During the current franchised, 14 club, top 8 play-off system SL era... the total attendances in SL to date remain the lowest we have ever witnessed. Neither the replacement of the poorly-supported Crusaders with the better-supported Widnes, nor the establishment of 2 new stadia, nor the re-establishment of heavily-discounted SL tickets have prevented 2013 SL attendances from being the worst on record so far.

SL Rounds 1 to 23 total attendances comparison (2009 to 2013)
SL 2013 - 1,361,511 from 154 fixtures plus 7 MAGIC fixtures.
SL 2012 - 1,520,758 from same 154 fixtures plus 7 MAGIC fixtures.
SL 2011 - 1,426,660 from same 154 fixtures plus 7 MAGIC fixtures **
SL 2010 - 1,391,172 from same 154 fixtures plus 7 MAGIC fixtures **
SL 2009 - 1,400,816 from same 154 fixtures plus 7 MAGIC fixtures **

SL 2013 % decrease in attendances
V SL 2012 SL attendances losses
V SL 2012 ** except replace Widnes with Crusaders

Easily explained by the economic climate. By way of comparison do you have similar data for domestic football, rugby union, cricket etc? What about other leisure industries?

He's a very sad man.

rlI'm guessing most Wakefield season ticket holders got in early?rl

It'll be interesting to see if Wakefield can hold on to their season ticketed fanbase next season if they are to charge full prices. Bradford and Huddersfield have seen huge downturns in home attendances after removing their mega cheap season ticket deals.


Citing the economy for SL attendances being down by over 10% this year might wash with the RFL or the marketing departments at SL clubs in order to account for their failures.


Salford have lost over 2,000 fans per home game since they left the Willows for that characterless brand new stadium in the middle of nowhere. They have a massive job persuading those lost fans to return. Purchasing a season ticket is a habit which is often broken beyond repair once a decision has been made not to renew.


The game has paid several huge long-term prices for it's total reliance upon Sky.

What was the economic climate like last season when SL attendances were almost 12% higher than they are this season?


Feel free to collate that data yourself if you wish to make a point.

Why would I want to do that? Judging by this thread you're the one trying to make a point, just not quite sure what it is?

Because your assertion is that SL attendances are down because of the economic climate and you implied that it's the same for domestic football, rugby union and cricket. So where's your data to back up your assertion?


I'm merely providing data on SL attendances and comparing them to previous years attendances. Are you uncomfortable with that? And if so, then why?

Did I make such assertions? Or did I just enquire if you have comparable data? Without knowing how the economic climate has effected other leisure industries it's difficult to put any figures into context.

If I was uncomfortable with this thread I'm sure I'd have managed to post before now

Quote: William Eve "rlI'm guessing most Wakefield season ticket holders got in early?rl .'" Still a significant increase on 2012 prices www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news ... w/2011/08/

Quote: William Eve "rlI'm guessing most Wakefield season ticket holders got in early?rl .'" Still a significant increase on 2012 prices www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news ... w/2011/08/

Imagine for a moment the figures were the opposite - showing corresponding increases. Would people be asking what the point of posting those figures would be? If you think that would also be sad and pointless, fine, at least you're consistent in your hatred of numbers. No problem. But, if its just the bad news you don't like then you ought to ask yourself why that is, and why there's any benefit in deluding ourselves by ignoring it.

2011-12 v 2012-13
Premiership soccer +3.7%
Championship soccer -1.4%
League 1 Soccer -16% (Sheffield Wednesday went up!)
League 2 Soccer +0.5%
Aviva Premiership Rugby -3.9% (Saracens Wembley attendance halved)
Rabo Pro 12 Rugby +6%
Heineken Cup Rugby -10% (final venue 40% smaller)
Amlin Challenge Cup Rugby +3.2%

Compare these to the 11.5% drop in SL and 15.5% drop in Challenge cup and there is a need for slight concern at the RFL. The (excuses) in brackets for the drops in League 1 and the Heineken can be accepted in the short term, but if they aren't adjusted in the coming season then alarm bells should be ringing.

All of the non RL comps I have posted have promotion and relegation, so there has to be some allowances for the different make up of each years comps whilst the SL is a static competition. The Challenge Cup has a very similar make up this year as to 2012 too....the real problem is the engagement of fans.
Bottom line is that close to 200,000 people have made the conscious decision NOT to attend a SL or Challenge cup game this year that did so last year....at an average spend of £20 for ticket and residuals, that's £4,000,000 lost to the clubs....I suspect the figure is nearer £6,000,000......that's 33% of the SKY Funding lost to the game

SL Licencing was supposed to free up cash that would have otherwise been wasted on journeymen in the hope of staying up, to spend on developing players and building a sustainable business model....all I have seen in the way of planning for a future proof business model at most clubs is cheap season tickets

The RFL need to run a series of centrally funded courses for EVERY CLUB in the top 2 divisions to educate them on how to generate interest, attract fans, keep them and turn them into ST holders....currently, most clubs seem to make it up as they go along.

If not, then they need to engage a sports marketing firm together with a CRM expert who understands the benefit of managing and USING customer data.

I start on a $50,000 retainer per annum and that gets you about 5 hours a week of my time with additional hours billed at $350 each

The commute might be a bit of a pain though

Insightful post