RLWC Attendance-O-Meter

[Leonard]

1 minute ago, The Masked Poster said:

Yeah the 2001 Ashes series was a pretty good one, that at least started off with a win.  2002 Kiwi series saw some great games and decent crowds ditto  the 4 Nations in 2004.

Actually getting nostalgic for those days lol. 

Maybe the organisers could bring back the Biff for the knock out rounds (pun intended)?

[EggFace]

1 minute ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

But if it is a 5 digit attendance tonigt, in a non-heartland area and with respect, against Scotland - i'd take that. 

Yes true but I have total forgotten what a success 2013 was it must of been the most successful Rugby League World Cup we have had ?

[The Masked Poster]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

Maybe the organisers could bring back the Biff for the knock out rounds (pun intended)?

Just remembered the 2003 Ashes series too, where Morley got sent off after 10 seconds or something. Biff indeed 

[Dave T]

11 minutes ago, JonM said:

An important point. There are a whole bunch of amateur clubhouses, extensions, pitches and so forth that have been funded by the £15 million in the RLWC legacy fund. Things like Hemel getting a female changing room so that they can aim for a Women's superleague team, a fenced pitch for Haydock, clubhouses at Queensbury, Sharlston etc. 

Yes, this is what I referred to. It was £10m for legacy projects like those you list, and up to £15m for tournament costs. 

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

It not only may be milestone based, I have no doubt whatever that it is milestone based.  And considering that the funding was part of Northern Powerhouse, I have no doubt that the government is behind the ticket prices being charged.

The government desperately needs to able to claim that Northern Powerhouse has been a success if it somehow wants to hold on to the votes of the former Labour voters who gave them their majority last time, and without that they're sure to be defeated at the next election.  A successful northern-based tournament at these ticket prices would be an indication that they're succeeded in turning things around in the North, an unsuccessful tournament with these ticket prices will be a sign that NP has failed to achieve that turnaround.

Do you not think the easy get out for Dutton is to say that the government insist on those prices? 

There is a clear reason they are not saying that. 

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, EggFace said:

By the looks of things have we went backwards as looking at all the crowds for 2013 there was not a bad crowd at all games e.g, Australia v Fiji St.Helens got over 14000. 

That's not quite true. There were plenty of low crowds, but most games did well within the context of the fixtures. 

We are possibly going to exceed the total number for 2013, although it'll be tight, and we do have a handful more games. 

But the likes of Leeds, Leigh and Wire never dropped below 5 figures. 

[Big Picture]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

Do you not think the easy get out for Dutton is to say that the government insist on those prices? 

There is a clear reason they are not saying that. 

He said before the tournament started that the organizers were under pressure from the government "to do all the right things".  If that wasn't a reference to the ticket prices, what else do you think he meant?

[Dave T]

Just now, Big Picture said:

He said before the tournament started that the organizers were under pressure from the government "to do all the right things".  If that wasn't a reference to the ticket prices, what else do you think he meant?

Getting bums on seats. 

They have spent the last 5 days having to answer questions on ticket pricing - you don't think they may have mentioned that it was a stipulation? 

They've explained quite clearly why they are charging these prices and sticking with them. 

[Big Picture]

Just now, Dave T said:

Getting bums on seats. 

They have spent the last 5 days having to answer questions on ticket pricing - you don't think they may have mentioned that it was a stipulation? 

They've explained quite clearly why they are charging these prices and sticking with them. 

I agree, getting bums on seats and doing that at these prices.  If they've been working closely with the government as they put this together, the ticket prices were surely part of those discussions.

[BristolDevonCharlie]

Re. the "struggling to break even" point. I have only seen this in one line of the BBC Sport article which is then not backed up anywhere else in the article. And it does seem to contradict other statements made, and different from the info in the Guardian and other RL press on the same story. 

Without more details, it could be either more alarming or was a comment taken out of context or misunderstood.

Quite a lot of speculation based on half a sentence in perhaps, a badly written article?

[Dave T]

6 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

I agree, getting bums on seats and doing that at these prices.  If they've been working closely with the government as they put this together, the ticket prices were surely part of those discussions.

I'll hold my comments on my thoughts on this government, but there is little logic in them enforcing high prices which see empty grounds.

Its in their interests that Warrington has 60k people involved instead of the likely 30k.

Its in their interest that Leigh has 35k instead of 18k.

It's a numbers game for government, they want as many people as possible to be positively impacted by RLWC. 

The one's who have the real interest in ticket prices are RLWC. Its them who have to make this tournament wash its face financially. 

[Dave T]

6 minutes ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

Re. the "struggling to break even" point. I have only seen this in one line of the BBC Sport article which is then not backed up anywhere else in the article. And it does seem to contradict other statements made, and different from the info in the Guardian and other RL press on the same story. 

Without more details, it could be either more alarming or was a comment taken out of context or misunderstood.

Quite a lot of speculation based on half a sentence in perhaps, a badly written article?

Dutton did make the point on a tweet. I don't know whether that is where the BBC have taken it from. But Dutton wrote it. 

[Damien]

8 minutes ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

Re. the "struggling to break even" point. I have only seen this in one line of the BBC Sport article which is then not backed up anywhere else in the article. And it does seem to contradict other statements made, and different from the info in the Guardian and other RL press on the same story. 

Without more details, it could be either more alarming or was a comment taken out of context or misunderstood.

