Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)

[Damien]

10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I believe they already revised the aims down to 750k due to various factors, including losing Anfield. 

Yes it was certainly revised down to 750k due to venues changing. A 1 million target is impossible now.

I am prepared to cut them a little slack on this target. If this tournament returns huge profits (in RLWC terms) due to much higher ticket prices, more sponsorship, northern powerhouse funding etc then that to me is a big success. I would take that as opposed to hitting a 750k target courtesy of really cheap tickets as in 2013. I would certainly still wish to beat previous tournaments though in terms of crowds.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Damien

[Scubby]

30 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Funnily enough, it feels like they have ramped up some of the ads this week. Now I have been on the RLWC ticket site this week, but I have seen plenty of digital marketing following me around, so hopefully that is a good sign. 

I was in Warrington earlier this week too and there were a fair few ads for the WC too. Maybe this is the start of their campaign. 

Half the tournament appears to be in Warrington so I'm sure saddos like you aren't hard to find! Getting those locals to part with those prices is another matter altogether and is one of the flaws in using small familiar stadiums.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Scubby

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

Getting those locals to part with those prices is another matter altogether and is one of the flaws in using small familiar stadiums.

This is very true. When I look at the quarter final at Wigan and its 3 times what I paid in 2013, for the same section at a non marquee ground that I have been to hundreds of times, then it's a hard sell.

[Dave T]

So, it looks like they are changing ticket prices by stealth. 

This image shows the original pricing plan for the opener (which can still be found on the site) :

 

[Dave T]

This image shows the actual pricing:

 

[Dave T]

So plenty of £70 tickets are now at £30.

I was making my plans for this game and was surprised to see so many cheap tickets after previously struggling to get people to come along at the prices they were asking. 

I haven't looked at other games. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Dave T

[Dave T]

It would appear to be really odd to heavily reduce the prices for a game that they have been saying will sellout for a while now. 

I would add, I think the pricing is more appropriate now. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Dave T

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

So plenty of £70 tickets are now at £30.

I was making my plans for this game and was surprised to see so many cheap tickets after previously struggling to get people to come along at the prices they were asking. 

I haven't looked at other games. 

I told you they would buckle and it is entirely their own fault. They are sadly slowly heading full retreat back to 2013 and there will be plenty of voucher codes come the start of the tournament. Such a shame because this is partly a result of really poor stadium choices and disrespecting the Women's games. John Dutton is not a guy that could ever deliver 1m spectators and the RFL never believed it themselves.

The success of this WC was entirely based on tapping into new markets. The women's game was one of those!

[Dave T]

Just now, Scubby said:

I told you they would buckle and it is entirely their own fault. They are sadly slowly heading full retreat back to 2013 and there will be plenty of voucher codes come the start of the tournament. Such a shame because this is partly a result of really poor stadium choices and disrespecting the Women's games. John Dutton is not a guy that could ever deliver 1m spectators and the RFL never believed it themselves.

The success of this WC was entirely based on tapping into new markets. The women's game was one of those!

The pricing now feels appropriate, and I wonder if this is on the back of analysis showing either people are clicking in and dropping out, or just certain areas basically selling zero. 

I don't mind some form of dynamic pricing, but it's not ideal. And the problem is that these reductions make things like the semi finals even more expensive. 

And I can get a decent seat for the marquee opener for £30 yet they want me to pay £40 to stand in the South Stand at Wire. 

Tbh, the pricing is all over the place, I called it out a long time ago, and we are now seeing them have to scramble around to make it work. I think they have their work cut out. 

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

The pricing now feels appropriate, and I wonder if this is on the back of analysis showing either people are clicking in and dropping out, or just certain areas basically selling zero. 

I don't mind some form of dynamic pricing, but it's not ideal. And the problem is that these reductions make things like the semi finals even more expensive. 

And I can get a decent seat for the marquee opener for £30 yet they want me to pay £40 to stand in the South Stand at Wire. 

Tbh, the pricing is all over the place, I called it out a long time ago, and we are now seeing them have to scramble around to make it work. I think they have their work cut out. 

I do have a little sympathy for them in that no one could have foreseen a pandemic and it is obvious that a lot of people on fixed term contracts left at the end of 2021 and were not replaced. They were probably in the sales and marketing areas and one thing the RFL is really bad at is creating noise and being agile to feedback. 

The revised venues did get the feeling of the reality of trying to put on a show with reduced staff and budgets. A stronger leadership would have gone back to the government and got them to give us more - not plead for them to honour their original commitment like some grateful oafs. We have seen in Australia what really strong leadership does - it gets things done and gets public money to do it.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Scubby

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

I do have a little sympathy for them in that no one could have foreseen a pandemic and it is obvious that a lot of people on fixed term contracts left at the end of 2021 and were not replaced. They were probably in the sales and marketing areas and one thing the RFL is really bad at is creating noise and being agile to feedback. 

