The Colonel
Immortal
- Messages
- 41,829
NRL considers live sites
September 19, 2005
THE NRL is considering setting up live sites to appease unhappy fans after ruling out a change of venue for the sold-out preliminary final clash between St George-Illawarra and Wests Tigers on Saturday.
The 10,000 general seats still available were snapped up within an hour when they went on sale at 9am today, in what an NRL official described as "one of the fastest sell-outs in finals history".
The overwhelming response followed more than 36,000 mostly Tigers fans packing Aussie Stadium for the joint venture's 34-6 semi-final win over Brisbane yesterday.
The sight of the packed stadium sparked speculation the NRL may shift the preliminary final between the Tigers and the Dragons from Aussie Stadium, which has a 41,000-capacity, to Telstra Stadium, which holds 82,000 spectators.
However, an NRL spokesman today said it was "impossible" for the venues to be switched.
Telstra Stadium had already been locked in for Sunday's preliminary final between North Queensland and Parramatta, the spokesman said
"While this matter had been investigated, it became immediately apparent that the number of pre-purchased seats, corporate packages and advertising contracts that had been in place, as well as the stadium member arrangements, meant that such a late transfer was impossible," he said.
"Even before fulltime yesterday, there were 50,000 people who held tickets to one of the two venues, knowing which match they were attending, what seat they were sitting in, and at what venue.
"Changing stadia at that point was simply not possible."
After ruling out the stadium switch, NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said the league was considering establishing live sites possibly at Leichhardt, Campbelltown, Wollongong and Kogarah to placate fans without tickets.
"Live sites are not out of the realms of possibility," he said.
"The game will be live on television so it's not that they miss out completely. "We know there will be a lot of disappointed people who can't get tickets but that is just the way it goes unfortunately."
AAP
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,16650698-23210,00.html
September 19, 2005
THE NRL is considering setting up live sites to appease unhappy fans after ruling out a change of venue for the sold-out preliminary final clash between St George-Illawarra and Wests Tigers on Saturday.
The 10,000 general seats still available were snapped up within an hour when they went on sale at 9am today, in what an NRL official described as "one of the fastest sell-outs in finals history".
The overwhelming response followed more than 36,000 mostly Tigers fans packing Aussie Stadium for the joint venture's 34-6 semi-final win over Brisbane yesterday.
The sight of the packed stadium sparked speculation the NRL may shift the preliminary final between the Tigers and the Dragons from Aussie Stadium, which has a 41,000-capacity, to Telstra Stadium, which holds 82,000 spectators.
However, an NRL spokesman today said it was "impossible" for the venues to be switched.
Telstra Stadium had already been locked in for Sunday's preliminary final between North Queensland and Parramatta, the spokesman said
"While this matter had been investigated, it became immediately apparent that the number of pre-purchased seats, corporate packages and advertising contracts that had been in place, as well as the stadium member arrangements, meant that such a late transfer was impossible," he said.
"Even before fulltime yesterday, there were 50,000 people who held tickets to one of the two venues, knowing which match they were attending, what seat they were sitting in, and at what venue.
"Changing stadia at that point was simply not possible."
After ruling out the stadium switch, NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said the league was considering establishing live sites possibly at Leichhardt, Campbelltown, Wollongong and Kogarah to placate fans without tickets.
"Live sites are not out of the realms of possibility," he said.
"The game will be live on television so it's not that they miss out completely. "We know there will be a lot of disappointed people who can't get tickets but that is just the way it goes unfortunately."
AAP
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,16650698-23210,00.html
