Will the encouraging signs lead to increased attendances?

[Southerner]

Unfortunately I see attendances dropping further unless the clubs are willing to think outside the box regarding match day entertainment and offerings. 

[GUBRATS]

9 minutes ago, Southerner said:

Unfortunately I see attendances dropping further unless the clubs are willing to think outside the box regarding match day entertainment and offerings. 

The match is the entertainment 

[Johnoco]

On 03/12/2021 at 11:39, Man of Kent said:

If 75+ live league/cup/international games carried by terrestrial broadcasters don't boost our profile, nothing will.

That sounds good.

But I think ideally we need 76+ league/cup/international games there. 

[Big Picture]

3 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

The match is the entertainment 

That isn't enough any more though, modern crowds want more than just the match, they want an event.

[redjonn]

11 hours ago, Big Picture said:

That isn't enough any more though, modern crowds want more than just the match, they want an event.

Don't agree for all games, yes the bigger one's like internationals and finals etc

For the average club games yes you want better facilities for sure but not always looking for an event... of course depends upon definition of event.

[Scubby]

15 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

The match is the entertainment 

What year were you 15/16 and what was the competition back then for your entertainment spend?

[Dave T]

1 hour ago, redjonn said:

Don't agree for all games, yes the bigger one's like internationals and finals etc

For the average club games yes you want better facilities for sure but not always looking for an event... of course depends upon definition of event.

Every match is an event. It takes a few hours of people's precious time and their money. 

That doesn't mean every event needs a band, singer etc. but they do all need to be staged well, have good catering, facilities and be presented well. 

Gubrats has a point in that the match is the core entertainment, but that match needs to be staged well. 

[Damien]

24 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Every match is an event. It takes a few hours of people's precious time and their money. 

That doesn't mean every event needs a band, singer etc. but they do all need to be staged well, have good catering, facilities and be presented well. 

Gubrats has a point in that the match is the core entertainment, but that match needs to be staged well. 

Good post and I absolutely agree. I know that creating an event has become the go to post in recent times but it now seems to have become an awfully vague term and is now fairly meaningless.

I absolutely agree that our premium events such as finals and internationals should be huge events with all the money and razzmatazz that we can throw on them. 

As you rightly say the week to week club games are different. The club needs to focus on doing all of the small things right and giving the customer, i.e the fan and sponsor, a great experience. Community work and fan engagement is key too. Some student tribute band does not create an event and comes across lazy and cheap.

I don't think we can get away from the fact that the most important elements are the standard of games and competition, star players and perception. In terms of perception I'd throw in staleness, repetition but I know others see that differently. Games need to be meaningful and crowds and atmosphere matter more than anything. They are what create that vibe. We need the big clubs getting big crowds and the games between them need to become must see events. The game needs to get that vibrancy back. There are a lot of small improvements across the board that snowball as you put them together. That's what gets people through the doors on a weekly basis.

In short I see this problem as a competition wide issue and needs addressed as such. I think its clear the powers that be and clubs realise that too. At the moment a lot of the create an event talk seems like trying to polish a ###### and misses why people have become less interested in SL and going to games

[Tommygilf]

44 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Every match is an event. It takes a few hours of people's precious time and their money. 

That doesn't mean every event needs a band, singer etc. but they do all need to be staged well, have good catering, facilities and be presented well. 

Gubrats has a point in that the match is the core entertainment, but that match needs to be staged well. 

I think the core point is that every club needs to improve the things they can improve themselves. Clubs cannot rely on the onfield product - both because winning teams aren't possible to guarantee, and because on the evidence of declining crowds across the game, the on field product isn't enough.

Ideally, (new) fans would leave a game having had a good time regardless of the result and thinking that it was a worthwhile and enjoyable way to spend their time and money.

[Tommygilf]

Obviously the on field entertainment isn't just the sport alone. Its the whole package: who's playing who, how big is the competition, how much excitement/hype is there around it, who are the star players.

On a lot of those points RL has been struggling for some years. And that's before you get to the off-field improvements clubs can do to gameday experiences.

[GUBRATS]

We need away fans 

[Tommygilf]

5 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

We need away fans 

We need big teams, the fans (home and away) come with those

Edited December 5, 2021 by Tommygilf

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

We need big teams, the fans (home and away) come with those

Big teams , middle teams , small teams , lower tier teams , all games are enhanced with a sizeable away following , they make any game feel more like an ' event ' 

 

[Tommygilf]

12 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Big teams , middle teams , small teams , lower tier teams , all games are enhanced with a sizeable away following , they make any game feel more like an ' event ' 

 

Nah, less people turn up to watch small teams (from both home and away fans). It massively impacts how much of an "event" it feels.

[GUBRATS]

2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Nah, less people turn up to watch small teams (from both home and away fans). It massively impacts how much of an "event" it feels.

