We are selling something bigger than 13 matches, replica shirts etc.

You are right there are things that can be done on a local level but even picking one game, to fulfil it's potential, needs both clubs buy in and often these are clubs in competition with each other. That needs central leadership

There is also the huge economies of scale that would be gained by this being done centrally that we lose out on.

On a more 'philosophical' level of you will, the RFL are the games leaders, there is not much leadership in saying it's the clubs fault.

You can lead a club to a marketing opportunity, but you can't make it invest the time and money to exploit it to the fullest.

The RFL should not be dictating to its member clubs how they run their businesses on such a micro level.

The NRL do.

Clubs are "invited" to play intheir competition, but woe betide if you screw up.

In this country it's who shouts loudest and a slap on the wrist!

The RFL need to grow a pair.

Spot on...both times.

How did the Marketing/Promotional company hired to promote the "Big Hit" in London 2013 manage to get 67,000 people into the stadium? IIRC that was the biggest crowd ever to watch an England RL match anywhere in the world....how did they get these people into the game? What did they sell to them?

Yep, they really came down on Newcastle like a tonne of bricks eh.

eh?
The Knights are pretty well supported in the NRL.

The GB brand secured a Wembley attendance of 73,631 in 1992 against Australia. It didn't require a year long "BIG HIT" double header sales pitch to attract a decent attendance, nor did it require ludicrously cheap tickets on offer either.

I
I think you mean cronulla!

Your marketing has to be credible a game between two lowly ranked sides without any local rivalry cannot be marketed as an equal to two top sides playing each other. What you are saying is Cas v Salford should be marketed on a par with Wigan v Saints - that is simply not credible. The public will not swallow that message.

The sport needs to find its market its an elite sport trying to attract families primarily in the north of England. As a result pricing needs to be at a level that is affordable for your target audience. Soccer has huge quantities of single males attending with disposable income who will sacrifice everything for their weekly fix. RL has more family attendees with different priorities it needs to be priced accordingly.

I would suggest Leeds Rhinos are in a good position to charge top dollar yet they are freezing prices, offering interest free credit on season tickets etc. You may think the sport is worth more and should be marketed/priced at a premium level if the public were prepared to pay more then the clubs RFL would be doing so.

Look at the CC final despite cheap tickets the stadium is 20k light of being full. Are you suggesting putting prices up and marketing it as an elite occasion would fill the stadium?

To improve the product you need to increase participation at junior level - that is the RFLs job. We need to be able to get some of the better Aussies to do that we need to increase revenue into the game - that is to large extent the job of the RL. Same goes for losing star players to the NRL and RU.

Ah, that I agree with.

But people aren't going to buy a product just because you are honest about it being . In fact 2 hat you are describing is the antithesis of marketing. It is antimarketing. If Cas v Salford isn't and isn't ever going to be a big game then it shouldn't be an SL game. Having a game that isn't elite in an elite league damages the competition.



Leeds Rhinos cannot and do not operate in a vacuum. They cannot charge premium prices when everyone else around them is selling it as a bargain basement deal.

you say pricing needs to be affordable and We need to be the elite sport for the North of England. Yet you also state that despite cheap tickets we can't sell out Wembley. We cannot sell out an elite sport at a cheap price because people know that a elite does not come cheap.


A guy meets you in the street, offers to sell you a rolex for a fiver. It's not got its proper box and has some cheap looking packaging do you buy it and get it insured and make sure you take care of it and treat it as a treasured possession? No because you know rolex watches don't cost 5 pounds and they aren't presented in cheap packaging. Best case scenario you buy it and treat it as disposable and unimportant, worst case you don't buy it because you aren't desperate for a watch and even 5 pound is a waste if it turns out to be as crap as you expect a 5 pound knock off to be.

I'm not stating that we can simply market the product ad premium and raise prices. I'm saying we sell a premium product at a premium price.

Our product isn't simply 26 men on the field. It's everything surrounding it. We don't just need improved junior development, we need bigger better stadiums with better more modern facilities, we need a better match day experience, We need better marketing, we need a better image, we need higher visibility.

None of those things can or will be achieved by lowering prices.