I believe there is an enquiry going on about the £25 tickets being shown as ‘sold out’ forcing fans to cough up the higher £40 tickets. Those so called “sold out’ tickets would have been in the Saints East Stand as well, the World Cup organisers and ticket master will have some explaining to do further down the track.
It’s not rocket science to understand that the stand facing the cameras should be priced up to sell out quickly and fans pay £25 to £40. So what do the organisers do in reality, price a lot of the north stand at £70 so that it is empty directly opposite the cameras.
i was having a look at one of the games at warrington next week off the back of this, both the £70 quid seating and the £20(might be 25) quid seating now says 'unavailable'
Its 40 quid for me to get my spec in the southstand, and there's 4 year old pigeon poop there as well, so its not ecouraging
“You are playing a game of football this afternoon but more than that you are playing for England, and more even than that, you are playing for right versus wrong. You will win because you have to win. Don’t forget that message from home. England expects every one of you to do his duty.”
I think the prices aren't far off being about right, although there are definitely plenty of examples that skew towards too expensive rather than too cheap. I could choose to go to more, particularly if I lived in the North of England and I'm not rich. I appreciate our core audience is largely made up of those who are more likely to be hit hardest by the current economy, but the game needs to attract more who can afford these expensive tickets, and premium events, particularly internationals, are the best way to grow our audience in non-traditional areas.
The main reason I am going to so few games is the ticketing system, it is so bad I was tempted to just watch a RLWC on TV for the first time since 1995. For the games I decided I couldn't miss I bought tickets at the highest "grade" I thought reasonable for the game on offer, but had no knowledge about where I would be sitting. The tickets were made available around the start of the month and they are all in parts of the stadium I wouldn't select myself, and I am not even confident these "grades" are where the stadium guides said they would be when I bought them over a year ago.
Watching the game on catch up now and i honestly couldn't believe that decision. Not a hard decision to make and after watching it back so many times the video ref still gets it wrong. Unbelievable!
People who want to defend RL no matter what always say things like, "It's a premium product", "you're watching the world's best players", and ask questions like, "how much do football World Cup tickets cost?", or "how much do you pay to watch some poor games in Super League?"
My answer to all of these:
It's not a premium product! Even if it was, do you think moneyed people are going to hear that some tickets cost £70 and think, "wow, that must be good" and snap them up? You don't attract new people by charging a fortune. You attract new people by making it a relatively affordable family day out. You also don't attract your traditional existing fan base by trying to charge them more than they've been used to paying. You just put them off with that and make them less inclined to bother.
You're not watching the world's best players in the vast majority of games. In a few games you are, yes, but in most definitely not. RL players aren't superstars anyway, so even if you go to an Australia game, you won't know all the players if you don't watch the NRL every week. Even if you do go to an Australia game, where you definitely will see some of the world's best players, you're also very likely to see a one sided fixture, because, you know, it's not really a premium product.
It doesn't matter how much other events cost. I don't know about Qatar, but if the football World Cup was in the UK right now it could sell out every game twice over. The final could sell out ten times over, long before anyone even knows who will be in it. RL doesn't have that demand, so it's an irrelevant comparison.
This competition is more expensive than Super League, and someone has said above it costs £40 to get into the South Stand in Warrington for these fixtures. I have a season ticket in that stand, and it is nowhere near £40 a game to watch Super League there. It is roughly half that, so if that £40 figure is true they're charging double what a lot would expect to pay! I will also fully acknowledge that I've watched a lot of dross there, especially this past season, but most Warrington people are naturally more likely to want to watch Warrington than watch an international as a neutral aren't we? Same goes for every town and team.
In short, these games are well overpriced, simple as that. I'm going to the final and that's it. I wasn't thrilled at having to pay £60 to do so, but I will admit the final is a bit of a premium product.
Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch.
Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty.
And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do.
Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.
Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch.
Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty.
And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do.
Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.
