What do SL execs think about Catalan making OT

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

It will definitely cost them money....not sure how much but we know it will

Wonder what they think about it? 

Same as many of us on here? 

French development Vs More empty seats at OT on telly 

New name on the cup Vs Reduced matchday income 

We are all.thinking it and have our own views but wonder what the bigwigs really think?

[Phil W]

I suspect that they'll only care about the money side of things.

I'm not going to say I know a lot about these things. But if it's a case that clubs are relying on ticket sales for internationals and the grand final then they should be fuming with RFL Commercial.

As a sport we shouldn't be relying on who the finalists are too have a massive impact on attendance. Other than football major finals the likes of cricket and rugby union finals are made up of a lot of neutrals going for a day out. 

Does RFL Commercial do enough to attract neutrals through clubs? My guess is no. I bought tickets for the World Cup last year and can't remember seeing anything about tickets for the internationals, so where casual sports fans bought tickets for that are we using the customer database to engage with fans who bought tickets?

There doesn't seem to be any joined up thinking. Finally sometimes with major events now the focus is less on the sport on the pitch but the entertainment factor around the event as a whole. What's the fan experience like? Who's the big act playing? Get these things out months in advance! If Sam Fender played at Magic Weekend in Newcastle straight away you create more ticket sales and not from rugby league fans.

The other thing is should the clubs be relying on these big games selling out? Maybe anything extra made gets put into grassroots etc. 

[M j M]

What do the clubs do to promote these big events to their fans?

[Archie Gordon]

The game had 5 of the top 10 spots on X/twitter as the match ended. Somebody should be thinking about how to exploit that and turn it into £££, including bums on seats.

[ATLANTISMAN]

All SL CEO have no problem with the Dragons bar 4 work it out its not Einstein 

[north yorks trinity]

9 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

The game had 5 of the top 10 spots on X/twitter as the match ended. Somebody should be thinking about how to exploit that and turn it into £££, including bums on seats.

After all it's one of IMG's point scoring criteria for a reason. 

[Adelaide Tiger]

Is there another sport apart from RL that experiences such an financial impact across the game if their final, or finals, are not filled to capacity?

[Sports Prophet]

I would like to think the governors and stakeholders are capable of accepting the challenge of selling out OT if they are going to welcome teams from non-heartland locations and/or located vast distances from the majority of the participating clubs.

Over the course of the season, the governors must be taking advantage of the commercial opportunities including a club like Catalans offers, so that any commercial difficulties presented by Catalans making the GF are offset or minimised.

There are enough RL fans of varying degrees in England to sell out the GF no matter who the participants are. Anything short of a sellout isn’t really acceptable in my opinion

 

[Sports Prophet]

Just now, Sports Prophet said:

I would like to think the governors and stakeholders are capable of accepting the challenge of selling out OT if they are going to welcome teams from non-heartland locations and/or located vast distances from the majority of the participating clubs.

Over the course of the season, the governors must be taking advantage of the commercial opportunities including a club like Catalans offers, so that any commercial difficulties presented by Catalans making the GF are offset or minimised.

There are enough RL fans of varying degrees in England to sell out the GF no matter who the participants are. Anything short of a sellout isn’t really acceptable in my opinion

 

In saying all that, history suggests the governors are average at best and will be charging Catalans a £500,000 supplement to participate in the SL from 2024 onwards.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Phil W said:

I suspect that they'll only care about the money side of things.

I'm not going to say I know a lot about these things. But if it's a case that clubs are relying on ticket sales for internationals and the grand final then they should be fuming with RFL Commercial.

As a sport we shouldn't be relying on who the finalists are too have a massive impact on attendance. Other than football major finals the likes of cricket and rugby union finals are made up of a lot of neutrals going for a day out. 

Does RFL Commercial do enough to attract neutrals through clubs? My guess is no. I bought tickets for the World Cup last year and can't remember seeing anything about tickets for the internationals, so where casual sports fans bought tickets for that are we using the customer database to engage with fans who bought tickets?

There doesn't seem to be any joined up thinking. Finally sometimes with major events now the focus is less on the sport on the pitch but the entertainment factor around the event as a whole. What's the fan experience like? Who's the big act playing? Get these things out months in advance! If Sam Fender played at Magic Weekend in Newcastle straight away you create more ticket sales and not from rugby league fans.

The other thing is should the clubs be relying on these big games selling out? Maybe anything extra made gets put into grassroots etc. 

Honest question Phil, who's Sam Fender?

And there is a reason I ask that, my club has had rave reviews this season from the scribes and pundits in the media and on TV for the pre-game and halftime entertainment they have provided, do you think that has increased the attendance? 

