so after all the squawking from a few posters a couple months ago regarding Saracens filling Wembley and how its a disaster when Rugby league discounts tickets it now seems both codes are in the same boat.

rlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/european-rugby/10791820/Saracens-deserve-credit-not-criticism-for-becoming-one-of-the-strongest-teams-in-European-club-rugby.htmlrl

Interesting that a semi final against one of the best teams in Europe struggles to sell and this is being blamed on no discounted tickets.

Struggling to find a 27k crowd for an ESL or a CC match other than the finals.......and both of them have tickets that start at a tenner.
Word to the wise.......give up trying to compare Te codes anywhere other than NSW. One is streets ahead of the other everywhere else and it doesn't paint RL in a better light.

It has to be disappointing that after getting a world record 80k+ attendance at Wembley a few weeks ago (with hugely discounted tickets) only 25k turn up for a Twickenham semi final (where the cheapest ticket was ~£15).

However, noting the low crowds for the CC games last weekend and how empty I imagine the Ethiad will still seem for the Magic Weekend (even with discounted tickets) RL isn't in any position to critise.

It wasn't comparing the crowds. It was comparing the buying habits of spectators in the same country with a similar sport. Hardly unreasonable. It's only you that compares the crowds.

Saracens are a really well run rugby club and the guys there know what is necessary to take their club and sport to the next level.

I saw an interview with Edward Griffiths their CEO about a minimum salary cap, relegation, and how it was important to create the best product and its clear why their crowd of 27k is a disaster, whereas Bradford getting less than 3k in our premier cup competition is glossed over. Some leaders are prepared to take the tough decisions to meet tough goals, some simply take the decisions their power base wants and find excuses.

There is no point in us laughing at Saracens getting 27k in their semi final, we will be lucky if our 4 quarter finals get that in total.

I knew it wouldn't take long,

this is the champions league equivalent for rugby union we do not have one so its far from an ESL or CC if anything its more of a WCC, and they have sold that out easily enough many times without 5 quid tickets. By the way Wigan and Saints get close enough to that when its at the DW.

But this was not the argument, the argument was that discounted tickets are detrimental to the game and hide the facts but in reality its just the same in union clearly. Semi Final for the biggest competition in union and it struggles to sell more than 26k in the heart of London less than 20miles away from the clubs home ground. And the explanation is that they didn't give enough free tickets away or discount them enough.

By the way the actual game was very enjoyable to watch.

it wasn't a ing competition, it was post regarding that certain posters always put good crowds in rugby league down to discounted tickets and in reality its just the same in union. I agree by the way that the CEO of Saracens is close to being a genius and is actually being held back by numerous other clubs.

You're right, The morons we see on here trying to do the game down will jump on things like this. But fsk em. They showed their true colours twisting and turning when the RLWC was a success, we saw people trying to change some very basic laws of mathematics to make the numbers fit their agendas. People who decided that to make an average you dont need to divide the sum by the number, people literally just making up attendances because it didnt their agenda. You arent going to change their mind through logic or sense. It is safe to just ignore them.

We dont need to use RU to prove anything to them, we can just look to what we can learn from the other code to help us.

I'd argue strongly that they are not a well run club at all.

They lose millions and millions every single year - iirc it was around £5m last year. Look at the likes of Leicester and Northampton as well run clubs, not just somebody who can spend money that they are not getting in.

Considering their higher levels of central funding, the fact that fans will pay higher ticket prices, and sponsorship is pretty high, they should not be losing that level of money.

They can do plenty of nice things if they have somebody prepared to waste millions of pounds a year, but that in no way makes them a well run Rugby Union club.

You have to spend money to make money and fortunately for Saracens they have it. They are building something very special at saracens you just have to look at the path of the club in the past 7 years. I would be surprised if they lose money this year if they do the double.

Investment costs money, people are far too hung up on an isolated P+L figure. They have invested in the Barnet Copthall and are getting £8m for naming rights, they have affiliated clubs in Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Nairobi, Sao Paulo and Tonga, and are creating one at the moment in Romania.

Running a successful business is about more than turning over a profit in any given year.

There just missing a rugby league club