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Are you worried about attendances?

Tommygilf

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gingerjon

gingerjon

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Dave T said:

But we still are. That Bradford City and Plymouth are anomalies in that league, just the same way Toronto were in our division 3 is not a sign of anything. Using things like that as a measure is a weird distraction. 

As a City fan I remember watching us in the 3rd division with large crowds. It didn't mean anything. 

Yes - I'm not in favour of saying "We should have higher attendance than Bradford City" because that's quite a weird thing to say. But I am in favour of two linked things:

- Why are we going backwards when compared against people we were, very recently, ahead of

- What can we learn from Bradford City? A club who had laughably poor attendances for decades until they were bankrolled into the Premier League *but who then grew their attendances during multiple relegations and woeful seasons after* - in a way that I'm not sure any other club in any sport has done?

The second one often gets laughed off as just being about cheap season tickets. But, as we've seen, cheap season tickets don't always work so is there something else going on?

 

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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Dave T

Dave T

Posted
Posted
56 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Yes - I'm not in favour of saying "We should have higher attendance than Bradford City" because that's quite a weird thing to say. But I am in favour of two linked things:

- Why are we going backwards when compared against people we were, very recently, ahead of

- What can we learn from Bradford City? A club who had laughably poor attendances for decades until they were bankrolled into the Premier League *but who then grew their attendances during multiple relegations and woeful seasons after* - in a way that I'm not sure any other club in any sport has done?

The second one often gets laughed off as just being about cheap season tickets. But, as we've seen, cheap season tickets don't always work so is there something else going on?

 

Yes, we should learn what we can, but also acknowledge that there will always be outliers, unique circumstances and so on. Looking at recent success stories like Bradford City is absolutely right - using them as some weird measure is, well, weird. 

There are always winners and losers in sport, look up and down the attendance tables and there are some clubs who have lost thousands, and some who have gained thousands. 

But we should always look at what others are doing, and then be smart enough to know what will work for us. 

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bratman

bratman

Posted
Posted

I'm guessing the Headingly redevelopment impacted Leeds attendances in recent years, 2018 and 2019?

As you say though, teams go up and down. The demise of big clubs like Bradford and to lesser extent Wigan and Leeds inevitably resulted in lower average SL crowds IMO.

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Scubby

Scubby

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, bratman said:

I'm guessing the Headingly redevelopment impacted Leeds attendances in recent years, 2018 and 2019?

As you say though, teams go up and down. The demise of big clubs like Bradford and to lesser extent Wigan and Leeds inevitably resulted in lower average SL crowds IMO.

But it should have catapulted Leeds to new levels now they have this amazing facility. It is a pretty sad sight to see that brand new north stand sparsely populated.

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M j M

M j M

Posted
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11 minutes ago, Scubby said:

But it should have catapulted Leeds to new levels now they have this amazing facility. It is a pretty sad sight to see that brand new north stand sparsely populated.

It was completed just as the club were sacking Furner for abysmal results.

Its first full season was hit by Covid. It's not exactly a great time to measure its impact.

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Scubby

Scubby

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Posted
10 minutes ago, M j M said:

It was completed just as the club were sacking Furner for abysmal results.

Its first full season was hit by Covid. It's not exactly a great time to measure its impact.

I agree with all those things. I am just saying what I see. Normally new facilities sees a huge spark in interest with people of waiting lists and a big fanfare. Maybe Leeds were the victim of circumstances. The club needs to crank into gear now and sell the pants off what is a historically receptive market to RL. New coach and a couple of star signing for 2022 would be a real start!

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M j M

M j M

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Scubby said:

I agree with all those things. I am just saying what I see. Normally new facilities sees a huge spark in interest with people of waiting lists and a big fanfare. Maybe Leeds were the victim of circumstances. The club needs to crank into gear now and sell the pants off what is a historically receptive market to RL. New coach and a couple of star signing for 2022 would be a real start!

There's zero need for a new coach and they've made the star signings already.

2022 is a very, very big year for Leeds as they look to win the title. That in itself will obviously help on the attendance front.

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Scubby

Scubby

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Posted
5 minutes ago, M j M said:

There's zero need for a new coach and they've made the star signings already.

