Don't really agree with that, in the last 10 years, 9 different teams have made Wembley which out of a top flight of 12 isnt bad going. Only Salford, Wakefield and London havent been and they've never been regulars in finals anyway.

Also the underdog has won 4 years in a row, and this years winning margin of just 14 was the biggest for 4 years. I dont think the quality of the final is the issue, its the timings and the marketing.

Yep.
We have to get away from this thinking that the product on the pitch is the only thing that matters.
It needs to be an event, not just another but just more important game.

If you go back to Saints in 2008, there's been six different winners of the Cup in twelve years, with a further three different teams making the final. Compare that to the Grand Final over the same period where there's only been three different winners (one of whom only won it once, so there's two massively dominant teams) with only two others making the final. The Grand Final is absolutely the big one - I'll never try and deny that no matter how many of them we lose - but the Challenge Cup is still far less predictable, and that does (or at least should) add some value.

Last year the Catalans vs Warrington attracted 50,000. So they didn't do too badly last year, considering hat the Cup Final is now shown to be a declining attraction.

Going to Wembley is a bit like a visit to the dentist!
You dont really want to go but you know you have to because your team is in the final.

It is not a pleasant day out.
Depending on where you are from it is an 8 to 10 hour round trip including a stop at a motorway services where you queue for the toilets and get ripped off if you want to buy food of drink.
When you arrive the area surrounding the stadium is scruffy and dirty certainly not a place you would choose to visit.
The stadium itself is fine after you have you have been through security, had your bag searched and empty you pockets then go through a scanner.
There are plenty of outlets in side serving a variety of drinks an food but again expect to get ripped off.
Of course you could make a weekend of it and couple the delights of Wembley with a trip to our nation's capital but you would need to have more money than sense.

The cup is a valued trophy to the fans of the clubs involved but the days of a lot of neutral fans making the journey for an enjoyable day or weekend are long gone.

Basically the "magic" of Wembley has gone, it's now just a big stadium in a scruffy area of a rip-off city

I understand the sentiments behind your post and most of is absolutely right.
However, other sports seem more than capable of filling Wembley and while some round ball fans may not have to travel quite as far, although plenty go longer distances, we are supposed to be celebrating the sport and have a final between the two best cup sides of that season and as a sport, once a year, we should be able to fill the country's major sporting arena.

It never used to be a problem and people generally are better off now than they were 20/30 years ago.

There is little doubt that everything in our sport in now focused towards the GF, which has taken much of the sparkle away from the cup.
But, Wembley is still where it used to be, the area around Wembley is actually improved over recent years and the rip off prices are similar at EVERY major venue in the country.
One thing for sure is that nobody can blame Catalan for the poor attendance and to say that the contest was between the two clubs sitting first and second in the comp, who both like to boast about their support, not to mention the cracking weather etc, there are very few genuine excuses for the attendance.

I agree with the timings and the marketing, the time span between the semi final and the final loses momentum interest. Once you encroach into the football season you lose more interest for fans who support both sports. They have a chance to improve things next year but the things you can't improve is the public transport and the expense of going down there.

I used to live near there in 1970/1971, I can assure you the area has declined a lot since then.
I agree these days some people have more income but people are also better travelled and expect more for there money.
In the 1950s and 1960s a trip to London/Wembley was the most probably the furthest some people had ever travelled.

Realistically we are never going to match the attendances of the FA Cup and League Cup, the NFL games that are played there attract a big crowd but they are a unique event.

Perhaps at my age I'm used to better things but it's not somewhere I'm ever likely to go as neutral fan.

I do agree that "the big day out" at Wembley has now disappeared as a concept and certainly for the cost involved, a trip to either Toulouse or Perpignan is way more attractive and generally cheaper (but maybe not the beer) and with the GF being the major event to bring the curtain down on the season, much of the "celebration" aspect has gone from Wembley too.
Not being a fan of football of American football, I dont know if those events do more to "make a day of it" or whether the fans attending for football are happy to have their big day out.
When you consider that the play off games for the lower leagues gain huge crowds, as do the FA Cup semi finals etc, Wembley does still seem a huge draw for the round ball game and yes, generally, football is massively better supported than RL, I still feel that moving the final North, to allow easier access and a cheaper day out, is underselling the game and any "draw" that Wembley has, would be lost forever.
Moving to somewhere like the Millennium stadium could be an option.
Still a great venue, a little smaller and we may just interest a few Welsh fans into the game ?
However, this would be waving the white flag over an event that used to be something quite special.

Back when Wembley was a sell-out every year, the world has moved on. It was often the big trip of the year for many people, but now people enjoy city breaks and overseas trips all the time. Going to London is nothing special anymore, and the loss of the old Empire Stadium takes away the traditional feel.

It was also the only big event, and the RFL can't have that many. They either have Magic or they have the Challenge Cup, and they have it at a time when perhaps 10% of the audience isn't on holiday, but they can't have both. They could easily make it a whole weekend thing somehow. Take it on the road. There are many ways to reinvigorate it, but watching a half-empty stadium isn't one of them.

This.

For supporters of teams who are unlikely to get to finals their day out at Magic is their Rugby League 'big stadium event'. In years gone buy many of them would have attended the CC Final as a neutral. Another thing which is overlooked, the demographic of a Rugby League crowd has changed (mostly intentionally). It's been marketed as 'the family game'. There used to be more men who go with their mates for a good session on the beer. Nowadays there's more families, kids etc which makes a more expensive day out for the whole family.

Stadiums are mostly designed these days with viewing and comfort in mind which has a significant effect on the atmosphere. The sense of occasion can be lost.

Also a lot of fans from traditional but smaller none SL clubs and amateur teams used to go as a regular event, regardless of who was playing. However, over the years the RFL/SL and the snobbish nature of many posters on forums like this has managed to alienate them.

There is no incentive or people at these clubs to organise trips because to them SL is a different world to which they no longer feel an allegiance too, a bit like the International game.

Get these people incentivised again and you will fill far more seats, maybe not the sell outs we used to get but certainly a lot closer. I'd guess we are talking maybe 5,000 extra fans.

Well said.