Championship Grand Final

[GUBRATS]

Just now, Jughead said:

For someone who doesn’t have a preference, you’re certainly arguing and throwing insults around against my opinion which would suggest you, in fact, do have a preference. 

As I put , it really should be up to the people most likely to attend it , will you be going ? 

[Jughead]

Just now, GUBRATS said:

As I put , it really should be up to the people most likely to attend it , will you be going ? 

The old “you can’t have an opinion” now. My, my. 

Who knows? If it was local, I was available, the ticket pricing was reasonable and the game interested me then possibly. Would you go to Featherstone v Halifax at Post Office Road in September if, say, Halifax were to beat Leigh in the semi?

[Smudger06]

38 minutes ago, Jughead said:

I’m staggered you’re asking that. Making money is what businesses are about. 

So fans don’t want to watch their team in a final? And how do you explain each of the MPG?

It’s not. Parking and food and beverage sales creates the RFL zero money and would only create income for the club/owner of the stadium. You’ve forgotten costs of insurance and stewarding, too. Do you think if The RFL could make some money from this, that they’d choose not to?

Insurance and stewarding would come down to the stadium......

You tender for venues to host....whomever offers the lowest booking fee to reserve the date and bids the lowest percentage of each ticket sold gets the event........so if rfl isn't negotiating a percentage of parking / f&b then those items would be factored into the deal......

[Smudger06]

46 minutes ago, Jughead said:

I’m staggered you’re asking that. Making money is what businesses are about. 

So fans don’t want to watch their team in a final? And how do you explain each of the MPG?

It’s not. Parking and food and beverage sales creates the RFL zero money and would only create income for the club/owner of the stadium. You’ve forgotten costs of insurance and stewarding, too. Do you think if The RFL could make some money from this, that they’d choose not to?

So for the 1st few years you might get Headingley, Broomfield Road, Keepmoat interested for example, whomever bids the best deal hosts the final a decade later you might have 10 English venues interested......

[Jughead]

5 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

So for the 1st few years you might get Headingley, Broomfield Road, Keepmoat interested for example, whomever bids the best deal hosts the final a decade later you might have 10 English venues interested......

You think people are going to bid to host a second tier game that will probably average 6,000-7,000 when played in the UK?

[JonM]

59 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

It's worth pointing out that many/most/all of the first list didn't have a SL place as the prize. 

Exactly. The National League Grand Final at Headingley between Castleford and Widnes got just short of 21K in attendance, and a big tv audience, because there was promotion at stake. There's absolutely no reason why a final featuring two of the clubs with similar support levels - Featherstone, Leigh, Halifax, Bradford for example, couldn't fill Headingley today.

[The Blues Ox]

3 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

So let's switch it to the SL final, would you consider it fair and just reward if the team finishing in pole position got home advantage in the final.

There isn't 1.8m worth of funding at stake in the SL grand final.

[Toby Chopra]

4 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Now that Toronto and Toulouse are out of the way - so to speak - so the RFL don't need to go running scared of the final being under subscribed if it is played with the inclusion of any of those overseas clubs at a neutral venue in this country, I suggest that the final returns to a ground other than that of the competing teams. With the interest in the Championship this year I consider it could draw a very good attendance and if as expected but not certain that it is between Fev and Leigh neither ground would be big enough, it could also be a double header with the L1 GF.

Obviously it is over 2 weeks away and this would not occur to those who run the RFL, they will think about this just before the play-offs are due to begin about September.

I think its worth going to a neutral venue IF we can make it a regular location at a fixed point in the calendar, in order to build up it up as a flagship event. 

A five year contract to play at Headingley on a Saturday evening a week after the SL grand final? That would be worth doing, and I think you'd  draw fans from far and wide for that. 

Come up with a random venue half way through the season and it would be much less satisfactory, and in that case worth sticking with home advantage. 

My only quibble with all of this is I think the team promoted to SL should be the table topper, not the team that gets hot at the end of the year. The former is far more likely to aquit themsleves better in SL the following season. 

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Jughead said:

The old “you can’t have an opinion” now. My, my. 

Who knows? If it was local, I was available, the ticket pricing was reasonable and the game interested me then possibly. Would you go to Featherstone v Halifax at Post Office Road in September if, say, Halifax were to beat Leigh in the semi?

I've been to 3 Championship GFs as a neutral , albeit at Warrington , I'd probably not travel over the Hill for one not featuring my team , who had beaten my team wouldn't make an iota of difference 

[roversspud]

Having had to travel to Toulouse last year and Toronto in 2019, I thought I would be in  favour of a neutral territory for a Grand Final. But I'm not. I still think that the team finishing top SHOULD have the advantage of a home final or what's the point in going all out finishing top: the Championship hubcap.....it's nice to have but you want the big prize not the secondary one. And it only gives you a home semifinal as reward for finishing top and if you win that , the loser gets a home semi-final in the final playoff so not much extra reward for finishing top if the Grand Final is on neutral ground.

[Chris22]

Quite like the idea of a home promotion final. There are very few big occasions at rugby league stadiums now with finals deciding all trophies.

[Chris Taylor]

3 hours ago, JonM said:

Exactly. The National League Grand Final at Headingley between Castleford and Widnes got just short of 21K.

That might be true, but it also included the NL2 final between Featherstone and Oldham, then NL3 between Featherstone Lions and another team. 

I think it would be fair to say that the Featherstone & Oldham game had a good 7 - 8k in. 

[JonM]

Just now, Chris Taylor said:

That might be true, but it also included the NL2 final between Featherstone and Oldham, then NL3 between Featherstone Lions and another team. 

I think it would be fair to say that the Featherstone & Oldham game had a good 7 - 8k in. 