2022 is a very, very big year for Leeds as they look to win the title. That in itself will obviously help on the attendance front.

Did I miss the star signings?

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The storm

The storm

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

I see Fev got double for Toulouse than the last two fixtures. Shows that the away fans thing is a nonsense. The name itself can generate the local interest and Fev did excellent to turn Fev vs Tou into a must see game. 

Bulls under 3000 again, I hope we do some offer for the playoff semi and aim for a big crowd rather than an expensive ticket. 

Interestingly enough north Wales Crusaders have a positive attitude about their club and are attracting 800 

 

Widnes fans still moan constantly and only 1200 turn up 

 

Perception is everything 

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The Future is League

The Future is League

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Johnoco said:

The only reason I mentioned Bradford City was that people were using Covid as a reason for low crowds at RL games recently. But there we have a club that is pretty much followed by the same demographic of people that follow RL and are managing to get great crowds. Same people, same circumstances.... different crowds. There are no freebies or cheap tickets so people are going because they really want to go. 

I haven't looked but I'm willing to bet there are non league soccer teams getting better crowds than some SL clubs. Of course this will be dismissed as 'so what?' but that's up to individuals, I prefer to look at reality. 

Reasons......are like a comfort blanket for RL fans. There's always a 'reason' why this didn't happen or that crowd was low....it's never the fault of the game. I know because I spent many years doing exactly that myself.

People are already claiming it will be ok next year. 

We know that the people who think it will be ok next year are deluded

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The Future is League

The Future is League

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Yes - I'm not in favour of saying "We should have higher attendance than Bradford City" because that's quite a weird thing to say. But I am in favour of two linked things:

- Why are we going backwards when compared against people we were, very recently, ahead of

- What can we learn from Bradford City? A club who had laughably poor attendances for decades until they were bankrolled into the Premier League *but who then grew their attendances during multiple relegations and woeful seasons after* - in a way that I'm not sure any other club in any sport has done?

The second one often gets laughed off as just being about cheap season tickets. But, as we've seen, cheap season tickets don't always work so is there something else going on?

 

Some Rugby League fans are blaming the declining crowd numbers on Covid, but that hasn't affected soccer crowds and didn't affect the Cricket 100 competition. 

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Dave T

Dave T

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2 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Some Rugby League fans are blaming the declining crowd numbers on Covid, but that hasn't affected soccer crowds and didn't affect the Cricket 100 competition. 

When do people buy their season tickets for the Rugby League season? 

What was going on then? 

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Spidey

Spidey

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

That still shouldn't turning up on match days and paying at the gate or getting a ticket online

Which has been difficult as some clubs excluded non season ticket holders at the start of the return of crowds

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Dave T

Dave T

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22 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

So i guess your one of those so called fans who are using covid as a excuse not to go to games

Fans have certain behaviours. They buy season tickets between September and January every year - for this season that was right in the middle of Covid lockdowns and dire times. Clubs limited sales, and basically many fans couldn't get the eaeason tickets. 

Fans didn't know when they would be able to attend and whether their tickets would be once again a donation to their club. 

They also didn't have access to the usual direct debit schemes that they normally tap into. 

Once grounds opened fully in July, the season was halfway through. Those families don't necessarily just have that money sitting there to then buy tickets, and for many who did buy tickets they see games cancelled and money held by clubs. 

We are staging games at irregular times, with no continuity or guarantees games will be staged. 

It should be no surprise that crowds are down. It is quite dumb to think you can decimate your whole sales window and expect no impact. Not other sport has had ghat, they have been able to sell at a time where there has been a high level of confidence that you would get something for your money. 

I mean we could just ignore all the above, call people fake fans and act like arrogant douchebags but that ain't gonna help anyone. 

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GUBRATS

GUBRATS

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, The Future is League said:

Some Rugby League fans are blaming the declining crowd numbers on Covid, but that hasn't affected soccer crowds and didn't affect the Cricket 100 competition. 

Soccer , new season starting after full opening up 

Cricket , short tournament starting after full opening up 

RL 2/3rds way through season that started behind closed doors 

You've been told several times now , judge it next year when a ST purchase will get a full season of games 

Or don't and continue being a dick 

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