I don’t think we should tinker with the Grand Final. We have an event that to be fair to the RFL is pretty well run and gets consistently big crowds. I’m sure it can be improved but I’d leave it at Old Trafford.

Agree on your other points. I think it’s more social change than the introduction of the playoffs that has hampered the Cup Final.
A mix of greater ability to travel making a trip to London not the “big thing” it used to along with stagnant/lower wages, higher housing/living costs and higher travel costs among RL’s supporter base has hit the Cup Final. RL is to blame for not moving with the times and just expecting people to turn up but I still suggest RL is one of the most difficult sports to market with its current makeup.

But the sport as a whole needs to put more effort into it and needs to pull together. Selling out the cup final and grand final should be priority number 1 for the sport. It will require both leadership from the RFL and forward thinking, flexibility and co-operation from the clubs at all levels. Something which is generally in short supply on all sides in RL.

To be clear.... Development of the game in either au or uk is definitely defined by one matrix....
TV cash.
Anything else is window dressing, because without the cash from murdoch, there is no game

That’s because he created a monopoly. That doesn’t mean the game is dead without that funding. It opens other windows again. So who is holding the game up now?

The sport requires injection of money. It’s not forthcoming to the lower tiers. So why should they work harder to keep a failing product alive?

Stop blaming others for the demise of the game. Let the lower tiers fend for themselves and hopefully a terrestrial channel will get on board with them.

SL obviously can’t function without the lower tiers. So let’s see who has the balls to call the shot.

I dont go along with the stagnant wages thing being the reason for the Cup Final being less popular.
The whole thing changed when we moved to summer rugby.

When the Final was the last act of the season, all of the supporters still had something to look forward to and again, pre the move to a GF, the Cup final was THE big RL event and it has now been replaced by the Grand Final, it's just an also ran.

Personally, I'd take a trip to Perpignan or Toulouse over The Cup Final all day long.
I'm not mad keen on magic, which seems to be for too many fans a 2 day mickey up and it too has lost some of it's relevance - we have to get back to "magic" being used to spread the game and not just as a money spinner for the rugby league coffers.

On your last point, I totally agree and it's up to ALL clubs to help sell out the 2 finals.

If there is any kind of serious drive to make 9's rugby happen, there could/should be something on the Challenge Cup Final undercard, which may help re engage more neutral fans

Eh?

Not sure what you’re on about there really.
Stop blaming others for the demise of the game? First of all the game isn’t at a point of demise. Despite having dropped recently it’s still healthier than at other points in its history.
If you mean the drop in attendances at the cup final then pointing out other factors such as social change is relevant. Of course it is. Especially as the FA Cup is feeling similar strains. That’s nowhere near the “nation stopping” moment it used to be. Clubs have had to force fans to the games with including it on their season ticket and sometimes financial or ticketing priority punishments if they don’t turn up. But you’ll notice I also blamed the sport for not moving with the times. It’s a double edged sword in RL, we have to adapt and change our game much more than most other sports but we don’t seem to have the will to force that change.

As for the comment of SL “obviously” can’t function without the lower tiers, well that’s laughable. SL has been held back by the lower tiers for 20+ years. Be careful of what you wish for. If SL were to really cast the lower tiers adrift they’d be either dead or entirely part time in 10 years.
You the sport requires a cash injection and it’s not forthcoming to the lower tiers, well it’s not exactly forthcoming to the top tier either is it. The only cash injection we have is the tv deal. The SL tv deal. If lower tier clubs are so keen on cash injections from tv deals then maybe they should make themselves more attractive to broadcasters. It’s a shame some of them along with some of their fans were so negative towards teams in their league with a tv deal.

Just a thought but what about taking the "magic" weekend to wembley the the final game on the sunday being the cup final itself. As super league teams are knocked out they are paired up for the magic fixtures until the two finalists are left, obviously if a championship team get to the final this throws a spanner in the works but its highly unlikely.

When do the two finalists play their league game they’ve missed out on?