People who want to defend RL no matter what always say things like, "It's a premium product", "you're watching the world's best players", and ask questions like, "how much do football World Cup tickets cost?", or "how much do you pay to watch some poor games in Super League?"
My answer to all of these:
It's not a premium product! Even if it was, do you think moneyed people are going to hear that some tickets cost £70 and think, "wow, that must be good" and snap them up? You don't attract new people by charging a fortune. You attract new people by making it a relatively affordable family day out. You also don't attract your traditional existing fan base by trying to charge them more than they've been used to paying. You just put them off with that and make them less inclined to bother.
You're not watching the world's best players in the vast majority of games. In a few games you are, yes, but in most definitely not. RL players aren't superstars anyway, so even if you go to an Australia game, you won't know all the players if you don't watch the NRL every week. Even if you do go to an Australia game, where you definitely will see some of the world's best players, you're also very likely to see a one sided fixture, because, you know, it's not really a premium product.
It doesn't matter how much other events cost. I don't know about Qatar, but if the football World Cup was in the UK right now it could sell out every game twice over. The final could sell out ten times over, long before anyone even knows who will be in it. RL doesn't have that demand, so it's an irrelevant comparison.
This competition is more expensive than Super League, and someone has said above it costs £40 to get into the South Stand in Warrington for these fixtures. I have a season ticket in that stand, and it is nowhere near £40 a game to watch Super League there. It is roughly half that, so if that £40 figure is true they're charging double what a lot would expect to pay! I will also fully acknowledge that I've watched a lot of dross there, especially this past season, but most Warrington people are naturally more likely to want to watch Warrington than watch an international as a neutral aren't we? Same goes for every town and team.
In short, these games are well overpriced, simple as that. I'm going to the final and that's it. I wasn't thrilled at having to pay £60 to do so, but I will admit the final is a bit of a premium product.
Cheaper tickets in this world cup hasn't always equated to higher demand though, last night at Leigh, most tickets were £15, there was 6.8k there, the Doncaster game was £20 a ticket, only 4k there. The last world cup only had 7 games live on BBC, this one has all of them, that'll be a massive factor why the crowds are down. People have some weird obsession about "their seat" being more expensive, therefore they won't go. If you think the section you normally go in is too expensive, go in a cheaper bit, you might enjoy the different view.
Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch.
Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty.
And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do.
Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.
The last international game at the Kcom only attracted 17k and that was England v kiwis, I imagine tickets were slightly cheaper for that game, but still
The Ghost of '99 wrote:
Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch.
Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty.
And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do.
Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.
The last international game at the Kcom only attracted 17k and that was England v kiwis, I imagine tickets were slightly cheaper for that game, but still
Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch.
Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty.
And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do.
Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.
Thats my take on it too, the ridiculous high top bands tickets have created a bad smell and people are then just switched off and won't go.
Hull is both a RL mad city and an economically depressed one you can't kid us Jamaica are worth paying £70 to watch.
The Ghost of '99 wrote:
Look at this ticket map for the KC Stadium, or whatever it's called now, for NZ vs Jamaica. OK the Kiwis are a top tier team but this is going to be a massive mismatch.
Cat B tickets are £55, Cat A are £70. Yes there are £25 ones in Cat D but the whole noise around this "wow, that's extreme". It has the effect not just of not selling the ridiculously overpriced ones but also no doubt makes people just wary of even the lower priced ones, knowing that the rest of the stadium is going to be largely empty.
And... they've made equivalent tickets on the tv facing side more expensive than the same seats on the non tv facing side - the opposite of what anyone in their right mind would do.
Who, in their right mind, who even vaguely understands Rugby League and its fanbase, would think that is an appropriate pricing structure for this game? It's not just wrong it's idiotic.
Thats my take on it too, the ridiculous high top bands tickets have created a bad smell and people are then just switched off and won't go.
Hull is both a RL mad city and an economically depressed one you can't kid us Jamaica are worth paying £70 to watch.