Buying tickets for the RLWC

[Toby Chopra]

5 minutes ago, Scubby said:

They had already knocked that target down to 700k before the pandemic struck. 

Well, a million was always nonsense, it basically meant every ticket of all three tournaments sold. But 700k was a realistic. We got 458k in 2013, and despite everything that's happenned since - pandemic, cancellation, economic crisis, I think we could still hope to split the difference between those two numbers. 

[RigbyLuger]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

Yes, he was. Such inspirational events as Aus v Scotland in Hull with c6k there. 

 

Shouldn't more than 6k in the Rugby mad city of Hull want to see the Aussies play?

[RayCee]

When prices are high and some in good faith buy them only to find closer to the event they are much cheaper, it's disappointing to say the least. Surely a better policy is a middle ground decent price to start with and a slightly lower price near game day if required. All would accept the second instance without issue.

I guess they have done the maths and their way earns more for this tournament. For the next tournament the once bitten, twice shy punter may hold off so in the long run, heavy discounting is never good business unless you're going out of business and have to. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by RayCee

[RayCee]

14 hours ago, Eddie said:

He’s said there are two interested parties and they’ll announce the outcome in a couple of weeks. 

Did he say two interested or interesting parties? If it's the latter, from recent experience we know the outcome already and it's not good. 

[RayCee]

Double post.

Edited June 20, 2022 by RayCee

[Dave T]

10 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Tbf the voucher codes in 2013 actually had a galvanising effect. We had a group of 10-15 of us who were actively encouraging each other to be seeking them out and in the end we ended doing probably 4/5 games more than we planned (buying at least two games at a time) because it was such a good deal. Ended up doing about 12 games overall, and gutted I missed out on a couple of others purely because there’s only so much time you can get off work!

With the current pricing, I was planning on buying the bottom end tickets for each game just to make sure I could attend as many games as possible, but that’s looking at serious risk now. It’s reached the point where the EFL fixtures coming out this week might end up being the final nail in a few of the Saturday games for me, particularly my plan to do both of the Newcastle games on opening weekend.  

Yes, the 2013 version was the first one after the 2000 in the UK and it needed to be a success. The pricing strategy did a good job, it was dirt cheap and it ensured many games were a success. 

They have obviously tried to change that this time, but they have moved to a price point that is way in excess of what they have previously charged, either for the World Cups or other internationals. 

Like you I was going to buy many tickets but in the lower ranges, not necessarily the cheapest, but the blockers that are in the way at the moment are stopping me. We are already looking at other plans as it is school half term holidays in the middle of the world cup. At the moment I'm winning the battle and we're saving it for the rugby, but I'll give up if it carries on. 

[Dave T]

7 hours ago, RigbyLuger said:

Shouldn't more than 6k in the Rugby mad city of Hull want to see the Aussies play?

Customers are never to blame. 

[Toby Chopra]

28 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Yes, the 2013 version was the first one after the 2000 in the UK and it needed to be a success. The pricing strategy did a good job, it was dirt cheap and it ensured many games were a success. 

They have obviously tried to change that this time, but they have moved to a price point that is way in excess of what they have previously charged, either for the World Cups or other internationals. 

Like you I was going to buy many tickets but in the lower ranges, not necessarily the cheapest, but the blockers that are in the way at the moment are stopping me. We are already looking at other plans as it is school half term holidays in the middle of the world cup. At the moment I'm winning the battle and we're saving it for the rugby, but I'll give up if it carries on. 

I suppose their logic is that rather than selling multiple games to the hardcore at the discounted prices they're used to, they're aiming to sell one or two games to a much bigger potential audience at prices that are still pretty competitive in the wider sport market.

The latter option is definitely the healthier one for the sport longer term, the question of course is whether they can pull it off.        

[Dave T]

29 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

I suppose their logic is that rather than selling multiple games to the hardcore at the discounted prices they're used to, they're aiming to sell one or two games to a much bigger potential audience at prices that are still pretty competitive in the wider sport market.

The latter option is definitely the healthier one for the sport longer term, the question of course is whether they can pull it off.        

Absolutely. The problem is that when you are staging the majority of games in existing RL grounds then it suggests the strategy is a little muddled and contradictory. 

I think solid pricing £25 adult standing and £30 for seats as standard is a good price point, then with some lower prices on offer and higher prices for premium offerings. 

The fact they have blocked out the lower seats for packages is really poor form. 

[Toby Chopra]

19 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Absolutely. The problem is that when you are staging the majority of games in existing RL grounds then it suggests the strategy is a little muddled and contradictory. 

I think solid pricing £25 adult standing and £30 for seats as standard is a good price point, then with some lower prices on offer and higher prices for premium offerings. 

The fact they have blocked out the lower seats for packages is really poor form. 

yes, I suppose holding 10 group games in the Bolton-Warrington-St Helens triangle does rather undermine things from the start and shows a lack of confidence, given there are numerous stadiums in the north alone in non-rugby league towns that could have a held a fixture. Are they relying on the local stadium operators to do a lot of the heavy lifting? Are you getting a lot of comms from Warrington about the RLWC fixtures at HJ?    

[Dave T]

7 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

yes, I suppose holding 10 group games in the Bolton-Warrington-St Helens triangle does rather undermine things from the start and shows a lack of confidence, given there are numerous stadiums in the north alone in non-rugby league towns that could have a held a fixture. Are they relying on the local stadium operators to do a lot of the heavy lifting? Are you getting a lot of comms from Warrington about the RLWC fixtures at HJ?    