I honestly do not see much attention being paid to the 'acts' that are performing and when the teams come out to warm up about 20/25 mins before kick off all the attention and conversation is about them, "who's in, who's out, he played well/ had a stinker last game" etc. etc.

Granted I am an old fart and this music 'for the hard of thinking' does not do much for me, but my observations tell me it doesn't improve the attendances much if at all, to me that is soley down to the teams performance on the pitch which entices and keeps fans returning, thoughts please.

The acid test will be if the team is not performing well, but I prefare that we don't go down that path.

[gingerjon]

12 minutes ago, Adelaide Tiger said:

Is there another sport apart from RL that experiences such an financial impact across the game if their final, or finals, are not filled to capacity?

Individual cricket clubs - those who bid to host internationals - are absolutely dependent on then getting game (it's a bidding process) and then selling out and selling merch n drinks on the day.

So not a whole sport but constituent members.

[Harry Stottle]

9 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

In saying all that, history suggests the governors are average at best and will be charging Catalans a £500,000 supplement to participate in the SL from 2024 onwards.

Let's really look at that SP, Catalans are good for, er well Catalans are they actually good for the rest of the league? Do they as a club put anything financially into the teams they visit over the season as in entrance fees, commercial sales and subsitance food and drink sales? I don't take this away fans should not matter, when we know we are not a well supported sport and want every body possible through the turnstiles.

You mention - I take jokingly - the 500K supplement, but that was because their last appearance in a Wembly final was a financial disaster in terms of crowd numbers, what happens next week will show if having Catalans in the league system is a luxury worth having.

Don't get me wrong I loved watching them last night and think they deserve their place in the final, It would also please me immensely if HKR won today and were their opposition next week, but the OP asks what the SL exec's think of it, being truthful they must be shi77ing themselves, we are dependent on our showcase events, and there is no point denying that.

[The Masked Poster]

It’s almost as if having a policy of hoping Wigan, Saints, Warrington or Leeds constitute the GF contenders would backfire eventually. 

On one hand I obviously want a big crowd, preferably cheering Catalans to a historic win. On the other I think that this lazy attitude needs changing and it could “lance the boil” and make them see that the GF should be almost sold out by now, regardless of the finalists. (Their allocations aside) 

[GUBRATS]

It's a risk you take , much like having any club in SL , the issue is all clubs need more fans , and the sport overall more profile 

[The Masked Poster]

3 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Let's really look at that SP, Catalans are good for, er well Catalans are they actually good for the rest of the league? Do they as a club put anything financially into the teams they visit over the season as in entrance fees, commercial sales and subsitance food and drink sales? I don't take this away fans should not matter, when we know we are not a well supported sport and want every body possible through the turnstiles.

You mention - I take jokingly - the 500K supplement, but that was because their last appearance in a Wembly final was a financial disaster in terms of crowd numbers, what happens next week will show if having Catalans in the league system is a luxury worth having.

Don't get me wrong I loved watching them last night and think they deserve their place in the final, It would also please me immensely if HKR won today and were their opposition next week, but the OP asks what the SL exec's think of it, being truthful they must be shi77ing themselves, we are dependent on our showcase events, and there is no point denying that.

And this years Wembley final was locking them out was it? 
 

And do you seriously regard a club that has bigger attendances than most, brings in serious hospitality money and adds a glamour to the game as “a luxury worth having”? I mean honestly? That’s insane.

If the Commercial Dept did their job better, there would be a scramble for tickets every year regardless, the GF is a great event. I’d suggest that if you can’t sell it to a wider sporting audience then you should fall on your sword and leave it to someone who could. 

[Archie Gordon]

5 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Let's really look at that SP, Catalans are good for, er well Catalans are they actually good for the rest of the league? Do they as a club put anything financially into the teams they visit over the season as in entrance fees, commercial sales and subsitance food and drink sales? I don't take this away fans should not matter, when we know we are not a well supported sport and want every body possible through the turnstiles.

You mention - I take jokingly - the 500K supplement, but that was because their last appearance in a Wembly final was a financial disaster in terms of crowd numbers, what happens next week will show if having Catalans in the league system is a luxury worth having.

Don't get me wrong I loved watching them last night and think they deserve their place in the final, It would also please me immensely if HKR won today and were their opposition next week, but the OP asks what the SL exec's think of it, being truthful they must be shi77ing themselves, we are dependent on our showcase events, and there is no point denying that.

Some of us look at Catalan (and TO, etc) as an opportunity, others as a threat.

My view is that it's those who view them as a threat that hold the game back. If there was another European club with a ~10k following and a ~10m turnover, I'd love to get them involved. Some SL chairmen wouldn't.

