Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)

[JonM]

Also, did anyone go to the Bradford Greece warm up game, which seems to have flown under the radar? A 34-34 draw I think.

[Maximus Decimus]

After receiving my email last night, I logged on to see if they'd updated thr Quarter-Final information and wasn't surprised to find they hadn't.

However, I noticed they had an availability key for all the games. It classes SJP as having low availability, so it is not down to limited tickets or anything. The Doncaster games all appear to still have good availability, which I'd perhaps not surprising, and there are a number down as medium including games at Wire etc.

The most surprising were the Emirates and Sheffield being down as low availability as these have been two games that have been queried.

[Maximus Decimus]

Regards the pricing, as someone who has been out of the loop, I couldn't believe the pricing.

A lot of these games are a tough sell anyway. If Widnes was hosting Lebanon vs Ireland or one of the huge blowouts, I'd be reluctant to go even if it was a tenner. At £40 or whatever I wouldn't even consider it.

[Josef K]

Have any RL journalists questioned the price of tickets to the head of the RLWC. 

[DI Keith Fowler]

Just got my tickets for New Zealand Lebanon at Warrington. Planning on going for a shawarma before kick off so you know where my loyalties are. 

[Big Picture]

5 hours ago, Dave T said:

People talking about the price of other sports are spectacularly missing the point. It's really impressive. 

How on earth you can compare to Union or Football World Cups is beyond me. Those events have people flying across the world to attend. Football's World Cup is one of the biggest events in the world bar none. Union has affluent markets in South Africa, NZ, Aus, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland plus emerging markets in the likes of Japan and America, Argentina etc. 

When they start staging their world cups with 11 games across Warrington, St Helens, Leigh and Wigan which will be 99% filled with locals attending multiple games then you may have a point. 

The attitude you display is the one that organisers showed when setting tickets at £110 that are likely to remain unsold. 

No Dave, I think you're the one missing the point.

Why do you think the government game the organizers that 25 million £ if not to showcase the success of Northern Powerhouse with a successful, primarily Northern event directly and favourably comparable to the events which those other sports would have?  That is almost certainly their expectation, why else do you think Jon Dutton said the government is pressuring them to "do all the right things"???

[Spidey]

36 minutes ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

Just got my tickets for New Zealand Lebanon at Warrington. Planning on going for a shawarma before kick off so you know where my loyalties are. 

Go to the market. Great shawarma stall there

[Big Picture]

3 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

Not sure if people can watch this in the United Kingdom but this program on Michael Cheika, the coach of the Lebanese rugby league team, has just been shown on ABC Australian television… well worth watching!!

https://www.abc.net.au/austory/in-a-different-league-michael-cheika/14076734

The Brits should be able to watch it, I'm able to watch it from Canada.  It's very interesting too, thanks for sharing it.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Big Picture

[Dave T]

35 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

No Dave, I think you're the one missing the point.

Why do you think the government game the organizers that 25 million £ if not to showcase the success of Northern Powerhouse with a successful, primarily Northern event directly and favourably comparable to the events which those other sports would have?  That is almost certainly their expectation, why else do you think Jon Dutton said the government is pressuring them to "do all the right things"???

Tbh you have a really weird outlook on what the government are investing in here. 

The government will likely not care what the RLWC profit is - that's for the RLWC to worry about. 

The government absolutely will care about the impact their investment has - and that is where the legacy piece comes in. The important numbers to the government are the numbers of people who will benefit from improved facilities, schemes which support communities, how many people are entertained and inspired by the event etc. 

They will care little about the profit a private company makes. 

Dutton will have sold the investment based on how many people will be positively impacted by RLWC, not by how much they have paid. Not selling enough tickets Sgould be a challenge for them. 

[Big Picture]

14 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Tbh you have a really weird outlook on what the government are investing in here. 

The government will likely not care what the RLWC profit is - that's for the RLWC to worry about. 

The government absolutely will care about the impact their investment has - and that is where the legacy piece comes in. The important numbers to the government are the numbers of people who will benefit from improved facilities, schemes which support communities, how many people are entertained and inspired by the event etc. 

They will care little about the profit a private company makes. 

Dutton will have sold the investment based on how many people will be positively impacted by RLWC, not by how much they have paid. Not selling enough tickets Sgould be a challenge for them. 

My outlook isn't weird, it's realistic.  The impact the government will expect for their investment most certainly will include big crowds at event prices because this is a showcase for Northern Powerhouse which politically they need to look good, don't kid yourself about that.  And that outcome would certainly go a long way to entertain and inspire the public who attend the matches and/or watch on TV.

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Big Picture said:

My outlook isn't weird, it's realistic.  The impact the government will expect for their investment most certainly will include big crowds at event prices because this is a showcase for Northern Powerhouse which politically they need to look good, don't kid yourself about that.  And that outcome would certainly go a long way to entertain and inspire the public who attend the matches and/or watch on TV.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/northern-powerhouse-at-the-heart-of-rugby-league-world-cup-2021

This investment is to deliver a tournament and facilities that bring a return for the communities. 

Nobody in their right mind would even think of setting a restriction by enforcing high pricing. 

[Damien]

Live stream of tournament launch on OurLeague now

[Big Picture]

23 minutes ago, Dave T said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/northern-powerhouse-at-the-heart-of-rugby-league-world-cup-2021

This investment is to deliver a tournament and facilities that bring a return for the communities. 

