Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:16 pm  

Starbug wrote:

A low interest game that you are well capable of winning , the perfect opportunity , if the will to make it happen was there ?

It would be a tall order for the community team to push 1500 tickets around the city in a week, don't you think?

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:54 pm  

EX.SALF.UNI wrote: It would be a tall order for the community team to push 1500 tickets around the city in a week, don't you think? Is it too much to ask that they could identify this fixture sooner and work on boosting the attendance? Someone has put a few extracts from the RFL's Operational Rules on the Virtual Terrace, with the following being rather interesting ahead of Friday: Attendances below 5,000 If for any reason a club can foresee any individual match attendance falling below 5,000 spectators, they should highlight this to the RFL Marketing department at least one month out from the fixture. The Marketing department will then work in partnership with the Club to explore all avenues to drive this attendance above the 5,000 threshold. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=520453 So either we're being optimistic and not expecting a sub-5,000 crowd, we have actually been working behind the scenes with the RFL to push the fixture (although I'd hope that would result in the East Stand being open) or we've not done what we should have. I'd hope and assume it's the middle one, to be honest.

EX.SALF.UNI wrote: It would be a tall order for the community team to push 1500 tickets around the city in a week, don't you think? Is it too much to ask that they could identify this fixture sooner and work on boosting the attendance? Someone has put a few extracts from the RFL's Operational Rules on the Virtual Terrace, with the following being rather interesting ahead of Friday: Attendances below 5,000 If for any reason a club can foresee any individual match attendance falling below 5,000 spectators, they should highlight this to the RFL Marketing department at least one month out from the fixture. The Marketing department will then work in partnership with the Club to explore all avenues to drive this attendance above the 5,000 threshold. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=520453 So either we're being optimistic and not expecting a sub-5,000 crowd, we have actually been working behind the scenes with the RFL to push the fixture (although I'd hope that would result in the East Stand being open) or we've not done what we should have. I'd hope and assume it's the middle one, to be honest.

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:58 pm  

EX.SALF.UNI wrote:

It would be a tall order for the community team to push 1500 tickets around the city in a week, don't you think?

See above post

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:25 pm  

GT wrote:

So either we're being optimistic and not expecting a sub-5,000 crowd, we have actually been working behind the scenes with the RFL to push the fixture (although I'd hope that would result in the East Stand being open) or we've not done what we should have. I'd hope and assume it's the middle one, to be honest.

Hmm... I don't know much about the working relationship but would a cry for marketing help contradict the sexy document that secured our franchise, that referenced estimated crowds (albeit external estimations)?

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:32 pm  

EX.SALF.UNI wrote:

Hmm... I don't know much about the working relationship but would a cry for marketing help contradict the sexy document that secured our franchise, that referenced estimated crowds (albeit external estimations)?

Maybe, maybe not, but if the mechanisms are there in place then why not use them? The RFL must expect that this will crop up from time to time, otherwise it would not be mentioned in their Operational Rules. Aside from London, it's only going to be a problem once or twice a season for most clubs, so I can't see it being a major issue if you do use it.

It'd be interesting to know what, if any, sanctions there are for having a sub-5,000 crowd when you've not flagged up the potential beforehand.

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 3:09 pm  

I work for a company in Mcr city centre that AFAIK employs around 10,000 people here at head office. We've got an extremely popular Sports & Social Club that sells/gives away tickets all the time for concerts/sporting events. The company does happen to be the main sponsor of the Championship tho so I can only assume there may be a conflict of interest if they start dishing out a few free SL tickets?

However, what about the likes of BUpa/Barclays/RBS etc that have major offices on the quays or even Media City seeing as they're one of our major sponsors? Surely a few hundred freebies for the Broncos match would be worth a shout? We might even get Paxman over for the game seeing as we're playing a London club!

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:23 pm  

GT wrote:

Maybe, maybe not, but if the mechanisms are there in place then why not use them? The RFL must expect that this will crop up from time to time, otherwise it would not be mentioned in their Operational Rules. Aside from London, it's only going to be a problem once or twice a season for most clubs, so I can't see it being a major issue if you do use it.

It'd be interesting to know what, if any, sanctions there are for having a sub-5,000 crowd when you've not flagged up the potential beforehand.

