Both NFL games sold out. There were no empty seats.

The problem is that the RFL didnt opt into selling Club Wembley seats whereas the NFL sell every seat, including Club Wembley. All I can imagine is that with the Cup Final last year they included the 15k CW seats in the final attendance, even though the majority didnt turn up.

Isnt the CC part of the club wembley package and as such already sold.

Yeah, sorry. I didnt make it clear. Everyone had the option whether to be included into the package before they "signed up" to play at Wembley. The NFL opted out instead deciding to sell the Club Wembley seats themselves (£150 a ticket you can understand why). If the RFL decided the same they would have avoided a ring of 15k empty seats between the 2 tiers.

There will have been some recompense for that though im sure.

Oh yeah, definitely. All the ones who opted in will have got a share so its basically free money and a guaranteed 15k on the attendance. Still doesnt look good though

Cheergirls versus teams on the pitch.

Picking out one or two random crowds doesn't help your argument...

When the NFL gets 99,801 for the same match, you can complain.

Rugby league has had crowds of over 90,000 there since 1948. A bit more of an established pattern than one off NFL events packaged with typical US build-up and promotion.

The only thing to learn regarding the CC Final from NFL is to properly market the event. The RFL just relies on supporters lining up when their team eventually makes it through. They only bother to promote the Grand Final these days it seems from afar.

You can't place a price on the value of that packed final at Wembley. It was the thing that got me first interested in the English game some 30 years ago.

This tournament is one of the pinnacles of world rugby league.

England needs to work on getting relevance back into it and especially to get the semi-finals back to the wonderful crowds of the past, like the 65,000 at Odsal etc.

the big white panels with the graphics on..they are seats being covered up..also your picture for the Leeds v Wires game was taken 15 mins before kick offf

Before Super League the Challenge Cup wasn't seen as being a secondary competition to the league at the extent that it is now. It is now a distant second to Super League and the attendances reflect that. The competition will never go back to having the prominence that it used to have IMO, no matter whether the format is changed or not.

The advent of SL basically killed it. The gap between SL and the rest is now so wide, shocks very rarely happen and therefore the 'romance' of the cup has gone.

Yes, now stop trying to create a non issue.

Correct

I wasn't trying to create an issue

I was just saying that there were 75k tops in the ground for the final last year. Thats what the pics were about, not to say one sport is better than the other (even though it is by some distance ) Just to show what 85k actually looks like.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Half the trouble with the early rounds is that the amateur sides have no chance of causing an upset. It is the SL sides only which can compete.