True - although my recollection is that quite a lot of people watched both games - and there were not very many from Oldham. And of course, there is absolutely no reason why the League 1 final couldn't be played as a double header.

[Chris Taylor]

3 minutes ago, JonM said:

True - although my recollection is that quite a lot of people watched both games - and there were not very many from Oldham. And of course, there is absolutely no reason why the League 1 final couldn't be played as a double header.

It was a fantastic occasion, and to be fair the finals at Warrington were also very good too.

It's a shame it stopped in that way, because it was becoming a real occasion. Now with promotion available, I think you'd see even more there. 

 

[Mr Frisky]

6 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

So let's switch it to the SL final, would you consider it fair and just reward if the team finishing in pole position got home advantage in the final.

Forget about the history of Old Trafford for a moment would the same setup as the Championship club's have be accepted in SL?

Ridiculous!

Sounds like a idea of someone who knows nothing about SL..... has someone from a backwards country like say New Zealand been talking to you about SL?

[Smudger06]

5 hours ago, Jughead said:

You think people are going to bid to host a second tier game that will probably average 6,000-7,000 when played in the UK?

Yes. 3 or 4 stadiums would submit their interest, It's a great gig for the likes of York Community Stadium or Kingston Park possibly.....LSV, and many other stadiums. 

[Smudger06]

4 hours ago, Toby Chopra said:

I think its worth going to a neutral venue IF we can make it a regular location at a fixed point in the calendar, in order to build up it up as a flagship event. 

A five year contract to play at Headingley on a Saturday evening a week after the SL grand final? That would be worth doing, and I think you'd  draw fans from far and wide for that. 

Come up with a random venue half way through the season and it would be much less satisfactory, and in that case worth sticking with home advantage. 

My only quibble with all of this is I think the team promoted to SL should be the table topper, not the team that gets hot at the end of the year. The former is far more likely to aquit themsleves better in SL the following 

Fair points but it really should be the weekend prior....the GF to decide the  Champions should be the Grand Finale of the entire domestic RL season. 

[Jughead]

12 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

Yes. 3 or 4 stadiums would submit their interest, It's a great gig for the likes of York Community Stadium or Kingston Park possibly.....LSV, and many other stadiums. 

I cannot see any club and/or stadium owner putting up cash to host a game they’ll lose money on. It’s just poor business sense. 

[Smudger06]

1 minute ago, Jughead said:

I cannot see any club and/or stadium owner putting up cash to host a game they’ll lose money on. It’s just poor business sense. 

How would venues need to put in any cash up front ????

As an example; 

The RFL would put out to tender, offer a £15k booking fee 12 months out and that stadiums retain 100% of parking / food & beverage and keep 60% pitchside advertising (need room for betfred) 

Then Stadiums would bid how much they want from each ticket sale 

The winner is the venue asking the lowest share ticket price...

It's called a reverse auction. 

[Smudger06]

1 minute ago, Smudger06 said:

How would venues need to put in any cash up front ????

As an example; 

The RFL would put out to tender, offer a £15k booking fee 12 months out and that stadiums retain 100% of parking / food & beverage and keep 60% pitchside advertising (need room for betfred) 

Then Stadiums would bid how much they want from each ticket sale 

The winner is the venue asking the lowest share ticket price...

It's called a reverse auction. 

So you say 7 or 8k would turn up, so average ticket price is £20 x 7.5k, 150,000.....rfl already paid out £15k in advance to Stadium now has to pay out from ticket sale in addition, say £7 a ticket so Stadium earns 67k and all the profits from pints and pies...... rfl keeps rest or probably employs a ticket agent so pays out the commission on that 1st. 

[Jughead]

10 minutes ago, Smudger06 said:

How would venues need to put in any cash up front ????

As an example; 

The RFL would put out to tender, offer a £15k booking fee 12 months out and that stadiums retain 100% of parking / food & beverage and keep 60% pitchside advertising (need room for betfred) 

Then Stadiums would bid how much they want from each ticket sale 

The winner is the venue asking the lowest share ticket price...

It's called a reverse auction. 

£15k?! If you think premier venues are that cheap, that’s laughable. 

The vast majority of stadiums don’t retain any/much money from food and beverage sales as they’re often outsourced. 

You think it’s that easy to arrange for advertising and to settle down the existing sponsors at that ground who you’re believing you can punt for a weekend? 

[Smudger06]

1 minute ago, Jughead said:

£15k?! If you think premier venues are that cheap, that’s laughable. 

The vast majority of stadiums don’t retain any/much money from food and beverage sales as they’re often outsourced. 

You think it’s that easy to arrange for advertising and to settle down the existing sponsors at that ground who you’re believing you can punt for a weekend? 

Premier venues  

I already said on this post any and all venues big and small should be encouraged to apply to host.......

[Smudger06]

Just now, Smudger06 said:

Premier venues  

I already said on this post any and all venues big and small should be encouraged to apply to host.......

Not only that I was throwing you out a basic quick example as a bone.....

[Smudger06]

3 minutes ago, Jughead said:

£15k?! If you think premier venues are that cheap, that’s laughable. 

The vast majority of stadiums don’t retain any/much money from food and beverage sales as they’re often outsourced. 

You think it’s that easy to arrange for advertising and to settle down the existing sponsors at that ground who you’re believing you can punt for a weekend? 

Stadiums already have their fixed advertising. It's a minor point anyhow. 

[Jughead]

1 minute ago, Smudger06 said:

Premier venues  

I already said on this post any and all venues big and small should be encouraged to apply to host.......

If you genuinely believe what you’re continually typing and continually getting wrong, why isn’t it happening already? If it’s only £15k and if there’s money in it, why isn’t it done?