Attendances (Multiple Merged Threads)

[Dave T]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

The club can't run the risk of not selling as many tickets just to satisfy crowd spotters on TV, the South Stand is the go to stand at Leeds and there wasn't really an option to put the tv gantry on the other side due to it being a shared stand between corporate, the rugby and Cricket.

Moving the camera position won't solve the issue of falling attendances, the plan should be to fill that stand not hide it away

Yes, the point is not to shuffle cameras or move fans around, it is to sell those seats with the fans that have stopped going to Headingley. There are a few k missing from recent years. 

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Yes, the point is not to shuffle cameras or move fans around, it is to sell those seats with the fans that have stopped going to Headingley. There are a few k missing from recent years. 

Agreed and its no coincidence that those few K are missing when the stuff served up on the pitch is sub par.

Sort the on field stuff out and we will see crowds return, going to watch the tripe served up last night is not an enjoyable way to send an evening.

[Scubby]

12 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

The stadium isn't the issue, what they have done to modernise an old stadium is fantastic IMO.

 

The issue is the fair being served up on the field, ever since the stadium has been renovated the team and performances have fallen well short of what had gone the previous 15+years.

If Leeds can get back to being anything like they should be there will be a difference in both atmosphere and attendances.

 

Also Thursday nights are terrible and we seem to have had non stop Thursday night games in crappy weather, unfortunately the first Friday night home game will be against Saints and if they don't change their attitude quickly it will be an utter embarrassment.

 

Ive said this on the Leeds forum but as a usually optimistic Rhinos fan Im really despondent at the moment

 

The performances on the field

The state of the pitch

The sub par Kit and apparel supplier pedalling cheap tat on sale every week

The Thursday nights in terrible weather (it was nice last night to be fair)

All are making life as Leeds supporter fairly miserable at the moment, a club the size of Leeds with the facilities they have should be doing better in every respect.

Yep, what's going on at Leeds has a very familiar story to Agar's last 6-12 months at both Hull and Wakefield. Leeds need to invest in the right places and the coach is crucial. 

[Leyther_Matt]

It does seem to raise the question as to why they put a seating area in the South Stand when there generally seemed to be ample spare seats in the North and East Stands. 

[Tommygilf]

I had a bit of a rant last night with my dad on a late walk to tesco after two poor offerings from both my teams. Emotion aside, it was useful to some extent.

In regards Headingley, they have built a corporate suite and stuck a rugby ground next to it. And they can't even sell out that stand anymore which looks rubbish. (From a slightly OCD irritance the tunnel is off centre too).

The South Stand has been neutered somewhat, by introducing seating and the press area there.

All this done with seemingly zero consultation with fans, even season ticket holders.

The pitch is worse than the performances, just.

The kits are ###### quality. And we get 5 a season that are full price for 4 weeks then discounted.

It seems like Leeds do the high end corporate stuff really well, but the stuff for the normal supporter is cheap as possible and they have taken their eye off the ball completely.

Edit: oh and what is going on with the Coach. For a temporary stint till he recruits his successor this is going on for ages.

Edited March 11, 2022 by Tommygilf

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

It does seem to raise the question as to why they put a seating area in the South Stand when there generally seemed to be ample spare seats in the North and East Stands. 

Maybe it was a stadium management decision? There was occasionally some rowdy action right at the back of the old South Stand. 

[Archie Gordon]

The middle sections of the North Stand are almost always sold out (or close to). The problem seems to be getting these ticket holders to take their seats. Do they not show up at all? Are they enjoying the game somewhere else in the stadium?

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Leyther_Matt said:

It does seem to raise the question as to why they put a seating area in the South Stand when there generally seemed to be ample spare seats in the North and East Stands. 

Because it meant the capacity was larger than if it was all standing because its two tiered, the South Stand is generally almost full, the stadium layout really is not the issue, if the north stand was full but the southstand was half empty the crowds would still be low, shuffling fans around to pacify tv watchers is not a solution to falling crowds.

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

It does seem to raise the question as to why they put a seating area in the South Stand when there generally seemed to be ample spare seats in the North and East Stands. 

Because they decided to move the press to the South Stand (so they could have more corporate spaces in the North Stand) so they couldn't have all standing is my honest opinion.

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

I had a bit of a rant last night with my dad on a late walk to tesco after two poor offerings from both my teams. Emotion aside, it was useful to some extent.

In regards Headingley, they have built a corporate suite and stuck a rugby ground next to it. And they can't even sell out that stand anymore which looks rubbish. (From a slightly OCD irritance the tunnel is off centre too).

The South Stand has been neutered somewhat, by introducing seating and the press area there.

All this done with seemingly zero consultation with fans, even season ticket holders.

The pitch is worse than the performances, just.

The kits are ###### quality. And we get 5 a season that are full price for 4 weeks then discounted.

It seems like Leeds do the high end corporate stuff really well, but the stuff for the normal supporter is cheap as possible and they have taken their eye off the ball completely.

I agree with a lot of that but as I keep saying I personally don’t think the stadium layout is the issue, Headingley is a fabulous stadium to watch RL, no stadium however good is a great place to watch what Leeds are serving up on the pitch.

 

I couldn’t agree with you anymore on the  quality of kit and merchandise, it is utterly dreadful a club the size of Leeds should be aiming much higher than cheap tat being released every month and weekly knock down sales.

The stadium is the only thing they have done well with over the last 5 years

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

The middle sections of the North Stand are almost always sold out (or close to). The problem seems to be getting these ticket holders to take their seats. Do they not show up at all? Are they enjoying the game somewhere else in the stadium?