"at least one month from the fixture" is the killer detail here though. I think it's fair to say we were all hoping for a more impressive influx of newbies even after the Cas game. There'll be precious little hope of that kind remaining now so I guess targetting key games should be a consideration.

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:37 pm  

I cant believe the club haven’t marketed this game in any way shape or form, no offers nothing I don’t think posting a downloadable poster on facebook for fans to display can classed as marketing.

Firday will see around 2.5k but the club just seem to be happy with that, the first two crowds of the season have been very disappointing with the away fans making the figures look ‘respectable’ so to speak. Having won our last two and Friday being a winnable game lets try and get more fans in and hopefully if we win they will come back.

We should be hitting at least 5k home fans minimum. The club in the off season had a golden opportunity to go out into the new areas surrounding the stadium promoting it, selling it to people etc did they actually do anything apart from get a few more likes on facebook? They had a brand new facility and it was surely the marketing department’s job to go and sell it to potential new supporters and get the place bouncing and yet again they have failed miserably. Nothing has changed since moving and it has been reflected in the past two attendances, we are still approaching things with the same attitude and things need to change and fast. Here we are two home games into the season and we are playing in front of closed stands, even the food stand wasn’t open in the south east corner. Why? It seems to me the club seem happy just to carry on plodding on like we have done for years and relying on the likes of Warrington/Wigan to boost out average attendances which is not good enough. The crowds we have had have been poor but sadly predictable.

As most of us knew the “build it and they will come just look at Hull & Warrington” myth has been blown out of the water and every crowd we get know has to be earned. If they ever honestly thought the 8k mark was going to be achieved by just having a new facility they were sadly deluded and if they didn’t why haven’t they done anything about it?

This is our one chance to make something of ourselves it is a time we should be seeing an increase in attendances a push by our marketing department and yet nothing has changed. With 3k homes fans and as a professional sports club with the rent we have to pay there is no way we are going to be able to sustain SL much longer.

I read on facebook the club will be doing a bit more to be marketing the Leeds game, but not the London game WHY? FFS should we just be happy to get 3k? should we just shut up and get on with it like we have done for years? The leeds game is inevitably going to see a crowd of 5-6k anyway why not try and boost Fridays attendance so it’s less embarrassing and if we win these people will come back against Leeds. Simple. Or should we just write games like London/Catalan off and rely on the big teams to bring a few down again like we have done for years.

Do I think we will do it? Quite simply, no. David Tarry is the man to change it and make things happen and I don’t have a single bit of faith in him to get us out of the sh!it and start pulling us in the right direction. I sincerely hope im wrong but playing in front of half closed stadiums the SMC must be wondering what the hell they have got themselves into.

Im sick of excuses know someone at top needs to take charge and sort things drastically before it’s to late.

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:50 pm  

EX.SALF.UNI wrote:

"at least one month from the fixture" is the killer detail here though. I think it's fair to say we were all hoping for a more impressive influx of newbies even after the Cas game. There'll be precious little hope of that kind remaining now so I guess targetting key games should be a consideration.

That is a very good point. There would have been nothing wrong in being prepared, however. Always have a back-up plan. We seem to have relied far too much on the "new stadium" factor without really pushing it.

Re: east stand closed : Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:43 pm  

SaleSlim wrote:

I work for a company in Mcr city centre that AFAIK employs around 10,000 people here at head office. We've got an extremely popular Sports & Social Club that sells/gives away tickets all the time for concerts/sporting events. The company does happen to be the main sponsor of the Championship tho so I can only assume there may be a conflict of interest if they start dishing out a few free SL tickets?

However, what about the likes of BUpa/Barclays/RBS etc that have major offices on the quays or even Media City seeing as they're one of our major sponsors? Surely a few hundred freebies for the Broncos match would be worth a shout? We might even get Paxman over for the game seeing as we're playing a London club!

Apparently it's not as easy as this.

The company I work for every month have a chosen charity and match any money made, I have nominated the foundation and been excepted. One thing I was hoping to get was cheaper tickets for members of staff to help raise awareness but apparently now the stadium management company have a say in if this can be done or not. Pity as I'd envisage that the foundation will make maybe £2000 and the very real possibility of ongoing help but it does seem to me that the request won't go down well.