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RLWC2017 Crowd Watch

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,542
Having sobered up from a very big night last night lol I can honestly say you couldn’t live in Brisbane and and not know the rlwc Final was on here. Well done to the organisers on that one. Banners and flags everywhere, the RLWC giants, poster boards right through the city centre and a great RLWC square for events on Friday and Saturday.

I’d estimate there was around 15k English and other fans there last night so that means only 25k Australian fans turned up. So why would that be? Well it can’t be because they didn’t know it was happening. It may have had something to do with ticket prices but like I said the main unsold blocks in the ground were the cheapest seats so that would suggest those that did go valued it enough to pay for better seats. I think concessions could have been much cheaper for kids but organisers clearly expected a sell out and didn’t want to lose revenue that way, someth8ng we see for any major event these days,

So why the 20% of capacity unsold tickets? For me fundamentally it c9mes down to two things, lack of positive media coverage for the tournament. Look at how much hype there has been for the ashes series for months and compare it to the total lack of interest from fox, nine and the nrl about the RLWC until a few weeks out.

Secondly the nrl doing a terrible job on building the kangaroos brand. Roos need massive more attention and marketing, they need to be playing 3-4 test matches EVERY year. They need to be play8ng ashes series and nz series that generate interest, they need to ditch the prime ministers xiii nonsense and play proper tests in png.

Until they do this the kangaroos will always be of minor interest to Australians and we will get disappointing public responses to attendances like we have just seen.

Still 80% full isn’t the end 9f the world. I haven’t heard any mention 9fmthe 70% full Adelaide stadium today, seems just RL that Likes to beat itself up.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,542
A wasted and misleading rebuttal PR! I had clearly mentioned main games not all games. Let's get it right champ.

So what’s the excuse for the poor crowds for the reasonably priced games? Clearly not ticket prices!

Take my home town.

Sold out nib with weeks to go for the Australia v nz test match last year which was nothing more than a warm up game last year with tickets priced $50-120.

Only sold 75% (again I wouldn’t consider this poor, just not as good as could have been) for a World Cup,double header with tickets priced $20-60

Clearly not a pricing issue
 
Last edited:

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
Having sobered up from a very big night last night lol I can honestly say you couldn’t live in. Rise and and not know the rlwc Final was on here. Well done to the or*anisers on that one. Banners and flags everywhere, the RLWC giants, poster boards right through the city centre and a great RLWC square for events on Friday and Saturday.

I’d estimat3 there was around 15k English and other fans there last night so that means only 25k Australian fans turned up. So why would that be? Well it can’t be because they didn’t know it was happening. It may have had something to do with ticket prices but like I said the main unsold blocks in the ground were the cheapest seats so that would suggest those that did go valued it enough to pay for better seats. I think concessions could have been much cheaper for kids but or*anisers clearly expected a sell out and didn’t want to lose revenue that way.

So why the 20% of cal city unsold tickets? For me fundamentally it c9mes down to two things, lack of positive media coverage for the tournament. Look at how much hype there has been for the ashes series for months and compare it to the total lack of interest from fox, nine and the nrl anpbout the RLWC until a few weeks out.

Secondly the nrl doing a terrible job on building the kangaroos brand. Roos need massive more attention and marketing, they need to be playing 3-4 teat matches EVERY year. They need to be play8ng ashes series and nz series that generate interest, they need to ditch the prime ministers xiii nonsense and play proper tests in png.

Until they do this the kangaroos will always be of minor interest to Australians and we will get disappointing public responses to attendances like we have just seen.

Still 80% full isn’t the end 9f the world. I haven’t heard any mention 9fmthe 70% full Adelaide stadium today, seems just RL that Likes to beat itself up.

A mixed message PR? You emphasize great publicity in the host city which leans toward positive interest in the final . You then slyly try to argue that prices were not the issue. Another post mentioned that he paid $175 per ticket for himself and his 6 and 8 year old kids. I think prices are clearly the problem with this world cup along with venue allocation.Others I have spoken to all balked when hearing of the ticket prices for the final. The numbers prove this very point. No need to twist market reality PR.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,542
But you have to question why the public didn’t value the tournament enough to pay the prices. They pay a lot more for other events so it’s not prices on their own. It’s a combination of price v interest in attending. If you raise the latter you can raise the former.

