These kind of comments are incredible. ST are so cheap for top level RL. You get more commitment from League 2 soccer fans. And that truly is dross.

Yes.. I can see why a season ticket isn't for you.

So until the RFL guarantee all games are 12-12 there's no point buying a ST. Rubbish. Some of the most enjoyable games I've seen as a club fan are one sided. It's the nature of the sport I love. Get a grip and stop moaning for the sake of it.

Look at what is in front of Leeds fans right now and it goes a long way to explaining why the current 1-4 & 5-8 in the playoffs is putting people off forking out for many SL games.

They are 4th; they wont come any higher unless the top 3 all implode, and they wont come 5th. So, they have 3 fixtures which wont mean anything to where they finish. Then they have an away game which simply decides whether their next game will be home or away ..... and then they get to their first proper knockout game. Why should any player put himself in a position over the next 4 games whereby he could miss the knockout games? Why should BM ask them to try 100%? And, why should any Leeds fan fork out £20 a game for 4 fixtures which don't actually mean diddly to the season?

Other than Sky who stupidly think saturation playoff games are a good thing, does anyone think the top 8 should make the playoffs? - it's ruining the league. There was more incentive when only top 6 went through, and when finishing in the top 2 gave you a direct route to the GF. It made teams try properly all season.

Surely Sky have enough brains to realise 5 games in front of full grounds at the end of a well attended regular season is better than 9 games and a regular season played out in front of mainly empty stands!

I'm not moaning, just commenting on a thread about declining crowds to add my thoughts as to why this is the case.

The 'stop moaning' attitude is hardly constructive.

For info, as I said, the odd blow out score isn't an issue, it's the balance that is currently wrong - there are too many low intensity, low quality games with the current structure. The top teams are that far ahead of the bottom, and having an 8 team play-off means that the top teams can afford to take it easy for large parts of the season - that is an issue.

Leeds have shown for the past few seasons, and Saints are doing it this year - they can afford to be barely average all year and still comfortably make the play offs - that is wrong!

The devaluing of the SL product is definitely a major issue IMO, though the basis for that devaluation has been structural... eg, licensing... 14 teams... Top 8 play off system, etc. This has resulted in a competition which has increasingly lacked quality, meaning and intensity, and which rewards mediocrity instead.

The proliferation of cheap season tickets offers... bogof, groupon, wowcher... is the desperate response to those structural problems highlighted above which only serve to further devalue the SL product, but this time in monetary terms. And yes, I'd also agree that these issues have most definitely played a huge role in the competition and it's inability to attract a major sponsor.

If the SL product really was as brilliant as some claim it to be, SL attendances wouldn't be nosediving, season tickets wouldn't have to be so cheap and clubs wouldn't have to hand out cheap ticket offers via groupon, wowcher, or on a bogof or buddy fiver basis.

I don't believe it's primarily the economy to blame for all these cheap offers either. It's because the RFL and the clubs themselves know deep down the SL product and it's current licensed 14 team, top 8 play-off structure doesn't provide an interesting regular season of the requisite quality and intensity to attract enough fans for 13 home games unless they are given the lot for a very cheap price.

On top of the cheap season tickets, we are now witnessing an increasing number of ticket offers for individual regular season fixtures because fans have got that used to the product being devalued in so many ways... structurally, on the pitch and pricewise... they now balk at paying full price. We know this is true because you only have to check out the dreadful attendances in the SL play-offs or in the Challenge Cup rounds and semi finals (ie, the only remaining meaningful fixtures) to gauge the true popularity of the sport these days.

If ever anybody is looking for a great example of a circular argument. See above.

rlWhat a load of tripe!rl

I'e no idea whether League 2 in soccer is dross or not, but if it is dross quality-wise then at least it's meaningful dross (all fixtures count for something in the race for either promotion or the avoidance of relegation) as opposed to the licensed meaningless dross which encapsulates the SL product at this present time.

and......

Unfortunately, I have to agree with this - for me, the biggest problem is the 8 team play-off. It's too easy for the bigger clubs to stroll through the season, which then has a knock on effect, as the bottom clubs get a bit of an easier ride through the regular season whilst the top clubs don't 'put their all in' - A top 5 or 6 play-off would mean that a team like Leeds couldnt afford to take it easy in games against Salford, Cas, Widnes etc, meaning those teams would have to improve their standards, as they'd be playing a full strength, fully commited Leeds, rather than a half baked, half d Leeds.

As Tre Cool pointed out, the cost of attending a SuperLeague game in comparison to other sports is relatively low, and even with the current economy, is good value for money. Therefore I'd agree that the economy certainly isnt the main factor. If the product was as good as it could and should be, people would still find the money to attend the games. However, with the current structure, and the current economy, it easy to see why people would choose to spend their hard earned another way.

Were you under the impression there was automatic promotion and relegation from and to League 2 football?

Follow that logic through and you would have more half-baked half-d teams who were playing meaningless fixtures as fewer would be playing for the play-offs and only a few clubs are effected (to their massive detriment) by relegation.

put it another way, would we have seen two close fought fixtures between Leeds and Wakefield in the last few weeks of this year under a top 5 system? Or would we have seen a couple of walkovers with no intensity as Wakefield were safe from relegation and nowhere near the play-offs?

Whilst Leeds wouldn’t be able to take it easy against Wakefield/Salford/Hull/Cas/Bradford. Those teams would certainly be able to take it easy against Leeds.