Quite a lot of speculation based on half a sentence in perhaps, a badly written article?

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it stems from the tweet that Dutton did, which was vague and contradictory at best. I'm hopeful that it isn't as it seems.

[JM2010]

I'm hoping after this weekends fixtures and a bit more clarity of potential QF match ups that there might be a spike in ticket sales for the rest of the tournament 

[HawkMan]

Interesting attendance figures may be they are not the be all and end all of how the the tournament will be judged. Martyn Sadler on this forum months back said that if in a year's time the general public are still as ignorant about Rugby League as now then that would be a worry.

Question is, will the RLWC achieve a breakthrough like Women's football or Netball,  both had spikes in attendance figures for domestic competitions following international tournaments. We get our answer next year.

[BristolDevonCharlie]

"Understood, World Cups are expensive to stage even to a break even point but we are listening and want more people to enjoy in person."

"£2.21 for all children tonight in Doncaster. £15 for adults and £5 for children in Leigh on Wednesday. Tournament runs to break even, no profit and we pay for everything, hence the need to raise funds from tickets and other sources."

Bar the two above quotes Jon Dutton made on Twitter on 17th October, I can't see any other mentions of breaking even.

Those tweets do not allude to struggling to break even. Also implies surplus goes to IRL, which is excellent. 

Other IRL point is that the RLWC organisers have to pay a hosting rights fee to the IRL, so that is surely money guarantee before profit.

 

[Leonard]

15 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Interesting attendance figures may be they are not the be all and end all of how the the tournament will be judged. Martyn Sadler on this forum months back said that if in a year's time the general public are still as ignorant about Rugby League as now then that would be a worry.

Question is, will the RLWC achieve a breakthrough like Women's football or Netball,  both had spikes in attendance figures for domestic competitions following international tournaments. We get our answer next year.

Not if there is then no meaningful international schedule until the next one in 8 or 12 years here.

I am not sure the point of taking a game to Bath or Gloucester for a one off if there is no follow up.

[jacksy]

I can't go to the KC tomorrow. So, I bought two tickets and have given them away.

I know not everyone can do this but if you cannot go to the game near you and you can afford to do so, just buy a single ticket and give it away.

[Leonard]

1 minute ago, jacksy said:

I can't go to the KC tomorrow. So, I bought two tickets and have given them away.

I know not everyone can do this but if you cannot go to the game near you and you can afford to do so, just buy a single ticket and give it away.

I usually take a few people. Took one person, friend of a friend I was taking, who lives on the Wirral and already has tickets for both RU WC semis and the Lions tour. He had never been to a RL game before but was massively impressed by Tonga v PNG and loved it. I then tend to find if there is a big game in the areas they are up for going again in future years.

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, Leonard said:

I can only assume the breakeven is the current position.

In reality - there will be a hell of a lot of additional tickets sold. A sold out Emirates and Final would be transformative.

Bit about the final… so far the highest gross for a game in the UK by £250k according to reports. I really don’t think the figures stack up. Prices have never been that high for a game yet they’ve sold 55k already but only made £250k more? An extra £20 on 55k is already over a £1m. Someone is being very un-economical with the truth IMO. 

[Leonard]

8 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

Bit about the final… so far the highest gross for a game in the UK by £250k according to reports. I really don’t think the figures stack up. Prices have never been that high for a game yet they’ve sold 55k already but only made £250k more? An extra £20 on 55k is already over a £1m. Someone is being very un-economical with the truth IMO. 

I always forget you need to take 20% VAT.

So that always skews figures - not sure if it is an issue here.

[Northern Eel]

Using some fairly big assumptions, think of it this way:

Previous game at OT; 72k crowd at an average of £35 per ticket (this includes kids, cheap seats, expensive seats etc) = £2,570,000

Current sales at OT: 55k crowd at an average of £52 per ticket = £2,805,000

Difference - £235,000

[Damien]

28 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Using some fairly big assumptions, think of it this way:

Previous game at OT; 72k crowd at an average of £35 per ticket (this includes kids, cheap seats, expensive seats etc) = £2,570,000

Current sales at OT: 55k crowd at an average of £52 per ticket = £2,805,000

Difference - £235,000

While I take your point there is no way the 2013 final was an average £35 a ticket and that tickets for this year are only 50% more.

My ticket in 2013 was category A and £49.50, this year the same ticket is £150. A category E ticket this year is £45, practically as much as the top tickets in 2013. Indeed I think tickets in 2013 tickets started at £5 if you bought another game. They were very cheap all round in 2013.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Damien

[The Rocket]

12 minutes ago, Damien said:

They were very cheap all round in 2013

And hence perhaps the 4m pound profit, obviously something they thought they could improve on this time.

It`s interesting to think that perhaps with League WC`s only ever being hosted in two countries for all intents and purposes, (and Oz`s half-hearted effort in 2017) the IRL don`t have the benefit of other countries experiences with hosting one to benefit from. Hence using adjustments - rightly or wrongly - on the 2013 model in hosting this one.

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by The Rocket
Clarification

[The Rocket]

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

Question is, will the RLWC achieve a breakthrough like Women's football or Netball,  both had spikes in attendance figures for domestic competitions following international tournaments. We get our answer next year.

I think any spike in people watching League next year will be far more likely reflected in television viewing numbers rather than crowds, hence the importance of more games on Channel 4 preferably in a regular timeslot.