It's all relative 

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

It's all relative 

Well quite. If a few hundred from the next town over makes your gameday significantly better, you will be relatively in a lower division.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

34 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

We need away fans 

This criteria prevents the spread of our sport.

It doesn't seem to be an issue in other sports, only ours.

[GUBRATS]

7 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

This criteria prevents the spread of our sport.

It doesn't seem to be an issue in other sports, only ours.

Criteria ?

[Wellsy4HullFC]

18 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

The match is the entertainment 

You'll fail to attract new people to our sport if that's all you present the entertainment as.

Look at Bradford in the late 90s and early 00s. Their matches felt like festivals. They had loads to attract the kids like bouncy castles, karaoke, competitions, bands, etc. There was a remarkable difference in the feel of the event towards the back end of the 00s. It didn't feel like a must-visit game by then, and the attendances dropped significantly.

I look at my own club and think we could do so much more. We had a party in the park event against Wigan and my little girl loved it - face painting, bands, balloons, flags, bouncy castles, etc. This is how you hook young fans. I don't think we'll have anything else like that except for once a year. The rest of the year is just a guy on a microphone reading out the team sheet, primary school cheerleaders (no offence to them, but they're hardly entertaining unless they're your own kids unless they are genuinely skillful, which most of them just aren't), a fan getting 3 attempts to kick a ball into the boot of a car and that's it.

There is little build, the atmosphere ends up being flat because the crowd are not warmed up, and the spectacle itself appears far worse as a result.

Long gone is the attitude of "let's just watch the game," and it certainly isn't ever going to be enough alone to attract new fans in the digital age.

[GUBRATS]

5 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

You'll fail to attract new people to our sport if that's all you present the entertainment as.

Look at Bradford in the late 90s and early 00s. Their matches felt like festivals. They had loads to attract the kids like bouncy castles, karaoke, competitions, bands, etc. There was a remarkable difference in the feel of the event towards the back end of the 00s. It didn't feel like a must-visit game by then, and the attendances dropped significantly.

I look at my own club and think we could do so much more. We had a party in the park event against Wigan and my little girl loved it - face painting, bands, balloons, flags, bouncy castles, etc. This is how you hook young fans. I don't think we'll have anything else like that except for once a year. The rest of the year is just a guy on a microphone reading out the team sheet, primary school cheerleaders (no offence to them, but they're hardly entertaining unless they're your own kids unless they are genuinely skillful, which most of them just aren't), a fan getting 3 attempts to kick a ball into the boot of a car and that's it.

There is little build, the atmosphere ends up being flat because the crowd are not warmed up, and the spectacle itself appears far worse as a result.

Long gone is the attitude of "let's just watch the game," and it certainly isn't ever going to be enough alone to attract new fans in the digital age.

I've not read the above yet , but I'm not saying you can't enhance the experience ( I'd suggest using various ' themes ' ) , but ultimately it is the game that people are going for , unless it's in Toronto , where it was a beer festival with a game on the side , I'm joking , as I never went , I don't actually know 

However we constantly see post wanting a game to become an ' event ' , but no actual suggestion how 

As for myself , a sizeable , vocal away following always makes any game feel more like an event , most fans will say that about their local Derby games , the one where they get the most away and vocal fans 

[Dallas Mead]

1 hour ago, GUBRATS said:

We need away fans 

Ridiculous.

[GUBRATS]

5 minutes ago, Dallas Mead said:

Ridiculous.

Do you follow a team ?

[GUBRATS]

28 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

You'll fail to attract new people to our sport if that's all you present the entertainment as.

Look at Bradford in the late 90s and early 00s. Their matches felt like festivals. They had loads to attract the kids like bouncy castles, karaoke, competitions, bands, etc. There was a remarkable difference in the feel of the event towards the back end of the 00s. It didn't feel like a must-visit game by then, and the attendances dropped significantly.

I look at my own club and think we could do so much more. We had a party in the park event against Wigan and my little girl loved it - face painting, bands, balloons, flags, bouncy castles, etc. This is how you hook young fans. I don't think we'll have anything else like that except for once a year. The rest of the year is just a guy on a microphone reading out the team sheet, primary school cheerleaders (no offence to them, but they're hardly entertaining unless they're your own kids unless they are genuinely skillful, which most of them just aren't), a fan getting 3 attempts to kick a ball into the boot of a car and that's it.

There is little build, the atmosphere ends up being flat because the crowd are not warmed up, and the spectacle itself appears far worse as a result.

Long gone is the attitude of "let's just watch the game," and it certainly isn't ever going to be enough alone to attract new fans in the digital age.

So why did Bradford stop doing all the ' extra ' stuff ?

[Tommygilf]

21 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

So why did Bradford stop doing all the ' extra ' stuff ?

Because they became lazy and took success for granted.

[Tommygilf]

35 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

I've not read the above

Classic!