Quote: Hopie "Didn't the last final at Old Trafford sell out before the tournament began? Significantly less than 2013 would be a poor outcome. Ticket sales across the board have clearly been disappointing but they need to learn the right lessons. The highest prices were probably a bit too high for some of the games, but the lowest prices were probably about right. I hope we don't go back to basically giving tickets away for the pinnacle events of the game. Although the Women's and Wheelchair events are relatively new, I doubt selling concession tickets for a couple of quid made a big increase to crowds overall. Lowest price tickets didn't sell out for the big games involving England's men so cheaper doesn't always mean more sales.
Saying things are sold out when they are not, having a ticketing website that is a disaster, and not letting you select a seat in advance was a horrible combination of ideas that would have impacted on ticket sales. I also believe the aim of selling tickets to those outside the "core" audience is the right one. Face it, our "core" audience is effectively those small number of fans who are willing to pay in advance and travel, think how many go to away games compared to home, large numbers of season ticket holders don't go to cup/playoff games for their own team in their own ground, and won't travel to neutral grounds for semi finals/magic weekend.
As well as getting more people to play the game, we need to find a way to attract those who will spend the money, if our core audience is those who don't have a lot of disposable income it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with that audience, but it does mean we have to work with less income, and be less attractive to sponsors. Internationals are more attractive to the non-core audience than Super League will ever be. However tickets do need to go on sale well in advance, as we did for this tournament and knew the fixtures and they were well publicised in national media. I'd buy tickets for genuine big ticket internationals this time next year if they were available and book off time to travel to the games. Sort out the calendar, and ensure that clubs don't reduce the international side of the game's chance of success.'"
Just had a google and found an article from October 2013 so juat before the start that said 65k sold for the Final, so it didnt sell out before but I think it may have sold out before the finalists were confirmed.
Agree that the ticket website wasnt user freindly, and having to register just to even look for tickets probably put some off.
