RLWC Attendance-O-Meter

[RL Tragic]

1 hour ago, Leonard said:

Me too.

And I really enjoyed Italy v Scotland.

ᴀᴀʀᴏɴ ʙᴏᴡᴇʀ
@AaronBower
·
12h
Last point on World Cup tickets tonight. Jon Dutton told me last week 2013 sales practically surpassed already and hopeful of posting more than 571,000 who watched women’s Euros this summer. Marathon, not a sprint, I hope.

If that is true - it is interesting that it is already more popular than 2013 with weeks of sales to come - despite the perception here that it won't be. Although I am not sure if that is including women's and wheelchair sales.

So the hope must be things will pick up.

 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

I booked the ticket package for Donny in Cat. A and the ticket lists the individual price as £11. I can’t complain at that.

That shows that at least for some games the pricing seems right.

[doc]

Just watched Scotland v West Indies in T20 WC.

The attendance was tiny. But don't think Sky would bin it off. 

It's like, you know, nobody cares!

[Gerrumonside ref]

1 hour ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

I agree + its mainly been pitched at RL fans, the whole thing is a mess right upto the premium hospitality prices being the same as the 6 Nations for the Semi-Finals and Final (Its being run by the same Edinburgh company that have the SRU contract) they have taken the RUWC and 6 Nations model and tried to replicate it and now the wheels have fallen off.

 

Thank god the France 2025 organisers  have already seen the mistakes made and will make tickets affordable for all at 30 euros with one price hospitality packages far easier and simple to understand and a great way to expand  the footprint and support base backed up in each town and city by the Marie with CASH:)

 

P 

I’m feeling a holiday to France coming on... 

[Dave T]

3 minutes ago, Leonard said:

That shows that at least for some games the pricing seems right.

The problem is, that was the price 2 years ago. We need to sell seats her and now. 

[Tommygilf]

Not having a singer for the anthems felt very cheap.

[Josef K]

13 hours ago, Leonard said:

It would take one person 60 secs to set up an account.

Given I travelled 6 hours each way this weekend, that's a pretty pathetic excuse just to not go if they really wanted to. 

You may think it’s a pathetic excuse but they don’t and they class themselves as RL fans. If they could’ve visited Saints to pickup some tickets they would’ve gone, as that would have been the easiest thing for them to do.
They didn’t want to setup an account, people like to do things differently and there should’ve been more choice for getting tickets other than doing it online. Hopefully when we have the next RLWC we can learn from the mistakes that have been made in 2022. 

[Just Browny]

1 minute ago, doc said:

Just watched Scotland v West Indies in T20 WC.

The attendance was tiny. But don't think Sky would bin it off. 

It's like, you know, nobody cares!

I do care a bit though. I want:

- our international game to be well funded 

- the public appetite for international RL to be proven beyond any doubt so we get more of it

- new people to start our watching our game and find the whole experience brilliant

- our players to have great experiences and play in front of loud, large crowds

 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

The problem is, that was the price 2 years ago. We need to sell seats her and now. 

I don't think you can mass discount.

I'd be fuming if my seats for Tonga v PNG were suddenly half price.

That's a bit of a kick in the teeth for those who bought early to support the event and rolled over their tickets 12 months.

[bratman]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

I don't think you can mass discount.

I'd be fuming if my seats for Tonga v PNG were suddenly half price.

That's a bit of a kick in the teeth for those who bought early to support the event and rolled over their tickets 12 months.

Compensate in some way? Eg discounted/free ticket to another match?

[Spidey]

2 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I don't think you can mass discount.

I'd be fuming if my seats for Tonga v PNG were suddenly half price.

That's a bit of a kick in the teeth for those who bought early to support the event and rolled over their tickets 12 months.

What would be acceptable is firstly offering up upgrades to all booked tickets into the premium seats then levelling out prices elsewhere, however I don’t think this will happen

[Guest]

Just now, bratman said:

Compensate in some way? Eg discounted/free ticket to another match?

At this stage I am not sure that would make financial sense. For example, you refund 6k people and hope to get another 1,500 paying £15?

Plus I just can't get to more games due to where I am based. So free tickets not a lot of use to me.

Maybe offer free tickets for kids - that would be fine.

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I don't think you can mass discount.

I'd be fuming if my seats for Tonga v PNG were suddenly half price.

That's a bit of a kick in the teeth for those who bought early to support the event and rolled over their tickets 12 months.

I think the discounting ship has sailed. 