The international weekend in june, players from those two clubs would be excempt from international duty, with a may final this wouldnt be a problem. Either that or scrap the so called "magic" weekend, its about time the RFL realised that peoples pockets are only so deep and something has to give.

On top of forking out for season tickets they expect people to pay for wembley, magic, grand final followed next season by 3 tests v the aussies including another trip to London, do they not read the news or dies austerity not enter thier vocabulary.

Personally ive never been to magic and never will ,id rather spend that money taking the wife on a city break to europe than spend hours in a cramped seat watching teams ive no interest in

What international weekend? Devalue internationals? You could strip the England team of half it’s players if they’re playing then.

Expect people to pay? They’re putting an event on. No-one is saying you personally have to go to every single RL event in a year. Which basically boils down to you don’t like Magic Weekend. Which is fine, but obviously plenty of people do enjoy going. Again, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean everyone can’t like it.

I think the most you can get away with re the Cup Final is a double header. Anymore than that and you’ll still have empty seats for the final itself.

As Axe2Grind has alluded to and others have said for a while, we need the sport to change the way it operates. It’s far too fragmented for such a small sport. Yes Man City and Liverpool can operate in a fragmented market to sell their own tickets for football events, we aren’t strong enough. We can’t continue with this - Club A only sells tickets for an event Club A is directly involved in and the RFL picks up the rest. It has to be a whole sport approach.
No amateur games on any event weekend. Amateur and pro clubs incentivised to sell tickets and travel with discounts for travel and accommodation negotiated by the RFL. Amateur and Pro clubs should also be putting mini events on of their own. Why aren’t they putting the game on in their function rooms, put a bit of food on get a couple of players there and make a bit of money themselves etc etc

Perhaps an improvement on your idea would be to hold Magic at Spurs or Arsenal on the Sunday (5 games) the day after the CC Final at Wembley with the intention of getting most of those going to the Magic Game to also take in the CC Final as well.

The issue you would have is getting one of the Soccer clubs to let you play 5 games on their surface at the start of their season.

We could always promote and advertise the final in the run up to the game
I know this is very innovative and possibly too much for a sport like ours to take on but, we could try ?

Sorry but, it's the promotion and advertising of the event that would enable it to sell out.
As mentioned in a different post, IF women's football and strictly come dancing can become universally popular, then, I'm damn sure that a RL cup final can be too.
First of all it needs a decent spot in the calendar and it then needs some clever promotion work, especially in London and of course through the RL pyramid - those that sell most tickets getting preference / discount on future events etc or money being put back into the community game.

As I say, there are events far, far less appealing then a Challenge Cup final that are better attended, it's all about getting the promotion right.

Since when did women's football get crowds that would fill Wembley?

And what has a tv show got to do with a final of a cup competition in a minority sport?

You're kidding yourself if you think anyone in London other than a couple of thousand people give a toss about rugby league. Trust me, I spend an awful lot of time there and speak to cabbies, people in pubs, even Broncos fans who can't get a mate to come. Nobody cares.

You think a bit of advertising on the tube will make people pay to go to Wembley to watch a sport they don't care about or want to understand? They can watch top flight football, international rugby union, see amazing west end shows, eat in world class resteraunts and you think they will suddenly decide to waste a day going to watch Rugby League because the RFL have put some posters up or took some adverts on Heart Radio?

As for people having a competition to sell tickets this is already happening. Every club is FORCED to buy so many tickets and many don't sell them all. Amateur clubs try and sell tickets for reward and cannot sell them.

Think about that. RUGBY LEAGUE clubs cannot sell their tickets to their own RUGBY LEAGUE supporting fans and members.

The game has a small number of fans spread across the North of England. The only way you will get Wembley full is to either give people value for money by making their trip to London a combination of events that are saving them cash elsewhere in the year or paying them to go.

Not my opinion, cold hard facts, people have stopped going due to financial reasons. If this was not the case you wouldn't be needing to advertise. You didn't need to advertise in 1985, it would have sold itself.