Are you going smokey?????

Not really. It's been a very expensive season, and none of the play-off games have been that well attended.

Park on Trafford Park Industrial Estate mate, free, 5 minutes walk and you won't hit the traffic as bad.

Regarding poor attendances during the playoffs I believe there are 3 main factors

Financial affairs in Britain at the moment are generally very bad. People dont know from this week to next if they are going to have a job and what money will be coming in.

Alot of fans plan to go to the final even if their team isn't playing, therefore the grand final ticket prices are around the cost of about 2-3 games. With the fact Sky sports show all the playoff games live on tv, fans can focus their money on paying for the grand final (either to see their team or to attend as a neutral. In a way it's a bit like gambling in some cases, some fans will forfeit the playoff games on the instinct their team will make the final)

Lastly, and I personally feel this is the main reason, clubs across the whole league announce next years season ticket prices but also add in deadlines such as "save your seat", "earlybird discount", "renew your ticket now" and these deadlines are pre-grand final date. Fans are obviously budgeting for next year. Maybe an agreement should be made to include play off games in season tickets, how about across the board at all clubs, so you could also attend a game as a neutral? ie allowing you to go to one playoff game over a weekend (even if your team hasn't made it). I imagine some wouldn't take it up, but I do imagine some would. Or what would happen is fans possibly passing on these tickets to supporters who "pay on the day" and dont have access to these.

Clubs attracting supporters to pay in installments and then advertising a high admin fee in my opinion is also wrong. The RFL allowed grand final tickets to be paid for by instalments and if I remember correctly the cost was around £2 no matter how many tickets were bought. Clubs like the Huddersfield Giants are advertising a £20 admin fee for this option.

Also, and this is lastly, advertising, I drive some 40-50 miles to work and back every day, and if I dont pass a Stobart Lorry, what other advertisements have their been (apart from sky sports whats coming up this month & pre/during/post live rugby league games on sky). If you're not in a rugby league circle, you wouldn't even know it's happening.

Thinking more about it, I'm not buying into this economic thing with the playoffs. It's not as if people are priced out is it?

How many people have you heard say, I'd love to go but can't afford it? Me personally, I don't think I've heard that once.

What you tend to hear is, I'd love to go but what's the point when we could be playing the same team in 2 weeks time or there's potentially more important games to pay for in the near future.

The majority seem to be choosing not to go as the game doesn't appeal or saving up for the next one.

For me, the structure of the playoffs is all wrong (and the league but that's a different discussion). People won't buy a product if they don't like it. Obviously they like the GF, 70,000+ people on Saturday paying says so. That means keeping a playoff format. But removing 1 week and potentially 2/3 teams to make it exciting and worth paying for might increase gates at the business end of the year.

My only reasoning behind why clubs won't do this is it gives more teams chance to get an extra payout at the end of the year and more play off games = more revenue to the prize fund as long as the total number of spectators is higher.

Agree.

So long as every club's ground has a safety certificate, that's all the game's governing body should be concerned about. Anything else (capacity etc) is a matter for the individual club's directors.

Your problem is, people do care. They do care and they don’t attend. Clubs in poor grounds get poor crowds. They then cant afford to spend the cap, this means they aren’t successful on the field, they don’t attract fans and the cycle goes on.

Minimum ground standards exist because if they didn’t, people wouldn’t attend.

Leeds aint a palace and they do well, HKR is a hole and they weren't the worst for gates on promotion. Bradford is literally a hole and they did pretty well when the team was performing.
Look at Worcester, Exeter, Welsh, Bath RU. Its amazing what a few tents and temp seating can do.

RL has lost the sporting plot.

Leeds isn’t a palace, but it still has good facilities .People are happy with it. HKR have put in place ground improvements with the specific aim and result of increasing crowds, they have also publicly stated this, aswell as their need to increase crowds to compete. On a summers day, Odsal is probably the best place in the country to watch RL.

What is your explanation for the low crowds and poor stadia, and the higher crowds at better stadia, and the clear and obvious correlation between clubs moving from poor stadia to good stadia and an increase in crowds if not that some people who wont attend at poor stadia, will at good?

Have to agree with Smokey

There is always a core that would attend even if you played on top of a hill in driving rain, but if you want the families and next generation to attend they need better facilities.
I go to Wakefield no matter what, but I haven't taken my kid yet, and look forwrad to when I can take him in comfort at Newmarket lane

Would gates increase or decrease with Wakey playing out of Newmarket in the Championship with no hope of promotion?