Quote Beastwood="Beastwood"I beg to differ - we got 17k for Warrington last week and with Wigan top of the pile at the minute, it's going to be a huge game.
And we want a nice challenge cup run.
Besides, last years 4th round tie against Saints at Headingley was 17,689 so there is a market here for challenege cup clashes.'"
The Warrington game was in SL so your ST holders would have got in without having to pay extra, unlike the CC game. Fans throughout the clubs won't pay extra to attend cup games so you won't match the numbers.
We are top of the league but as the away team our ticket allocation is limited so even selling them all would have little overall effect. Many of our fans didn't bother to buy tickets for a semi last year against a local rival so we likely wouldn't sell any more than 3k anyway depite the resurgence.
Our fans want a run to Wembley too but many people still aren't prepared to pay to attend matches other than the final (unless they don't have to pay)
The 4th round tie last year as it did this year had free tickets for ST holders (of Leeds and Saints) so people that will not fork out extra for a cup ticket will attend as they don't have to pay to do so. The tie would not have got a crowd much over half the one one it did had the tickets not been free. That is why the free ticket scheme was introduced.
The ties you mention cannot be used as a like for like comparison as the tickets were included in the cost of a ST. The previous Leeds v Wigan ties were not included in a ST so give a truer indication of the likely level of support. I know that your home crowds are much higher than 10k but like it or not many people will pay for a ST and will not pay to attend any other games except for the CC final and Grand Final.