| FORUMS > The Virtual Terrace > This is how we should market RL |
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4u1bmhE0o4
So I’m up late, watching college football on espn and the solution to RL’s problems has come to me in a flash of inspiration. College Football in the states has a lot of similarities to rugby league in the UK. A game built on tradition spanning more than 100 years, rivalries which are equally as old. There’s a professional cousin where much more money can be made but college games actually get larger attendances. And…..they generate huge TV revenue deals.
Why?
Because of the tradition, the rivalries, the histories, the stories going back generations, the pride in your local team. And of course, as you’ll see in the clip - the gameday experience! I’m watching Penn State v Auburn and no-one going to this game tonight would say they’ve not enjoyed it….whatever the result. Getting so many people bought into the same thing is amazing!
Imagine a “White Out” game at St Helens…..everyone wearing white, get there an hour before, get the music blasting, Zombie Nation…. “WE ARE THE SAINTS!!”. Make it so that there’s only one place to be in town on that Friday / Saturday night. A can’t miss experience.
Don’t worry about London, Toronto, New York or whatever, let’s make our game the biggest event in the towns we already play in. It would look amazing on TV and we go from there. I know for me (40s), for you (60s probably) the game itself should be enough…..here’s some news..it’s not! We’re in competition, not as a sport but as an entertainment product - so let’s get it bloody set up as such.
Look at the Hundred or the IPL in cricket….fake teams that have no real basis. We have such a huge headstart on that, play to our strengths.
Anyway, if anyone at Saints or RL marketing want to talk about it, you know where I am
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4u1bmhE0o4
So I’m up late, watching college football on espn and the solution to RL’s problems has come to me in a flash of inspiration. College Football in the states has a lot of similarities to rugby league in the UK. A game built on tradition spanning more than 100 years, rivalries which are equally as old. There’s a professional cousin where much more money can be made but college games actually get larger attendances. And…..they generate huge TV revenue deals.
Why?
Because of the tradition, the rivalries, the histories, the stories going back generations, the pride in your local team. And of course, as you’ll see in the clip - the gameday experience! I’m watching Penn State v Auburn and no-one going to this game tonight would say they’ve not enjoyed it….whatever the result. Getting so many people bought into the same thing is amazing!
Imagine a “White Out” game at St Helens…..everyone wearing white, get there an hour before, get the music blasting, Zombie Nation…. “WE ARE THE SAINTS!!”. Make it so that there’s only one place to be in town on that Friday / Saturday night. A can’t miss experience.
Don’t worry about London, Toronto, New York or whatever, let’s make our game the biggest event in the towns we already play in. It would look amazing on TV and we go from there. I know for me (40s), for you (60s probably) the game itself should be enough…..here’s some news..it’s not! We’re in competition, not as a sport but as an entertainment product - so let’s get it bloody set up as such.
Look at the Hundred or the IPL in cricket….fake teams that have no real basis. We have such a huge headstart on that, play to our strengths.
Anyway, if anyone at Saints or RL marketing want to talk about it, you know where I am
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| Quote: HertsSaint "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v
I could not agree more. The game day experience being bigger and better MUST be a priority for all clubs and the RFL.
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Some of us *myself included* have posted this kind of "College Football" stuff on the Leigh fans pages on FB recently. Clubs need to engage with fans & ask & listen to what we like.
Ask if there is a popular song to enter to like "Jump Around" & "Enter Sandman" used by College grid iron teams. Ask what the club can do for kids & adults alike to get us in early & spending money.
Do we want a 9's Comp ?
The big difference here is that College Football is attracting 40,000 + fans & R.L 3k - 10k !!! Easier to create a scene like that with a rammed full stadium every week.
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College football is bigger than all sports/leagues over here except the Premier League.
There are no comparisons you can make to RL in terms of investment, spectacle, level of athlete.
I think Leeds make around £10m revenue? Penn State make £75m+ and they’re barely in the top 15 colleges for revenue.
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| Quote: Wigg'n "College football is bigger than all sports/leagues over here except the Premier League.
There are no comparisons you can make to RL in terms of investment, spectacle, level of athlete.
I think Leeds make around £10m revenue? Penn State make £75m+ and they’re barely in the top 15 colleges for revenue.'"
Yes I know - 106,000 at the game last night. Not sure your point? Obviously they’re bigger but that wasn’t the point I was making. I gave a whole list of similarities in the areas they leverage which are not dissimilar to our strengths and using these to promote RL seems a good direction to market our game. |
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| Quote: HertsSaint "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v
Back of a beer mat musings do not make for a structured achievable plan. YOU are already a RL fan. The good folk who live in St Helens, Wigan, Warrington etc already know the teams exist and that games are on....they just don't care enough to go.
You're correct that the matchday experience isn't as good as it could be, but that's more to do with the clubs themselves cutting back, not the game as a whole.
Your "imagine a white out" comments betrays you as a fan. What is needed is non RL people to be engaged in selling the sport. The RLWC 2013 semi final was marketed by a non RL company and was a huge success. RL has to stop milkingnth same fans (some clubs issue 4 or more replica shirts a year) and reach out to new ones.....a "white out" ain't going to do that.
The game needs to reconnect with its roots....schools, amateurs, local companies.....I recall Wigan selling half a stand to a local firm a few years back for a game....Heinz? Didn't the big soup sponsorship thing happen soon after? That's how you grow the game......and forget the hundred or IPL.....the amount of money ploughed into the hundred by the ECB would bankrupt us....and the ipl is owned by billionaires.
College football is based around affordability and school rivalries......they have societies and groups who are responsible for whipping up support and selling packages.......if you want to engage locals as fans, start with the schools.....attending games is a habit and if you get them young you've got them for life.....it's a problem now faced by football in the UK with 18-25 years odld being less engaged with the game now than at any time in the modern era (80's onwards)
Eddie hearn is quite probably the answer. It's just that the RFL/SL can't agree on what th question is.
