Quote: Hedgehog King "The attendances aren't key but they do reflect spending power.'"
2,213 Average this year and we spent to the cap.....Wigan average 14,699 and spend the same amount on players salaries. Attendances are not the reason London are teetering on the edge.....the ability to invest the benefactors money wisely is 100% why we are on the edge.
10,000 average is often spoken about as the break even figure for a SL club.......although I believe the figure was first mentioned in respect of HKA and they own their own ground, so maybe 10,500 average to cover the rent.
5 Clubs currently hit the magic 10k, with 2 of them paying rent to a soccer stadium....Wigan and Hull are generally very good at marketing themselves so should be right, whilst Leeds, Saints and Wire are all pretty safe for now.
The Next 4 are 75% or better of the way there and can probably get themselves there.....but whinging CEO's complaining and making excuses for their marketing departments failings and the apathy of their fans don't help....if they get over the 10k mark they'll have another 500k to spend!
The Bottom 5 are the concern....London is a given, Salford will have to bus kids in for free to get close to 5k next year and if they don't challenge for honours, the Dr may walk, Widnes and Castleford are cutting their cloth accordingly but will struggle to see real improvement without 3rd party investment and Huddersfield are not dissimilar to London with the exception that Northern Lads will sign for them so they can carry on living at home.