Nobody in their right mind would even think of setting a restriction by enforcing high pricing. 

I see there that the Northern Powerhouse Minister of the time predicted that "Thousands of visitors will come from far and wide to enjoy the games and organisers predict the tournament will deliver £75 million of economic benefit to the UK through tourism and opportunities for local businesses, with a significant amount coming to cities and regions of the Northern Powerhouse".

They clearly expect the effect to be three times the amount of their investment, just how do you think that would happen without full houses at the sort of prices being charged then?

And the Minister for Sport and Civil Society said, "We are investing £25 million to help put on a fantastic event, reach new fans and improve facilities, so the tournament leaves a real legacy".  So the government money is only to help put the event on, not be the major source of money, and the legacy isn't only the improved facilities, it's also having a fantastic event and reaching new fans.  Again, without full houses at the sort of prices you consider outrageous how can those things happen?

So I suggest that the government's expectations won't be met without full houses at the prices they're charging and if they're not met the government will not be happy.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Big Picture

[The Hallucinating Goose]

5 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Oh my God how gauche

Certainly! It will have been some quiz show I imagine, can't remember now but that's the only sort of thing I watch on ITV. 

[Dave T]

1 minute ago, Big Picture said:

I see there that the Northern Powerhouse Minister of the time predicted that "Thousands of visitors will come from far and wide to enjoy the games and organisers predict the tournament will deliver £75 million of economic benefit to the UK through tourism and opportunities for local businesses, with a significant amount coming to cities and regions of the Northern Powerhouse".

They clearly expect the effect to be three times their investment, just how do you think that would happen without full houses at the sort of prices being charged then?

And the Minister for Sport and Civil Society said, "We are investing £25 million to help put on a fantastic event, reach new fans and improve facilities, so the tournament leaves a real legacy".  So the government money is only to help put the event on, not be the major source of money, and the legacy isn't only the improved facilities, it's also having a fantastic event and reaching new fans.  Again, without full houses at the sort of prices you consider outrageous how can those things happen?

So I suggest that the government's expectations won't be met without full houses at the prices they're charging and if they're not met the government will not be happy.

You've got yourself confused. The admission fee is not a government objective. They haven't mentioned it. Nobody has, except you. 

The £75m will come from bars, restaurants, hotels, transport etc. 

Everyone agrees that numbers of fans is important, it's why charging over the odds is a poor approach. 

[MattSantos]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

 

The £75m will come from bars, restaurants, hotels, transport etc. 

 

It'll be my bar bill if we win in Manchester.

 

[Big Picture]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

You've got yourself confused. The admission fee is not a government objective. They haven't mentioned it. Nobody has, except you. 

The £75m will come from bars, restaurants, hotels, transport etc. 

Everyone agrees that numbers of fans is important, it's why charging over the odds is a poor approach. 

Not at all, I note that the 25 million £ was only to help put the tournament on, not to be the main source of its money.  If it's only to help put it on, it can't provide most of the money can it?  And for the tournament to bring in more than 25 million £ from other sources it will need full houses at those prices you called outrageous, there won't be enough in TV rights and sponsorship for the organizers to achieve that any other way.  QED

[MattSantos]

24 minutes ago, Damien said:

Live stream of tournament launch on OurLeague now

It's not the best is it...

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, MattSantos said:

It's not the best is it...

It's good to see players from each country being interviewed at the launch but it's all a bit amateurish so far really.

[Maximus Decimus]

4 hours ago, JonM said:

Also, did anyone go to the Bradford Greece warm up game, which seems to have flown under the radar? A 34-34 draw I think.

You'd have to think we'll put 100 on them if that was anything like a full team.

[Dave T]

8 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

Not at all, I note that the 25 million £ was only to help put the tournament on, not to be the main source of its money.  If it's only to help put it on, it can't provide most of the money can it?  And for the tournament to bring in more than 25 million £ from other sources it will need full houses at those prices you called outrageous, there won't be enough in TV rights and sponsorship for the organizers to achieve that any other way.  QED

Couple of things. 

Firstly, up to £15m of it is to help towards staging costs. A further £10m is being invested in the sport via pitches, clubhouses, equipment etc. 

Secondly - who says it can't provide most of the money? You've simply stated that with nothing to back that up or any logic.

Thirdly - it doesn't need to cover £25m, or even the £15m. The £25m is to deliver legacy benefits, and also short term benefits of £75m local spend. 

It really is quite simple. The Government have invested £25m in this tournament, which will go on to deliver long term legacy benefits through sport, and £75m of short-term economic benefits through tourism and local businesses.

There is no requirement to cover that £25m of costs with direct RLWC income. None at all.

[graveyard johnny]

forgive my ignorance - but is it impossible for nz and aus to meet in the final?

[Damien]

Just now, graveyard johnny said:

forgive my ignorance - but is it impossible for nz and aus to meet in the final?

Yes it is impossible

Edited October 10, 2022 by Damien

[graveyard johnny]

Just now, Damien said:

No

sorry was just looking at williams hills odds of which 2 teams would be in the final and that match up wasn't listed

[Damien]

Just now, graveyard johnny said:

sorry was just looking at williams hills odds of which 2 teams would be in the final and that match up wasn't listed

I meant its not possible for them to meet in the final, I misread and edited my post but obviously not quick enough