Not sure I've seen any emails yet, but I dont tend to get stuff from them. I see some stuff on Facebook that's it so far

[Leyther_Matt]

Anyone had any success in buying tickets for the final for less than £80? 

[Dave T]

58 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Anyone had any success in buying tickets for the final for less than £80? 

Cat D for £60 available.... 

[Leyther_Matt]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Cat D for £60 available.... 

I tried that yesterday and it was just single seats. No issue if I end up having to pay £80 but that’ll end up being at the expense of attending another game…

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

I tried that yesterday and it was just single seats. No issue if I end up having to pay £80 but that’ll end up being at the expense of attending another game…

It just allowed me to put 2 in a basket. Not sure if you were trying to buy a certain area? 

[17 stone giant]

I might go to the semi final in Londinium. What's the code please for 50% off?

[whatmichaelsays]

On 20/06/2022 at 07:47, Dave T said:

Yes, the 2013 version was the first one after the 2000 in the UK and it needed to be a success. The pricing strategy did a good job, it was dirt cheap and it ensured many games were a success. 

They have obviously tried to change that this time, but they have moved to a price point that is way in excess of what they have previously charged, either for the World Cups or other internationals. 

Like you I was going to buy many tickets but in the lower ranges, not necessarily the cheapest, but the blockers that are in the way at the moment are stopping me. We are already looking at other plans as it is school half term holidays in the middle of the world cup. At the moment I'm winning the battle and we're saving it for the rugby, but I'll give up if it carries on. 

The real issue here is that once a business is stuck on a treadmill of discounting, it's very difficult to get off it. This isn't just an RL thing, but pretty much the case in any consumer business. If you're walking into a Pizza Express without a print-off voucher, or buying a sofa during the one week that DFS don't have a "biggest ever sale - must end Sunday", you're feeling mugged off. 

So RL has got that issue to contend with first but in addition, it isn't really communicating why this tournament is worth paying so much more than previous tournaments, where discounted tickets were handed out like confetti. Without checking, I'd suspect that the sort of messaging and positioning for this tournament is very similar to what it was in 2013 and that isn't good enough - there needs to be more done to add to the perception of value. 

As others have said, you also have the demand issue. There's no upside to buying early when it comes to RL events, whilst there's no downside (and history suggests there is potentially an upside) to buying last minute. 

The RLWC21 was never going to change that culture in one tournament - it is too embeded and even if the RLWC organisers could, it would all be undone again by the next knock-down season ticket deal or poorly-planned "tickets for troops" scheme. 

I agree with you that the issue isn't necessarily that people watching RL are tight (there will be some cases where that is a factor, but I don't think it's universal), but it's about the perceived value of an RL event when compared to the many other things that people can spend their cash on. RL is perceived as low value - a cheap day out (in the context of professional sport). It takes a lot more than just raising the price to change that. 

[Scubby]

11 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

I might go to the semi final in Londinium. What's the code please for 50% off?

I have a code but the seats are advertised as 15 stone maximum. Sorry.

[fighting irish]

I liked Gubrats idea that all the seats are priced the same, which means the earlier you commit the better the seat. 

This is a definite reward for committing early and will (over time) show the public that discounting will not occur.

You want a good seat/position, buy now!

[Leyther_Matt]

14 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

You want a good seat/position, buy now!

Unfortunately it doesn't tell you if you've got a good seat or not, only the block. This can make a HUGE difference at Old Trafford (and is actually make or break for our group of 10 or so as my other half has got vertigo so we either need the lower tier - none available - or the very front of the upper tier - anyone's guess)...

[Gerrumonside ref]

I bought a couple of tickets for the RLWC Wheelchair final in Manchester which were 40 quid each for the better of two viewing areas.

Was more than I was expecting I must admit and can imagine people will be put off by that pricing.

Hoping to get to get together with the lads for either the Arsenal semi or the final at Manchester depending on cost and availability.

Does seem that the pricing clashes really badly with a cost of living crisis.

 

[Damien]

24 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

I liked Gubrats idea that all the seats are priced the same, which means the earlier you commit the better the seat. 

This is a definite reward for committing early and will (over time) show the public that discounting will not occur.

You want a good seat/position, buy now!

The issue still stays the same if the RFL don't open the full stadium for sale. It's the sports lack of faith in actually being able to sell out the stadium they've hired which is often the issue 

[fighting irish]

11 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Unfortunately it doesn't tell you if you've got a good seat or not, only the block. This can make a HUGE difference at Old Trafford (and is actually make or break for our group of 10 or so as my other half has got vertigo so we either need the lower tier - none available - or the very front of the upper tier - anyone's guess)...

Well implied in Gubrat's proposal was the ability/freedom to select the seats you want from those still available.

[fighting irish]

8 minutes ago, Damien said:

The issue still stays the same if the RFL don't open the full stadium for sale. It's the sports lack of faith in actually being able to sell out the stadium they've hired which is often the issue 

Yes, but actively encouraging people to wait till the last minute (for the discounts) doesn't build confidence. As the seller, seeing paltry sales (due to people's inclination to wait for the discounts) just makes you panic, into discounting all the more!

They could begin perhaps by opening up the middle tiers and when sold out branch out from there. The idea that you can choose your seat, (if available) by buying early is a real inducement to commit. Knowing that you have a premium seat for the stadium average price is a big inducement too. Then the seller has to have the cojones not to discount (no matter what).

[gingerjon]

8 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

Well implied in Gubrat's proposal was the ability/freedom to select the seats you want from those still available.

I've just checked for the Emirates Semi Final.

You can choose blocks but not specific rows or seats.