The over reaching financial position must be influencing everything IMHO. I don't know what the debt is for the redevelopment, but I've heard £45m - granted, that includes the cricket side of things. The club's essentially a business, don't forget, and the idea is that you make a profit - otherwise the writing's on the wall.
There were 11000 there yesterday (including, I thought, terrific passionate committed supporters from the far east.....). I'd think that's a good crowd for SL on a Saturday in the late summer. How many will the new ground take ? 20,000 ? Can't see any way to conjure up many more fans now - the opposite will surely apply as Mr Bielsa (hope that's right) attracts thousands more to Elland Road. And people will struggle to pay to support both codes, so something will have to give.
The marketing office's vision may be different but the reality will be a half empty stadium for much of the time (echoes of supporting the Tykes with 2000 in....).
The new prices for 2019 are, inevitably, higher then at present. The dilemma of course is pitching them at a level which will bring in revenue rather then kill off support - only time will tell whether they've got it right.
I agree that the coaches and team need strengthening, but you need money to do that. And as things are progressing there won't be enough.

(BTW I watched Ferres through the game on Sat. What does he do ? A couple of desultory hit ups, and a conspicuous plan to put himself where the action isn't)

Quality post - ignore your important clients and they wont be your important clients.

If you want to increase your asking price then there needs to be some justification - why should sponsors pay a premium for the same old garbage. If you think GH totally ignored his most important revenue stream then your understanding of business and how it works is lacking.

Some justification, have you seen the videos of the new corperate bars, boxes, dining area. They are vastly vastly superior to anything in the game and rival anything in any sport. And they are not asking for an unreasonable increase for those superb facilities.

Those facilities (which I agree look excellent) are only of any interest to customers who primarily want to enjoy the product on the field. I've done enough corporate entertaining (where I'm trying to get customers interested in an event) to know that if the event is poor then it doesn't matter a jot what the facilities are like.

The analogy is are you better off being happy at home or bored in luxury? Without the right quality product on the field (that means both teams) then the facilities are almost meaningless.

They are not that superior to the Lewis Jones - the boxes I would agree are pretty special but you have to be able to get customers to the venue - there is no parking either.

If the product on the field doesn't stimulate customers to want to attend then the money is completely wasted. That in a nutshell was a contributory factor to the decision to change management. RL isn't the draw that soccer is - so its got to be good.

Great facilities in the championship are not as useful as good facilities in SL.

Having been to a fair few corporate sporting events, the main difference is that more 'niche' sports have to work harder all round - both on and off field. If something's seen as an event it will sell itself (e.g. rugby internationals), whereas for the niche sports you have to create an experience that actually makes people want to come back. A run-of-the-mill SL game wouldn't be seen as an event, so the whole experience has to be good, and that does include the game itself IMO.