Quote gutterfax="gutterfax"...the biggest threat to RL is RL fans themselves.....£7.50 a ticket and still they are struggling
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A thousand times this....
RL is a bloody tough sell to anybody - and the RFL's cause isn't exactly helped.
The RFL's biggest asset is it's 'audience'. The fans are what the RFL has to sell to sponsors, the press and anyone else who is looking to spend a few quid in exchange for some exposure.
The RFL has struggled to sell 'access' to it's audience over the last few years (in the form of lucrative competition sponsorship), but let's be brutally frank here, it's trying to sell a Primark jumper to people who are used to shopping in Harvey Nichols.
Put yourself in the position of a blue-chip sponsor, or a media publication with an affluent reader-base. You're approached by the RFL and you ask the most basic of questions; "what's your audience"?
"Well, Mr BMW or Mr Telegraph, our audience is a relatively small group of people, the majority of which support badly-run clubs in small towns in the north of England. They're suspicious (and even resentful) of anything south of Chesterfield and most of them are outraged when they're asked to pay more than £15 to attend a semi-final of an elite competition."
Other than Poundland or Brighthouse, who in their right mind is going to want to pay for access to that audience? Which media outlet is going to think that catering to that readership is going to help them attract big-budget advertisers?
There is a huge onus here not only on the RFL but also on the clubs to attract a 'better' audience. One that will come into the game, spend money, talk positively about the sport and be the sort of people that advertisers want to talk to. To do that, clubs need to pack it in with the bargain basement pricing and instead, offer the facilities that those audiences expect, offer an experience that is worthy of a premium price tag and start using tactical offers tactically. What they need to do is start using that dirty "M" word - "marketing".
