Are you worried about attendances?

[Lowdesert]

1 hour ago, Man of Kent said:

From a personal perspective, the postponements are a big deterrent.

I like to have the occasional summer family weekend away in RL land but not this year as I’ve had very little confidence in the fixture list. 

 

Why not stay in the York area? That way you are a train ride away from Hull, Newcastle, west riding or York’s ground.

North York’s is a beautiful area.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

12 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Why not stay in the York area? That way you are a train ride away from Hull, Newcastle, west riding or York’s ground.

North York’s is a beautiful area.

Yeah that's what we do. Stay in York for Yorkshire or Chester for North West

[bratman]

14 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Why not stay in the York area? That way you are a train ride away from Hull, Newcastle, west riding or York’s ground.

North York’s is a beautiful area.

I was looking at York this weekend for the Hull derby, half decent hotel is £300 a night!!!

[Man of Kent]

28 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Why not stay in the York area? That way you are a train ride away from Hull, Newcastle, west riding or York’s ground.

North York’s is a beautiful area.

Do you work for the tourist board?

[Lowdesert]

30 minutes ago, bratman said:

I was looking at York this weekend for the Hull derby, half decent hotel is £300 a night!!!

Seeing as I’ve now been promoted to the Tourist Board...... there are Hotels offering less than that but of course, weekends are busy at this time of year. Travelodge off Layerthorpe isn’t far from the centre or Morrison’s where you could get a cheaper breakfast.  10 mins walk into the centre about 20 mins walk to train.

[Lowdesert]

19 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Do you work for the tourist board?

Lol.

Offer to help is there mate.

[Lowdesert]

41 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Yeah that's what we do. Stay in York for Yorkshire or Chester for North West

Not just because we used to live there but I would choose a village on the northern edge of York.  Bus into York every 20 mins and roads straight out into North York’s area.

[bratman]

2 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

Seeing as I’ve now been promoted to the Tourist Board...... there are Hotels offering less than that but of course, weekends are busy at this time of year. Travelodge off Layerthorpe isn’t far from the centre or Morrison’s where you could get a cheaper breakfast.  10 mins walk into the centre about 20 mins walk to train.

Thanks for the advice

[Dave T]

Aaand, another example of why fans are not bothering - Wire v Catalans off tonight, 7hrs notice. 

[Scubby]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Aaand, another example of why fans are not bothering - Wire v Catalans off tonight, 7hrs notice. 

Once bitten ..... 

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Aaand, another example of why fans are not bothering - Wire v Catalans off tonight, 7hrs notice. 

Could you imagine if you'd booked flights etc for that?

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

Once bitten ..... 

 

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Could you imagine if you'd booked flights etc for that?

Wire have spent the last few days trying to get people to convert their Hull FC tickets for the cancelled game a few weeks back to tickets for this game. 

You are just peeing fans off now. I've been pragmatic about the whole Covid impact, it was always to be expected, but the thing that is annoying me is we are just accepting it, we don't appear to be trying to lock down players into tighter bubbles to prevent it. 

The longer it goes on, and other sports are staging their games, the more amateur we look. 

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Wire have spent the last few days trying to get people to convert their Hull FC tickets for the cancelled game a few weeks back to tickets for this game. 

You are just peeing fans off now. I've been pragmatic about the whole Covid impact, it was always to be expected, but the thing that is annoying me is we are just accepting it, we don't appear to be trying to lock down players into tighter bubbles to prevent it. 

The longer it goes on, and other sports are staging their games, the more amateur we look. 

Agreed. I certainly don't think that as a game we are doing all we can to prevent this. I hope there aren't consequences down the line because what is happening certainly isn't good for Sky or sponsors. 

[Szymala]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

 

Wire have spent the last few days trying to get people to convert their Hull FC tickets for the cancelled game a few weeks back to tickets for this game. 

You are just peeing fans off now. I've been pragmatic about the whole Covid impact, it was always to be expected, but the thing that is annoying me is we are just accepting it, we don't appear to be trying to lock down players into tighter bubbles to prevent it. 

The longer it goes on, and other sports are staging their games, the more amateur we look. 

It's next season when it's going to come back and bite hard judging by comments on social media.

TRUST is gone from the fans and that's hard to get back. Just when you think things cannot get any worse.....they're digging their own graves. 

 

 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, ShropshireBull said:

And sky lose their big game. So that´s more money back. I don´t blame people for not bothering this year. 

Wonder if they'll do Leeds v Huddersfield instead

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Wonder if they'll do Leeds v Huddersfield instead

I think time and logistics are against them if they were already set up at Wire when the game was cancelled.