The revised venues did get the feeling of the reality of trying to put on a show with reduced staff and budgets. A stronger leadership would have gone back to the government and got them to give us more - not plead for them to honour their original commitment like some grateful oafs. We have seen in Australia what really strong leadership does - it gets things done and gets public money to do it.

To be fair, I don't think we can criticise them for the funding piece. And I'm mot sure additional funding would change where we took these other games. 

I don't have much sympathy for the pricing structure they put in place. I think it was arrogant, misguided and not based in any kind of real world. 

The things you mention may have a minor impact, but it isn't the reason we aren't selling many £110 tickets for semi finals, or £70 tickets at the opener are now £30. I'm making an educated guess about the semi final by the way! 

[Derwent]

Newcastle City Council are planning to have the fan zone on the Quayside for the world cup opener. The whole Quayside between the Tyne Bridge and Millennium Bridge will be closed to traffic and turned into an outdoor festival area. Mind you, this is Newcastle in October so right next to the river might not be the warmest or driest of places to be !

[Phil W]

21 minutes ago, Derwent said:

Newcastle City Council are planning to have the fan zone on the Quayside for the world cup opener. The whole Quayside between the Tyne Bridge and Millennium Bridge will be closed to traffic and turned into an outdoor festival area. Mind you, this is Newcastle in October so right next to the river might not be the warmest or driest of places to be !

It'll be quality down on the Quayside and good to have a fan zone in the city!

[Derwent]

42 minutes ago, Phil W said:

It'll be quality down on the Quayside and good to have a fan zone in the city!

It will but you might need your ganzy on.

[Phil W]

1 minute ago, Derwent said:

It will but you might need your ganzy on.

It's Newcastle, tops off as standard!

[Damien]

Episode 2 of the RWLC podcast with Clare Balding:

 

[Cowboy]

When is the latest team squads can be announced? 

[Dave T]

Well, finally bought my first tickets, picking up some for £30 that were previously £70 for the Opener at Newcastle. 

I'll hold off any further purchases now they have shown they are adjusting prices. 

Now, could just do with hotels doing the same

[Damien]

20 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Well, finally bought my first tickets, picking up some for £30 that were previously £70 for the Opener at Newcastle. 

I'll hold off any further purchases now they have shown they are adjusting prices. 

Now, could just do with hotels doing the same

You are dangerously displaying that buyer behaviour that we have argued about many times before 

I don't blame you either!

[Scubby]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

You are dangerously displaying that buyer behaviour that we have argued about many times before 

I don't blame you either!

I'm holding off even further. Hoping to pay on the day or sneak under the fence 

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, Damien said:

You are dangerously displaying that buyer behaviour that we have argued about many times before 

I don't blame you either!

When they set the prices at, quite frankly, stupidly high levels, I was always going to wait. If I missed out, or they always stayed above my price point, so be it. As it happens, they have offered great tickets at a reasonable price, so I'm in. 

I'm hoping for a varied world cup, picking up a good number of teams, I wasn't prepared to spend an absolute bomb on the opener. As it turns out, it'll still be £300 before a beer is bought. 

 

[gingerjon]

16 hours ago, Dave T said:

When they set the prices at, quite frankly, stupidly high levels, I was always going to wait. If I missed out, or they always stayed above my price point, so be it. As it happens, they have offered great tickets at a reasonable price, so I'm in. 

I'm hoping for a varied world cup, picking up a good number of teams, I wasn't prepared to spend an absolute bomb on the opener. As it turns out, it'll still be £300 before a beer is bought. 

 

 

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

 

Clearly somebody reads my posts! 

But original pricing of £70 for behind the posts up in that 3rd tier was always just dumb. 

The problem is, other venues are just as bad, I hope they are reviewing those. 

[gingerjon]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Clearly somebody reads my posts! 

But original pricing of £70 for behind the posts up in that 3rd tier was always just dumb. 

The problem is, other venues are just as bad, I hope they are reviewing those. 

Hopefully, the number of people who will have bought in those sections at those prices will be so miniscule that refunds/movement can be offered. I can't believe people paying that price would want to be in those areas.

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Hopefully, the number of people who will have bought in those sections at those prices will be so miniscule that refunds/movement can be offered. I can't believe people paying that price would want to be in those areas.

Yeah, I touched on it previously, I expect they may have had zero demand for those sections at those prices. 

I'm in the process of planning at the moment, but they still haven't fixed the online issue of once you've been into a game and come out of it, you can't purchase tickets any more - you end up in a loop where it sends you to your account details and you can't buy. 

I raised this on their twitter account a while back.

My wife wanted to buy me tickets last week for my birthday and gave up, and I'm now sitting here with money that people gave me to buy tickets and their website won't allow me to do so. 

I went into the packageansection for Newcastle yesterday and that wouldn't work on my mobile, and the promise of squad trips in major towns and cities hasn't happened. 

TBH, behind some of the shiny veneer it's typically RL. 

Forget structures IMG - sort out the basics. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Dave T