On a thread on our board one fan asked if saints moving the game against us to Anfield was a good idea... personally I would welcome this kind of move with efforts to try and get a much bigger crowd and attract the media.

Moves like this are big news and very succesful in RU and similar moves are often made in the NRL.

This got me thinking about Leeds moving their game against Bradford to Elland Road. Is this the kind of thing you as fans would welcome? Would you support such a move? Would the fans get behind it and turn out? Would it be a waste of time?

Leeds have had some special nights already at Elland Road with the WCC and personally I think moving the derby there would be a huge success. Elland Road is known by people all over Yorkshire and could attract new people to the game, not to mention the increased revenue from a possible bumper crowd and a cracking atmosphere with two sets of fans packed in...

I can't really see many disadvantages of turning a usual 20k crowd into 35k+ and allowing RL to absorb all the added media attention and the chance to attract extra fans to games. I'm pretty sure Leeds United and the Rhinos already have a strong relationship and this could make that relationship even stronger.

Rip the idea to shreads if you like but I'm sure most people would agree it would be fantastic for RL. What an event it would be and it could be the way to reignite the rivalry between the clubs which has not quite been the same from a neutrals point of view since 2006.

But Elland Road is near as dammit in 'Unslet! OK as a 'neutral' venue but for home games...? Them are mean, mean streets. Never get out of the car; absolutely goddam right. Unless you were going all the way.

Two words. Ken Bates.

I don't know why these things work in RU, its a very strange phenomenon that the first game of the Premier league can pull a capacity crowd for a London based double header at Twickenham and yet using the same principles of tempting local RU clubs with heavily discounted tickets and money back offers for the club funds, Leeds Carnegie can barely hit 6000 on a good day.

John Bentley bangs his head against all sorts of brick walls to raise interest in this region and he's not even trying to convert RL fans, he's constantly targeting local RU clubs across this region, a fan base thats already there but who won't come to Headingley, simply because they just won't ???

Would 35K turn out to watch a normal RL league game at Elland Rd ?

We couldn't manage it for a WCC which had a much better PR angle to hit the unsuspecting newbie's with, why would it work for a normal league match ?

Headingley is extremely profitable on a match day, even when you take out cash handed over at the turnstiles. Moving away from Headingley to Elland Road might pull in a few more of your "average punters" but the lost revenue from concession sales and, more importantly, corporates would be lost to whoever it is that owns Elland Road.

I just don’t think it’ll work at this moment in time. I’ll be surprised if even the targeted 20,000 people turn out at Odsal tomorrow night, never mind fill out Elland Road. The derby as you have said has ‘not quite been the same’ and I just don’t think these two could pull in a full Elland Road stadium with the way they are playing. Maybe it could have happened at the start of the season with a bit of spin. But anyone who fell for the spin at the start of the season has worked it out by now.

It simply can not be true that a full Headingley is more profitable for the Rhinos than a full Elland Road. There must be more bottom line profit, even after loosing the corporate, burgervans, club shop, etc to use Elland Road, otherwise they'd hold the WCC at HQ and be guaranteed a capacity crowd. GH doesn't strike me as the sort of man who'd use ER just so people wouldn't miss it, if it was HQ that would make more profit.

The key word there though is FULL. The question should really be... would an SL regular round fixture vs. Bradford fill Elland Road? Erm... that would be a No.

They couldn't risk holding it there, because unless they filled it (which it wouldn't) they'd have been better holding it at HQ.

I believe they would if it was marketed correctly.

Leeds also did fill it pretty much for one of the WCC.

Leeds will have 18k home fans for the derby at home later in the year.... no reason they couldn't push this over 25k with marketing efforts, offers for all the sports clubs in the area plus the added factor of the game being at Elland Road.

I agree with you if nothing is done to try and sell it out but if there is a propper effort to try and get a huge crowd then people will turn out. People will buy tickets if you make it easy for them and cheap.

