No more underselling the game says Rhodri Jones

[The Future is League]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20745891/rugby-league-world-cup-money/

[Sports Prophet]

52 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20745891/rugby-league-world-cup-money/

I don’t think anyone was questioning the value of fixtures at St James’ and Old Trafford, so it would appear Rhodri is glossing over the real issue of over valuing less appealing fixtures.

In my opinion, there is something wrong when stands are less than 60% filled.

[Big Picture]

31 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I don’t think anyone was questioning the value of fixtures at St James’ and Old Trafford, so it would appear Rhodri is glossing over the real issue of over valuing less appealing fixtures.

In my opinion, there is something wrong when stands are less than 60% filled.

They weren't overpriced though, not for a World Cup.  They were just played in the wrong places to draw good crowds at the appropriate prices for a World Cup.

[JohnM]

Just 17 words into the article:fans may moan.

[Damien]

While he is quite correct he has been part of the organisation that has been underselling these events for years.

Additionally it's just not a case of just charging more and expecting fans to just walk through the door. Creating a premium event extends far beyond just the price charged and that is were many matches in the World Cup got it wrong.

[FearTheVee]

42 minutes ago, Damien said:

Additionally it's just not a case of just charging more and expecting fans to just walk through the door. 

This is the key point - dynamic pricing is in play in all major sports; we need to not undersell but at the same time not all fixtures and venues are created equal.

[Archie Gordon]

Cheap tickets for an international double header in Warrington, anyone?

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Cheap tickets for an international double header in Warrington, anyone?

Indeed that sprung to my mind too. Its not exactly practicing what he preaches.

[Toby Chopra]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

While he is quite correct he has been part of the organisation that has been underselling these events for years.

Additionally it's just not a case of just charging more and expecting fans to just walk through the door. Creating a premium event extends far beyond just the price charged and that is were many matches in the World Cup got it wrong.

Absolutely. He's definitely glossing over the fact that due to the dates, kickoff times, locations and zero off field attraction, many games were already struggling from the get go, before you even got to price. 

It was only the sterling efforts of the players themselves that got the tournament to where it managed. 

They need to fix those issues first, before we can permanently move to a premium pricing regime. 

[langpark]

No more underselling, that headline has made me hungry.  Got me thinking of Papa John's.

[DI Keith Fowler]

2 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:

Cheap tickets for an international double header in Warrington, anyone?

Exactly. I took two union fans to Bolton for England France, we went got the train in and went the fan park before and after the game. That was at £50 a ticket, I could sell that again next year easily because they enjoyed it so much.

I can't sell a double header at Warrington. No offence to Warrington, it just feels like a run out rather than a big mid-season event. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

8 hours ago, Big Picture said:

They weren't overpriced though, not for a World Cup.  They were just played in the wrong places to draw good crowds at the appropriate prices for a World Cup.

Some were

[RigbyLuger]

4 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:

Cheap tickets for an international double header in Warrington, anyone?

Nail on head. It shouldn't be cheaper to watch the national team play than it is for a regular Super League game. I assume it's less than for some Championship and L1 games too. 

[Tommygilf]

£15 at Warrington for an England Men and Womens double header vs France says otherwise

[Oxford]

No more underselling the game says Rhodri Jones

 

Have they told posters on RL forums about this yet?

[Eddie]

11 hours ago, Big Picture said:

They weren't overpriced though, not for a World Cup.  They were just played in the wrong places to draw good crowds at the appropriate prices for a World Cup.

They were clearly overpriced. Where in England would you have played them to get much bigger crowds at those prices? 

[Tommygilf]

11 minutes ago, Eddie said:

They were clearly overpriced. Where in England would you have played them to get much bigger crowds at those prices? 

Evidence, even from RLWC2021, suggests that fewer games in the heartlands would have delivered BOTH better results in the heartlands and better results outside of them.

Its a small passionate area. It can sustain a lot, but evidently there was too much in some places this Autumn. 

[Wolford6]

The tickets were way overpriced to watch Kearball.

[whatmichaelsays]

8 hours ago, Damien said:

Additionally it's just not a case of just charging more and expecting fans to just walk through the door. Creating a premium event extends far beyond just the price charged and that is were many matches in the World Cup got it wrong.

Bingo. You can't just go from saying "This was worth £10, now it's worth £20", (nor go from saying "This was worth £20, but we've been selling it to you for £10 for long enough, so we're going back to £20") without offering something in addition - or by finding new audiences that will see what you're offering as fair value. 

There's a big difference between what the RFL / clubs may think the value of something is, and what the percieved value of something is to the intended audience - or indeed, different audience segments. 

