So you want Bradford to go bust in the Championship as well as SL?

Marvelous

Every 'real world' company is exposed, state run aren't

RL and other sports clubs businesses are exposed in exactly the same way as those other companies without relegation.

Relegation is a huge added risk that simply has nothing comparable in any other industry

In other industries there is nothing comparable to fans either.

Fans are different to customers. In the real world customers shop around for the best deal. In RL fans come and go but over a longer term and tend not to change who they support.

Also in other businesses the bottom line is key, not staffing performance awards.

Do I care as a shopper if ASDA staff win the equivalent of the challenge cup, will I turn up and cheer them to the town hall?

Will ASDA propose spending more on staff to increase customer attendances.

No.

Sport and business are not the same.

Sport is more akin to the arts.

Fans are exactly like customers. Fans don't change who they support, but they to decide whether to go to the game or not.

Each club only has a few thousand hardcore supporters who will turn up no matter what. The rest go because they enjoy the sport. If the sport is boring because there is no intensity or the product is poor, they will stop going. They will stop buying season tickets, merchandise which then has a knock on effect on TV deals, sponsorship etc

The challenge for clubs is to get families to decide to come to a game of rugby league, rather than take their family to the park, cinema etc

2 years a go Bradford got over 20k against Leeds. Last Sunday 5k watched them against Catalans. Them 15k fans haven't gone to watch another club. They have just become disillusioned with how the club has been incompetently mismanaged for last few years. The challenge for Bradford is to try get those fans back while paying the normal price.

I did say they come and go.

But they are not the same as customers.

If they are please point me to the forums where the customers of dixons tell management which staff to sack and hire next year.

Like I said sport is not a business, we like to think it is, but it is far from it. It's far more competitive than business.

3400 at Salford, Jesus! (and that's probably with Hull taking 500-1000). There are some areas in the UK where RL will simply never take off, no matter how hard you try, just a lot of different factors I guess.

Lets be fair last year the survived going bust.

This year is a lesson in expectations, they were getting 6000 when the talk was of top 4 and winning the league in 2 years.

But as reality has set in, all that money spent has shown that it's going to take time as well as money to build up to being playoff contenders.

Principles eh? Good job there are clubs with 10k averages to prop the smaller ones up!

As well as clubs with a very respectable 7000-8000 in a 250,000 population, compared to 1000 in an 8,000,000 population.

I'm sure you're right; after all no-one knows better what affects a side's attendances than its own fans.

What I've often wondered about Wigan's attendances is to what extent the apathy towards the regular season following your 2013 play off exit turned off non-core fans. The feeling that regular season fixtures were utterly pointless must have been hammered home to them in a big way. Likewise, I've also wondered whether it might have been a factor in players deciding to move on in the last couple of years. After all, in a rugby town like Wigan, players can hardly be unaware of fans' opinions.

The playoffs are always going to be an issue given that we run a pretty even league system along side it.

Next year with the fixtures being more uneven but only a top 4 in the playoffs, I'm hoping this will spark a bit more interest in the league without diminishing the GF concept.

In the end the GF provides the glory, but the league system provides the income.

The league system is no different to how it was ten years ago, so I really don't get why people use that as an excuse to falling crowds.

The real reason I fear is the lack of quality out on the pitch. We've lost English stars like the Burgess bros, graham, Tomkins to the NRL and also lost some stars to union - Eastmond being the big one from my POV. Also we haven't been able to attract the likes of Jamie Lyon since.

Imagine if you all watched NBA, Christ. 82 games before the play offs...but that doesn't stop me supporting the sport or my team. It's the stars within the game that keep me interested and seeing them perform so often is a pleasure even though the regular season means just as much as the SL regular season.