield in a 10k compact ground like York with some terracing and the atmosphere would improve massively. Likewise stick Cas in a 24k capacity all seater and their crowds would look pathetic too.

Huddersfield need to be smarter with which parts of the stadium they open. They currently have Away fans in the South Stand (capacity 4000) which works fine, the North Stand opposite end behind the posts should be completely closed which I think is the case nowadays, the Northern end say (30%) of the East Stand (capacity 7000) and West Stand (capacity ???) should also be closed as should the upper tier of the West Stand. That would probably cut capacity down to around 15k? It’d mean the fans are in closer proximity to each other and create a better atmosphere in the ground. Obviously I’m taking non Covid social distancing times.

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On 27/02/2021 at 09:09, Tommygilf said:

As it stands now Leeds will be charging £233 for the South and East terraces (more for everywhere else) for 9 home games after May 17th (reduced capacities, around 5 k for Leeds) and 7 home games after June 21st (full capacities). All best case scenario of course.

Of those 7 home games, only 2 come across as particularly "standout" - Cas and Warrington at home - maybe Huddersfield and Catalans but I won't hold my breath on those particularly from a crowd perspective. Our further 3 home games are Leigh, Salford and Hull KR... tantalising prospect indeed.

I don't envy the Leeds ticketing person trying to sell those (for £233 cheapest remember). If you get all 7 games plus 1 of the two reduced capacities(presumably some people will have to move stands for those too), it works out just under £30 a game... I know they'll say you can get streams of all games up to round 6 but considering the first 2 are already on sky, and the remaining 2 home games are set for Friday nights and include Wigan at home, I'd be shocked if Leeds were on Sky TV less often than not; which as a result kind of nullifies that as a perceived benefit. Aside from that they don't seem to be offering anything else, no courtesy "fan packs" of club gear or a home shirt or anything really beyond the usual...

Thoughts anyone?


Gary Hetherington has reconfirmed it isn’t for 9 home games, fans will be reimbursed (if they want to be) for games they are not allowed to attend.

 

https://www.therhinos.co.uk/2021/03/11/season-update-from-chief-executive-gary-hetherington/?fbclid=IwAR3llIIy0fzZMq8NDSxxg3B0J3ULxERv7AwEF15kX2ZRvOJIMBIPVyvvCq8

Gary Hetherington

‘’Although our 2021 season will begin without crowds, as we have already promised, our members will not be disadvantaged and as soon as we have certainty, we’ll be back in touch with more information.

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Some things are sold on price. In fact an awful lot of things are sold on price. We don't need to overthink it, as long as Hudds know how to pay for this, hopefully through making money from these who attend in other ways. 

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On 09/03/2021 at 08:44, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Huddersfield need to be smarter with which parts of the stadium they open. They currently have Away fans in the South Stand (capacity 4000) which works fine, the North Stand opposite end behind the posts should be completely closed which I think is the case nowadays, the Northern end say (30%) of the East Stand (capacity 7000) and West Stand (capacity ???) should also be closed as should the upper tier of the West Stand. That would probably cut capacity down to around 15k? It’d mean the fans are in closer proximity to each other and create a better atmosphere in the ground. Obviously I’m taking non Covid social distancing times.

The Supporters Association have discussed this with the club in the past, the club had been open to the idea, obviously to help reduce running costs as well as improve the game day atmosphere etc.

However the fans themselves were/are pretty hostile to it all, refusing to move out of a seat they've had since 1997 etc.

 

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9 hours ago, meast said:

The Supporters Association have discussed this with the club in the past, the club had been open to the idea, obviously to help reduce running costs as well as improve the game day atmosphere etc.

However the fans themselves were/are pretty hostile to it all, refusing to move out of a seat they've had since 1997 etc.

 

Sometimes you can’t please everybody but still need to make changes for the better. A few people may have a moan at getting a new seat but they’d soon get used to it. There were quite a few Leeds fans who didn’t want Headingley to be developed and wanted to keep the old stands, it’s now the best stadium in Super League IMO.

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14 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:


Gary Hetherington has reconfirmed it isn’t for 9 home games, fans will be reimbursed (if they want to be) for games they are not allowed to attend.

 

https://www.therhinos.co.uk/2021/03/11/season-update-from-chief-executive-gary-hetherington/?fbclid=IwAR3llIIy0fzZMq8NDSxxg3B0J3ULxERv7AwEF15kX2ZRvOJIMBIPVyvvCq8

Gary Hetherington

‘’Although our 2021 season will begin without crowds, as we have already promised, our members will not be disadvantaged and as soon as we have certainty, we’ll be back in touch with more information.

That doesn't say that

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