Events like the ones I suspect Jones would like to price on a par with are able to command those fees because they feel like big, premium events. The fan experience feels like it is worth a high-double or even a triple-figure ticket price because they make an effort to deliver that value and make the events ones that people want to clamour for tickets for. He's right to say that the on-field product is good, but that's true of all other sports to the eyes of the beholder and it's also a variable that you can't control. It needs more. 

Jones has been part of an organisation that put this sport on a treadmill of discounting to the point where the core customer base came to expect it. People knew that the discount codes would come, they knew to expect the Groupon deals and they knew that schemes like "tickets for heroes" were badly policed. They're not going to change those expectations just because you tell them to and as someone who has had high-profile commercial roles with the RFL for some time, you have to say that he needs to clean up a mess of his own making.

 

[paulwalker71]

3 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

£15 at Warrington for an England Men and Womens double header vs France says otherwise

Exactly this

I realise that decision was announced before he got the job, but really it's the EXACT opposite of what he's saying here.

And he WAS part of the organisation when they decided to "undersell" this event

[Oxford]

Well Rhodri may not want to sell it short but it seems plenty of other people are forming a queue to do it in his place.

[Dave T]

14 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

I don’t think anyone was questioning the value of fixtures at St James’ and Old Trafford, so it would appear Rhodri is glossing over the real issue of over valuing less appealing fixtures.

In my opinion, there is something wrong when stands are less than 60% filled.

They are clueless and what they are saying means nowt. 

If you are selective, you can get great value live entertainment very reasonably. 

Regular RL isn't cheap really. 

[Dave T]

A quick scan at events coming up and their starting price for adults. 

Man City v Liverpool (EFL Cup) - £22.50

Harlequins v Bristol (Twickenham Big Game) - £25

T20 games from £12-15 for adults

Autumn internationals - see Wales or Scotland for as low as £10-20, or this year the All Black's v Barbarians from £40. England games silly prices. 

Netball SL openers - £19

Let's be honest there are loads of events that you can choose to watch that are comparable to a game of RL. 

As a couple of poster have pointed out - underselling doesn't just equate to price. You can't just stick the price up. People just won't go. 

Tbf to Jones, the interview is pretty light, and it just reads like more Dutton propoganda to convince people their decision to charge £70 for random games on Tuesday night was right. 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Dave T

[Dave T]

10 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:

Cheap tickets for an international double header in Warrington, anyone?

 

5 hours ago, RigbyLuger said:

Nail on head. It shouldn't be cheaper to watch the national team play than it is for a regular Super League game. I assume it's less than for some Championship and L1 games too. 

 

5 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

£15 at Warrington for an England Men and Womens double header vs France says otherwise

Whilst I don't disagree with these points. It does rather ignore the reality of the situation.

An England v France RL Test match just isn't that attractive. It isn't in demand. 

Wales RU were selling their least attractive games for as low as a tenner. Scotland around £25, kids for a quid.

We can't just say that things should be more expensive, we have to stage quality events and we have to keep doing that over time. And unfortunately, we can sneer about RL towns all we want - that isn't the biggest issue here.

It's the fact that the RFL will do it as cheap as possible. We will have catering less than a standard game. We will have no entertainment. We won't see our best players. There'll be no atmosphere. It'll be the same as it has been for the last few decades. 

If nothing changes, the results will be the same. And the results will be the same as long as we take that approach wherever it is. I care little where it is played (although I'd play it in France) - but minimal effort here is the problem.

It would be frankly insulting to charge any more than £15 tbh.

[Tommygilf]

6 minutes ago, Dave T said:

 

 

Whilst I don't disagree with these points. It does rather ignore the reality of the situation.

An England v France RL Test match just isn't that attractive. It isn't in demand. 

Wales RU were selling their least attractive games for as low as a tenner. Scotland around £25, kids for a quid.

We can't just say that things should be more expensive, we have to stage quality events and we have to keep doing that over time. And unfortunately, we can sneer about RL towns all we want - that isn't the biggest issue here.

It's the fact that the RFL will do it as cheap as possible. We will have catering less than a standard game. We will have no entertainment. We won't see our best players. There'll be no atmosphere. It'll be the same as it has been for the last few decades. 

If nothing changes, the results will be the same. And the results will be the same as long as we take that approach wherever it is. I care little where it is played (although I'd play it in France) - but minimal effort here is the problem.

It would be frankly insulting to charge any more than £15 tbh.

I think that has to be caveated with "at Warrington".

Leeds or London could host the mens game at far more "normal" prices. York should be a no brainer for the Women's game. £7.50 for an England mens test match is simply far too cheap.

Its low effort for low, if any, returns.