Not showing on the live listings anyway.

[Tommygilf]

6 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I think time and logistics are against them if they were already set up at Wire when the game was cancelled.

Not showing on the live listings anyway.

I mean it was announced fairly early on, lunchtime wasn't it?

[Rugbyleaguesupporter]

22 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

They also got 1000 against Oldham in June, so I suspect it wasn´t 70% Bulls fans. 

Both Oldham and whitehaven games were preceeded by junior rugby festivals (600 players at second) and they got a free ticket. 

75% maybe a slight exaggeration but core Newcastle support poor outside of free tickets, which is disappointing as community side doing well 

[gingerjon]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I mean it was announced fairly early on, lunchtime wasn't it?

You'd imagine everything was already set up so take down - if the contractors were there to do it right away - would take, presumably, a couple of hours minimum? Then set-up time at the other end - again, assuming contractors are there, lorries can be parked etc - would be the same or longer?

I'm not an expert but it seems like, at best, it would have been tight.

[Tommygilf]

5 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Ok but that´s 600 people buying a coke or something being exposed to the clubs. That´s a dozen or so more parents exposed to the club and potential sponsors can be sold a story of their brand being associated with them of youth activity and people in the stadium. 

 

Just like at Barrow, who offer free entry before a certain time on matchdays, and are praised regularly for the results. What's so different about Newcastle?

[Rugbyleaguesupporter]

Yes- newcastle doing well- owner with (apparent) deep pockets and growing game at community level. 

Big concern is core home support of 400-500 not grown- and larger attendances are free tickets/ away fans  

I'm not complaining at free tickets, far from it, but you'd have hoped attendances may have been 1k for bigger games with free tickets/ away fans bringing crowds closer to 2k 

*Appreciate above is optimistic. I also think Newcastle should be pushed appropriately (if licensing returns) but I reckon it may take another 4-5 years until sustainably SL ready in terms of crowds 

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, Rugbyleaguesupporter said:

Yes- newcastle doing well- owner with (apparent) deep pockets and growing game at community level. 

Big concern is core home support of 400-500 not grown- and larger attendances are free tickets/ away fans  

I'm not complaining at free tickets, far from it, but you'd have hoped attendances may have been 1k for bigger games with free tickets/ away fans bringing crowds closer to 2k 

*Appreciate above is optimistic. I also think Newcastle should be pushed appropriately (if licensing returns) but I reckon it may take another 4-5 years until sustainably SL ready in terms of crowds 

Covid impact?

Lets be honest, for clubs outside the heartlands, the difference between League 1 and the Championship isn't significant either.

[Rugbyleaguesupporter]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

Covid impact?

Lets be honest, for clubs outside the heartlands, the difference between League 1 and the Championship isn't significant either.

Agreed- but you'd have thought some people may have heard of Bradford, London, Halifax, Sheffield over Coventry, West wales and Hunslet. 

As discussed previously I think there a few quick wins on tickets: 

- Dates for first 4 months of season need to be locked in 

- 1 game a week. Having midweek matches are a massive turn off 

- Tickets hard to buy. Have some pay on day. 

Holy grail would be for Our League to run ticket sale infrastructure centrally, with clubs supporting. Get every club to put their stadium maps on Our League and allow fans to book. Online sales stop on midnight before the game and clubs then print off remaining tickets to be sold via cash or payment card on day or at turnstile. 

Incredible promotional opportunities 

 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Rugbyleaguesupporter said:

Agreed- but you'd have thought some people may have heard of Bradford, London, Halifax, Sheffield over Coventry, West wales and Hunslet. 

As discussed previously I think there a few quick wins on tickets: 

- Dates for first 4 months of season need to be locked in 

- 1 game a week. Having midweek matches are a massive turn off 

- Tickets hard to buy. Have some pay on day. 

Holy grail would be for Our League to run ticket sale infrastructure centrally, with clubs supporting. Get every club to put their stadium maps on Our League and allow fans to book. Online sales stop on midnight before the game and clubs then print off remaining tickets to be sold via cash or payment card on day or at turnstile. 

Incredible promotional opportunities 

True, but in terms of the overall profile of the competition it still has virtually zero visibility increase except maybe at the very top?

I like those suggestions. The centralisation of ticketing could yet be one of the things clubs are forced into that would benefit - I believe its what the Hundred Cricket has done. 

It will be interesting to see if pay on the gate ever recovers.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

12 hours ago, bratman said:

I was looking at York this weekend for the Hull derby, half decent hotel is £300 a night!!!

Try a quarter decent one