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College football has always been my second favourite sport after RL.
Been a crimson tide fan for as long as I can remember
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Isn't College Football huge somewhat because of the relative lack of other big sports teams in some town/cities in the USA ?
So you can pull in RL supporters via a gimmick, Keighley and Bradford did that pretty well, but unlike the USA there's plenty of other UK sports vying for your supporters attention within a 1 hour drive
I don't disagree that the game needs to re-engage to grow, just in how it does that.
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| Quote: shinymcshine "Isn't College Football huge somewhat because of the relative lack of other big sports teams in some town/cities in the USA ? So you can pull in RL supporters via a gimmick, Keighley and Bradford did that pretty well, but unlike the USA there's plenty of other UK sports vying for your supporters attention within a 1 hour drive
I don't disagree that the game needs to re-engage to grow, just in how it does that.'"
Very good down to earth post.
People know what they want and what's on offer, last Friday 13,000 found their way to Headingley????.
Fair play to genuine posters who float such ideas
Truth is however the cost of mass advertising campaigns always far outweighs the value of the number of fans that are consequently attracted to the game.
Leeds marketing know how to best get a crowd, without spending an extra £10,000 on advertising only to sell £5,000 worth of extra tickets. |
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As much as we should be trying this, can you imagine rl fans, 'what they want me to wear a *insert colour* t shirt, they can chuff off, im not doing that'
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| Quote: shinymcshine "Isn't College Football huge somewhat because of the relative lack of other big sports teams in some town/cities in the USA ?
'"
That's a good point.
28 U.S. states don't have an NFL team, for example. |
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| Quote: Jack Napier "That's a good point.
28 U.S. states don't have an NFL team, for example.'"
It’s completely wrong though.
The reason college football is so popular is simply because Americans love football.
Towns completely close down on a Friday when their local high school is playing.
Thats how popular it is. |
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| Quote: Jack Napier "That's a good point.
28 U.S. states don't have an NFL team, for example.'"
The current scenario across all 3 top tiers of RL in the UK is as follows:
WEST YORKSHIRE - 11
GREATER MANCHESTER - 6
CUMBRIA - 3
EAST RIDING YORKSHIRE - 2
LONDON - 2
WALES - 2
FRANCE- 2
SOUTH YORKSHIRE -2
NORTH YORKSHIRE - 1
MERSEYSIDE - 1
CHESHIRE - 2
WEST MIDLANDS -1
NEWCASTLE - 1
by my calculations and based on 48 counties in England & wales, there are 36 without a professional/semi-professional Rugby League team. So half of the USA doesn't have an NFL team......75% of England and Wales don't gave a RL team.
Solution?
Schools.
Alas, a march has been stolen there by other sports, so it is community clubs where the game needs to focus its attention. If enough kids at a school are playing RL at club level, then the schools will take notice....and I am sure that if you start such a campaign of recruitment and awareness in a major metropolitan area like London, you'll reap long terms rewards, so no doubt the RFL will hold summer training camps in west Yorkshire...because with 45% of the pro sides coming from a county with the word YORKSHIRE in it, it's a mystery why the country thinks we're nothing more than a local hobby  |
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| Quote: orangeman ". If enough kids at a school are playing RL at club level, then the schools will take notice.
Absolute garbage.
Across the north where RL is strong many schools play Union ignoring the kids preference for league, because the head may be a toff, and he may engage union minded sports teachers. The record is they do not take notice at all. I grew up on a big northern council estate where we all watched Rugby League. The estate comprehensive school we attended played exclusively Union. Same where we live now. Bradford Bulls signed one of the lads from the local school to play for their academy, so a clear pathway was in place. Despite this and the kids again being RL minded Union is forced on them.
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| Quote: Donnyman "Absolute garbage.
Across the north where RL is strong many schools play Union ignoring the kids preference for league, because the head may be a toff, and he may engage union minded sports teachers. The record is they do not take notice at all. I grew up on a big northern council estate where we all watched Rugby League. The estate comprehensive school we attended played exclusively Union. Same where we live now. Bradford Bulls signed one of the lads from the local school to play for their academy, so a clear pathway was in place. Despite this and the kids again being RL minded Union is forced on them.'"
I've heard so bull in my time and a fair amount of it from you and your other accounts, but there's so much to unpack there it might take a whileAcross the north where RL is strong[/code
Hmm....er, OK.
14,500 fans rocked up to watch Hull City football side at the weekend. This is at the lower tier of the 2nd tier of the football pyramid, with City recently bouncing up. Up the road (you mentioned union, not I), Newcastle hosted Harlequins watched by a measly 6,000 fans, whilst Sale managed 7,500 (apparently)......28k fans over 3 games in the north including a lower tier football game...that's more than day 2 of the Premiere RL Magic weekend this year.....2 tiy union clubs and a recently promoted soccer team draw bigger crowds than the likes of Wigan...yeah...... 
You dragged union into this, I didn't, but whilst we're here......They will play a shed load of internationals this autumn to do little more than generate revenue and future revenues......show me the TV deal for The France England RL game and I'll maybe listen to your whining.......Ireland are apparently playing in Las Vegas......I doubt a local there Knows what Rugby is, but they'll play in a full stadium with a few million watching on TV.......miniscule in terms of college football, but between them ad the all black a week later, 100,000 fans will have paid to watch a game of union in America.....
Back on thread. Maybe a few purist RL schools in the north eed to have ther games broadcast on youtube/ourleague? Kids games of union are shown here in little old NZ and there's still only one game in town... |
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