I still think if you can see a World Cup final for $70 there’s hardly any excuse from a cost point of view for not going if you are a rugby league fan.
 

Pommy

Coach
Messages
14,657
I still find it amazing that people find rugby league tickets expensive. If you want to watch origin or a GF then they are but they sell out as well.
Any other game of RL is pretty affordable in my opinion. I was paying almost the same price to watch a 6th tiered english football team as an NRL team with much lower wages.
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
So what’s the excuse for the poor crowds for the reasonably priced games? Clearly not ticket prices!

Take my home town.

Sold out nib with weeks to go for the Australia v nz test match last year which was nothing more than a warm up game last year with tickets priced $50-120.

Only sold 75% (again I wouldn’t consider this poor, just not as good as could have been) for a World Cup,double header with tickets priced $20-60

Clearly not a pricing issue

You failed to mention the other main problem of this tournament: venue allocation. That played its part as well as high priced tickets. Your selective memory complements your twisting of the issues most of us have mentioned on this site. Go figure.
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
I still find it amazing that people find rugby league tickets expensive. If you want to watch origin or a GF then they are but they sell out as well.
Any other game of RL is pretty affordable in my opinion. I was paying almost the same price to watch a 6th tiered english football team as an NRL team with much lower wages.

Both origin and the grand final have struggled to sell out in recent years due to price rises. These price rises have been significant compared to previous years. Their has been a decrease in overall attendances recently.
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
But you have to question why the public didn’t value the tournament enough to pay the prices. They pay a lot more for other events so it’s not prices on their own. It’s a combination of price v interest in attending. If you raise the latter you can raise the former.

I still think if you can see a World Cup final for $70 there’s hardly any excuse from a cost point of view for not going if you are a rugby league fan.

Plenty of fans did not go and I suggest high pricing in a tournament ,though great, but in the off season, is a major reason for the poor attendances. Simple as that! Its not cheapening the product it's responding to the market.
 

deluded pom?

Coach
Messages
10,897
So you would have PR continue his wrong tact and having the very pertinent ticket prices ignored?! Really constructive! Just have the code keep making the same mistake! Great work fellas!
My thanks to PR was sarcastic because he was the one who dragged ticket prices back into the thread and you didn't need a second invite.
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
My thanks to PR was sarcastic because he was the one who dragged ticket prices back into the thread and you didn't need a second invite.

Understand. PR would not have worked that out. (Too much alcohol!) And I certainly don't lie down when I see the bad side get their way. (Unless it's impossible!)
 
Messages
3,000
Does anyone have the final crowd figure for the RLWC?

Its probably in here somewhere but ive been back a few pages and its all Perth Red stories
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
69,542
Ah well at least I tried. Thanks PR.

Haha apologies for opening the door again Mate but he’s been a stuck record on every thread for weeks, he’s not changing his tune now lol.

I’ll remember an awsome World Cup, administration of it wasn’t great but if you are a RL fan you are used to that so don’t let it get in the way of enjoying the great things about RLWC. If you got annoyed by sht nrl management there’d be no fans of the game left lol,.

Hopefully by the time Australia gets to host another one we will have better management in place and we will have more committed Australian RL fans following the game, but I won’t hold my breath.
 

miguel de cervantes

First Grade
Messages
7,473
I'm surprised no one has mentioned league fatigue as a reason for the porr attendences. Perhaps people have simply had enough for the year.
 

Valheru

Coach
Messages
19,172
Yeh I didn’t realise hw sht Australian rl fans really are and that you really do have to devalue the tournament, screw your profits and give tickets at knock down prices just to get people to turn up to a once in a 12year major sporting event. Hopefully Sth Africa will bid for 2029 and we won’t be embarrassed by Australia again for at least20 years!

Most Australians don't see it as a major sporting event. We can sugar coat it all we want and say they should but the fact is they don't. I've been banging on about this for 6 weeks now but only a drastic increase in competitiveness will fix this, which we are a long way off.

Out of interest what do you think USA/Canada/South Africa would have got for some of these games? There could be some truly embarrassing crowds in the world cups hosted there.
 
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3,000
Thanks

Interesting to see what the profit ends up. Hopefully at least the high ticket prices will result in a profit closer to $10m than $7m

I guess if that's the case then the organisers will have been justified in charging higher prices
 

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