Bradford would also be a part of this as well, we had the 'big one' against warrington last season and they brought nearly 5k, there is no reason why Bradford couldn't bring a similar amount.

It's amazing what a little bit of marketing can do, our home games against Quins last year drew around 19k for a game which would normally get 12k, that is a huge difference.

In 2009 we got 13k against Warrington and in 2010 this turned into almost 23k!!!!

If the club were willing to make it work then it would work. I just think it would be a quality way of raising the profile of the sport.

1. "Pretty much filling it" for one WCC's is totally different to filling it for Bradford.

2. Elland Road capacity is 40,000 so "pushing this over 25k with marketing efforts" would do little to no good whatsoever.

It would be a good idea, on a rare occasion as a marketing tool.

The RFL have got it partly right in staging the Leeds V Bradford derby on maundy thursday every year, the Hull Derby and the Saints v Wigan derby on the easter weekend as well. I would like to see them put more effort into this round of games. It is a double bank holiday. Near enough in the summer. It could really be something to build around.

Why not a few on the road games. But dont go too far, and really sell them. Have them the same day, over easter, in the same place, every year. Leeds V Bradford at Elland Road on Maundy Thursday, The Hull derby at the City Ground on Good Friday. Cas v Hudds at Bramall Lane on Good Friday. Saints V Wigan at the Reebok, Anfield or Goodison Park on the Saturday. Crusaders v Widnes at the Britannia. Warrington v Salford at the CoM. Quins v Catalans at Espanyol's new stadium on Sunday.

All within two hours of the clubs, market it well, get adverts in papers, on TV etc. Organise travel and sell tickets through amatuer clubs, do deals with coach companys etc to get the clubs 'normal' fans going, plus market it to the area as an event and use it to build interest.

With a long build up, and building a tradition, ive no doubt that we could sell out a couple of the games, and sell a lot of tickets for the others.

How could you do that without either scraping the MM or introducing a 28 round?! Would it be classed as home or away for which club?

For example if you classed ER as the Rhinos home match, it wouldn't be fair on Bradford for Leeds to make a shed load of money on the back of RFL Marketing and an increase 40k Elland Road crowd, and if you were to split the difference it wouldn't be fair on Leeds who've lost money on it.

alternate the 'home' team every year, split the profits 50/50

Why would any of the clubs be interested in getting less money that usual? [i(I'm assuming 50% of a bumper crowd less costs for renting a huge stadium would give you less money than you'd get for just getting capacity at your own ground.)[/i

What would happen when a new club comes in?

Why should Quins fans have an extra game in France to pay for?

Why would clubs want the disadvantage of losing out on a genuine home fixture which you're suggesting is played on an unfamiliar pitch?

Not a fan

I dont think you have understood.

The games would be the same as they would at the moment. Tomorrow Leeds play Bradford as their home game in the league. Under what i have proposed, Leeds this year would exchange a home game for 50% of the profit for a game against Bradford at Elland Road. Along with the less tangible benefits of the visibility it gives the game and the clubs, and the fact your product is seen by more than twice the amount of people it normally would. You would expect at least some of these would be converted into more regular fans, increasing your support base in the future.

The next year, Bradford would exchange their home game for 50% of the profit for a game against Leeds at Elland Road. So clubs would only miss a home game once every two years.

There wouldnt be any extra games, Quins wouldnt go to Les Catalans twice, they would go once, simply instead of going to Perpignan they would go to Barcelona.

There's some Walter Mitty moments going on here - the literary character, not the rlfans persona.

Why are people going to watch Leeds v Bradford if it's at Elland Road/Valley Parade rather than at Headingley/Odsal? If spectators aren't interested enough to go watch it at the traditional venue, what - other than heavily discounting tickets, which kills your profits - is going to persuade them to go watch it at a different one?

WCC attendances have absolutely no relevance to the discussion. That's a one-off game, attended by plenty of neutrals and provides the only opportunity to see an NRL club side "in the flesh" for the majority of people.