Even though they did that at St James Pk. Despite attempts at gaslighting us, Dutton saying they will not discount, I got a £30 ticket for a seat which was previously priced at £70.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Spidey said:

What would be acceptable is firstly offering up upgrades to all booked tickets into the premium seats then levelling out prices elsewhere, however I don’t think this will happen

I assume with seats allocated that is just a nightmare to organise and given their inability to do the simple things - wouldn't end well. You can imagine people turning up with the wrong tickets etc.

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

Funnily enough the low crowds so far have stirred up a reaction in me to want to get to more games. 

Looking at a couple of quarter finals too now and rallying some troops.

I am the opposite; pretty deflated after feeling quite pumped after attending the match in Newcastle. I live a long way from the heartlands so really struggling with motivation to get in the car to spend hours in traffic to attend a match in a near empty stadium with no entertainment put on less the match itself but having to pay premium prices.

[Dave T]

Just now, Leonard said:

At this stage I am not sure that would make financial sense. For example, you refund 6k people and hope to get another 1,500 paying £15?

Plus I just can't get to more games due to where I am based. So free tickets not a lot of use to me.

Maybe offer free tickets for kids - that would be fine.

I think you have to work hard behind the scenes now. Youth groups, community groups, sports teams etc. is where you can probably offer discounts, but not publicly now. 

[Dave T]

Just now, GeordieSaint said:

I am the opposite; pretty deflated after feeling quite pumped after attending the match in Newcastle. I live a long way from the heartlands so really struggling with motivation to get in the car to spend hours in traffic to attend a match in a near empty stadium with no entertainment put on less the match itself but having to pay premium prices.

I can understand that mate. 

[Dave T]

23 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

There is a very simple rule which I think needs applying to this thread.

A lack of sales can only ever be attributed to the seller, not the customer.

If the organisers are unhappy with the sales of last night’s fixture, then the blame solely lies with them.

Spot on. 

[Guest]

Just now, Dave T said:

I think you have to work hard behind the scenes now. Youth groups, community groups, sports teams etc. is where you can probably offer discounts, but not publicly now. 

Yes - I don't think anyone would have a beef with kids in free with a ticket for an adult. 

[Tommygilf]

10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Not having a singer for the anthems felt very cheap.

*to add, this wouldn't be so bad if you paid a fiver for tickets.

[Guest]

Just now, Dave T said:

Spot on. 

Given the higher prices - they might be happy though. That's the unknown.

Plus their comments all suggest that sales are better than previous tournaments with some time to go.

[Maximus Decimus]

3 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

I am the opposite; pretty deflated after feeling quite pumped after attending the match in Newcastle. I live a long way from the heartlands so really struggling with motivation to get in the car to spend hours in traffic to attend a match in a near empty stadium with no entertainment put on less the match itself but having to pay premium prices.

This is it. Low crowds will just lead to lower crowds and the opposite is true.

I said before the tournament my gut was that it would be something between 2000 and 2013 and it's looking that way. England will do OK, the quarters, semis and final will do OK but a lot in-between will be poor.

The pricing was absurd for many games as was the location. How did they end up with two games in Newcastle and two in Leeds over the weekend?

[Dave T]

Just now, Leonard said:

Given the higher prices - they might be happy though. That's the unknown.

Plus their comments all suggest that sales are better than previous tournaments with some time to go.

I think we can be confident that yesterday did not meet their expectations. 

On your last line, it's why I'm hopeful, but as with everything from Dutton's mouth I think it is spin based on the 61 games. 

[GeordieSaint]

8 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I can understand that mate. 

Where’s the vibrancy of 2013 Dave? I went to loads of games. Hooked with the colour, thousands of kids on the pitch, fairly well attended games, and good noise everywhere. Less a few flags in Newcastle, there’s been none of that (even without the technical failure, the opening ceremony was sub-standard and cheap). I was really keen to take my 5-yr old to the QF at Wigan as she’d have loved the colour and vibrancy of 2013. Really struggling for motivation now… really struggling.

[crashmon]

45 minutes ago, RP London said:

Its worth pointing out as well that while there may have been some better places to put the games on "around the country" the hosting of the event was helped by money from the Northern Powerhouse which means that pretty much the whole tournament needs to be hosted in the North so we were limited in what we could do.. ie not being able to take loads of matches to London. 

Perhaps there were better locations in the north but those locations also have to be interested to host which not everywhere will be.

You don't need to take loads of matches , nor do you need to take the marque games either.

Games I would have had outside the heartlands

Ireland v Jamaica :- London

France v Samoa :- London

Wales v Cook Islands :- Bristol

PNG v Cook Islands :- Bristol

All in 10K to 15K grounds.   I think all the above 4 would have got close to 10K if priced right. Cook Islands got a lot of support in Bristol in 2013.