Its a corporate banqueting suite, why would they take their seats outside??

[Leyther_Matt]

4 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Because it meant the capacity was larger than if it was all standing because its two tiered, the South Stand is generally almost full, the stadium layout really is not the issue, if the north stand was full but the southstand was half empty the crowds would still be low, shuffling fans around to pacify tv watchers is not a solution to falling crowds.

I don’t think the capacity would be vastly different with a larger lower tier of terracing only rather than the current two tiers. 

Just now, Tommygilf said:

Because they decided to move the press to the South Stand (so they could have more corporate spaces in the North Stand) so they couldn't have all standing is my honest opinion.

The magic C word probably nails it here though. 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

I agree with a lot of that but as I keep saying I personally don’t think the stadium layout is the issue, Headingley is a fabulous stadium to watch RL, no stadium however good is a great place to watch what Leeds are serving up on the pitch.

 

I couldn’t agree with you anymore on the  quality of kit and merchandise, it is utterly dreadful a club the size of Leeds should be aiming much higher than cheap tat being released every month and weekly knock down sales.

The stadium is the only thing they have done well with over the last 5 years

The one game I have been to where it was full, Burrow's benefit game, it was fantastic. 

Unfortunately its not been like that since.

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Leyther_Matt said:

The magic C word probably nails it here though. 

Its a logical decision I'm sure, but is also symptomatic of a club hierarchy that seems aloof from your average punters.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

Leeds v Hull 11,552

 

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

Feels like that could have been worse on a Thursday in direct competition with LUFC. 

It looked a lower crowd, that new main stand doesn't look great does it? 

Likely to be the biggest crowd of the round once again, unless Saints or Catalans manage to top it. 

The main stand has a lot of corporate hospitality, which is a tougher sell on a Thursday. Some choose to stay in the bar while the games on too, particularly after half time.

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I don’t think the capacity would be vastly different with a larger lower tier of terracing only rather than the current two tiers. 

The magic C word probably nails it here though. 

But the southstand is the first stand to sell as its popular, the southstand configuration is not the issue far from it, they layout of the stadium isn’t an issue, sort the playing side out is the main issue

[Leyther_Matt]

Just now, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

 

Likely to be the biggest crowd of the round once again, unless Saints or Catalans manage to top it. 

The main stand has a lot of corporate hospitality, which is a tougher sell on a Thursday. Some choose to stay in the bar while the games on too, particularly after half time.

Sounds like Saints are going to smash it out of the park tbf

[Dave T]

Just now, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

 

Likely to be the biggest crowd of the round once again, unless Saints or Catalans manage to top it. 

The main stand has a lot of corporate hospitality, which is a tougher sell on a Thursday. Some choose to stay in the bar while the games on too, particularly after half time.

Saints will smash that crowd. 

[Leyther_Matt]

Just now, Chrispmartha said:

But the southstand is the first stand to sell as its popular, the southstand configuration is not the issue far from it, they layout of the stadium isn’t an issue, sort the playing side out is the main issue

I’d suggest the popularity is very much due to the terracing and the atmosphere that comes with it. 

[Tommygilf]

9 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I had a bit of a rant last night with my dad on a late walk to tesco after two poor offerings from both my teams. Emotion aside, it was useful to some extent.

In regards Headingley, they have built a corporate suite and stuck a rugby ground next to it. And they can't even sell out that stand anymore which looks rubbish. (From a slightly OCD irritance the tunnel is off centre too).

The South Stand has been neutered somewhat, by introducing seating and the press area there.

All this done with seemingly zero consultation with fans, even season ticket holders.

The pitch is worse than the performances, just.

The kits are ###### quality. And we get 5 a season that are full price for 4 weeks then discounted.

It seems like Leeds do the high end corporate stuff really well, but the stuff for the normal supporter is cheap as possible and they have taken their eye off the ball completely.

Edit: oh and what is going on with the Coach. For a temporary stint till he recruits his successor this is going on for ages.

To add to this, we've paid £40 million for the pleasure of this too.

I hope the corporate is bringing in the dollar...

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

15 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

It does seem to raise the question as to why they put a seating area in the South Stand when there generally seemed to be ample spare seats in the North and East Stands. 

But no standing area was sold out either, so additional standing capacity isn’t needed. I think looking in the medium/long term Leeds are expecting and looking to sell more seated tickets and more corporate hospitality packages, these bring in a lot more revenue to the club that a standing ticket. 

[Chrispmartha]

1 minute ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I’d suggest the popularity is very much due to the terracing and the atmosphere that comes with it. 

The Southstand is the most popular stand though, so the layout is not the issue.

Rearrange the stadium all you want, if the product on the field is as poor as it is at the moment the crowds won’t improve.

shifting fans from the southstand to the Northstand just do people watching on TV think the grounds full is just rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic.

 

The stadium is not the issue.

[Scubby]

6 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Saints will smash that crowd. 

By 4-5,000 probably

[Spidey]

44 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

The Southstand is the most popular stand, it would be commercial madness to close that before selling out the North Stand.

As I said above its not the stadium that's the issue.

I meant specifically the seats in the south, there never used to be seats there

Edited March 11, 2022 by Spidey

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

The Southstand is the most popular stand though, so the layout is not the issue.

Rearrange the stadium all you want, if the product on the field is as poor as it is at the moment the crowds won’t improve.

shifting fans from the southstand to the Northstand just do people watching on TV think the grounds full is just rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic.

The stadium is not the issue.

They have shuffled fans from the North to the South, which detrimentally effects both in different ways (South Atmosphere and North looks)