[Bradman Better]

I think that a Catalans vs Wigan GF will excite lots of neutral fans -- especially many from the bigger clubs like St Helens, Warrington, Leeds and Hull FC -- and many of such "neutrals" will go to the game and cheer for Catalans.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Bradman Better

[Archie Gordon]

I also think Catalan could do more in the UK. They are regular challengers for finals but do they have a UK supporters club? Are they interested in pushing for UK fans to get behind them? If they had something along those lines, I would sign up for it this week. I'm sure others might too. Catalan need to be recognising the opportunities.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Archie Gordon

[GUBRATS]

6 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Some of us look at Catalan (and TO, etc) as an opportunity, others as a threat.

My view is that it's those who view them as a threat that hold the game back. If there was another European club with a ~10k following and a ~10m turnover, I'd love to get them involved. Some SL chairmen wouldn't.

It isn't that simple , you say some Chairmen , what do you want these Chairmen to do ? , exactly ? 

Do our broadcast partners view them as a threat or an opportunity ? , Are they idiots ? 

[Jack GB]

1 minute ago, Archie Gordon said:

I also think Catalan could do more in the UK. They are regular challengers for finals but do they have a UK supporters club? Are they interested in pushing for UK fans to get behind them? If they had something along those lines, I would sign up for it this week. I'm sure others might too. Catalan need to be recognising the opportunities.

 

This is something we definitely need in the UK. I'm not sure if any clubs really offer memberships as such - if you look at what NRL clubs offer it's rediculous (eg the Broncos offer a below the border membership for either Sydney or Melbourne based fans which includes 2 tickets to games if your choice, events etc). Could Catalans offer something similar for UK? 

[Gooleboy]

58 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I would like to think the governors and stakeholders are capable of accepting the challenge of selling out OT if they are going to welcome teams from non-heartland locations and/or located vast distances from the majority of the participating clubs.

Over the course of the season, the governors must be taking advantage of the commercial opportunities including a club like Catalans offers, so that any commercial difficulties presented by Catalans making the GF are offset or minimised.

There are enough RL fans of varying degrees in England to sell out the GF no matter who the participants are. Anything short of a sellout isn’t really acceptable in my opinion

 

Too many RL fans including myself who used to go to nearly all the big games are now of a certain age that don't go as much or anymore. Then you have fans of lower league clubs who didn't like the selfishness that some involved in SL became and turned their backs as well. Also a lot of the younger generation only consider going when it is their local team there.

[GUBRATS]

8 minutes ago, Jack GB said:

 

This is something we definitely need in the UK. I'm not sure if any clubs really offer memberships as such - if you look at what NRL clubs offer it's rediculous (eg the Broncos offer a below the border membership for either Sydney or Melbourne based fans which includes 2 tickets to games if your choice, events etc). Could Catalans offer something similar for UK? 

There is nothing to stop anybody following the Dragons at their matches in the UK , but hardly any do , it's just not part of the UK sports culture 

[Toby Chopra]

10 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

 If there was another European club with a ~10k following and a ~10m turnover, I'd love to get them involved. Some SL chairmen wouldn't.

This is the key bit that always gets ignored when debating the financial merits of Catalans. Sure, in the short term they bring fewer away fans than another M62 club would, and there's a shortfall if they make a final which unfortunately isn't a negligible point for a sport with terrible commercial and TV deals.

But kick them out and you're jettisoning one of the financially strongest teams in the competition, that's built a business that generates so many millions that it can field teams good enough to get to finals.

Why should we care, ask some. That's just good for Catalans, surely?

No. Any potential English replacement wouldn't be able to do that, and wouldn't be a like-for-like replacement. You'd just end up with another cash-strapped bottom feeder, desperately trying to cling on, and one less team competing for the title. We'd have accelerated the decline of a competition that's already got the alarm bells ringing. 

I'd hope that most SL chairman are business savvy enough to see the bigger context and understand, when other sports are seeing their clubs go bankrupt, Catalans are worth any short term hit.

[Archie Gordon]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

There is nothing to stop anybody following the Dragons at their matches in the UK , but hardly any do , it's just not part of the UK sports culture 

That's precisely the point - there is no pull. But why shouldn't there be a push?

[GUBRATS]

3 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

Too many RL fans including myself who used to go to nearly all the big games are now of a certain age that don't go as much or anymore. Then you have fans of lower league clubs who didn't like the selfishness that some involved in SL became and turned their backs as well. Also a lot of the younger generation only consider going when it is their local team there.

Indeed , the advent of SL , then licencing turned many lower tier fans off supporting off essentially SL events , ie the CC and GFs , myself included