Indeed. Are these published anywhere?

Do they still apply?

I would guess not since plenty of SL clubs have grounds that seem rather below par.

Rugby Union has gone from 8518 average to 15065 average in 15 years. They only have one league winner each year same as Rugby League.

The clubs outside Super League that could average 10000 are Toronto and Toulouse.

Before SL you would have been hard pushed to find anyone that would say Bradford could've got an average of well over 10k but they did it. I reckon plenty of clubs could do it if they had the marketing expertise and a budget to throw at it.

exactly. The idea that Rugby League cannot get more in sponsorship due to Football is absurd.

RL won't generate more sponsorship because the advertising industry has changed to make it incredibly cheap to reach the audience that we have to offer. One of the reasons why we are so attractive to bookmakers is because they are largely prevented from accessing those cheap forms of digital advertising.

For many football clubs it's the same story. Huddersfield Town and Burnley are appealing to Asian bookmakers because advertising gambling is banned in large parts of Asia, and they can't advertise on many digital platforms in the UK because they don't have UK Gambling licences. These companies aren't paying huge amounts of money to circumvent those restrictions (I believe OPE pay about £1.5m to Huddersfield Town).

Missed my point all together! I am not talking about equalising down. just making the point that our sport as most sports that are not of interest to the vast majority of the worlds population or the mass market in the USA or Asia can not get the type of TV revenue we need to pay full time players or make the profits that will bring in investment. We are a small niche market who on the whole are watched by people who are not in the highest income groups that the advertisers are courting. The only thing in my opinion that will make our sport entertaining is for equally matched matches with tight results at whatever level you choose to watch. Wether that will help to spread the sport is anyone’s guess, but getting the game spread wider & more people playing the better. If people don’t like watching games that are not played in super stadiums by highly paid players then we are sunk anyway.

RL is fe-ked because of its fans jealousy and lack of vision. We attract a wealthy benefactor then spend the remaining years of his/her tenure slagging them off, despite the millions they have put in - that really encourages the next guy.
Image is critical and an ageing fan base, decrepit half empty stadia and giving tickets away/on the cheap places our product in the bargain basement for income - unless we can get a huge tv increase we will not change this perception, Hearns or not.

5k minimum capacity.

2k seats for Super League clubs.

rlOperational Orders Page 425rl

Isn't the whole point the game needs t attract and retain new supporters. Has research ever been conducted as to why it fails to do this? New people go to games but often don't return - why? Are they bored or is it for other reasons?

My football supporting friends have said one of the reasons is the sport messes around with the structure of the league on almost an annual basis. Top 5/Top 8 playoffs, now we have middle eights, million pound game. Too confusing and too much chopping and changing for those with a mild passing interest to even think about getting into it.

I have heard this many times but then I think back to when I first went to a game as a ten year old never having seen team sport played live or on TV (well over 50 years ago) I had no idea what a league was, the rules of the game or who Hull KR were? I am not even sure I knew it was rugby of any kind. What I do remember was the excitement when a break occurred a try was scored ar a big hit made, I was hooked for life. Maybe life was simpler then but I had no idea where my team was in the league if they were a good side or not just that from then on they were my team. What we should be doing is getting as many people through the gates as we can especially young kids to feel as I did back then. As a quick thought I remember three or four of the lads from school I went with & I don’t think many went again much so I would like to know what percentage of first timers are hooked & what kept them coming back that might help the game understand what it needs to do.

double

Oh Buddy......how long have you got?
It's only useless in your eyes because it paints them in a better light than League, but the reality is they have gone from an average of 5k in 1998, to an average close to 3 times that in 2 decades whilst in the same period we've gone from 7k to 8.5k...but yeah, it's a useless statistic
...here's another useless statistic.....Harlequins RU v Northampton Saints, December 30th 2017 attendance 77,825......that's more fans for a regular season fixture than attended 11 home games at either Salford, Leigh, Wakefield, Huddersfield or Widnes ALL SEASON in 2017.....useless stats eh....aren't they just terrible at underlining how poor we are at marketing ourselves....here, try this one for size....the first Heineken Cup final in Union saw 21,800 people watch a French and Welsh team play in wales...the 19th and last one saw a French and English side play in Cardiff with 67,500 watching.....bloody useless these stats.
Union may well be as sick a puppy as we are in terms of finance, but everywhere else they are at least relevant on the UK and European sporting stage...

Other reasons...regardless of the romantic ideal of some, RL fans are rough and gruff and working class folk.......not a bad thing essentially, but not aspirational middle class Britain that we all believe we've become. £90 a ticket to watch Chelsea screams "I am worth having".....£10 a ticket to the CC Final screams we are cheap and nasty.