In order to allow the original thread to get back to what it was supposed to be discussing, I think a new thread is needed on this topic.

I do think that aboveusonlypie has a point, although he is being rather hardline about it. Of course you can be a fan without going to the game, there are a multitude of other ways to support your team.

In terms of Thursday night, let's make no bones about it, the attendance was shocking. 8.5k for a playoff game is abysmal. The club made it as easy as possible for fans to get to the game in terms of ticket prices and letting STHs claim their own seat all the way up until the day of the game.

That though, is slightly irrelevant when looking at what seems to be the two main gripes from people on here.

1. "Playoff games aren't included in my season ticket" - Why on earth should they be? If you support a successful team, you should expect them to be getting to playoffs and finals etc. Lord knows years of supporting Liverpool has taught me that. The club doesn't owe you a bean in this respect. Even if they did, the play-offs are an RFL event anyway so the clubs have little control over ticketing them. Despite this, they did us a huge favour by heavily subsidising Thursday night's ticket.

2. "I work on a Thursday night" - That's bad luck, but I don't think that applies to all 4-5 thousand that dropped off the attendance from the Salford game at the end of July or the Warrington game a few weeks ago. Either way, I think we need to look at how we get people to the game whether they work shifts or 9 to 5.

I think the situation will be a lot better next year. The playoffs will be meaningful from the word go, which should up the attendance. I know we all want the sport to grow, and playing in stadiums that are not even half full is going to go nowhere towards furthering that.

we have fans from all over not just wigan, out of our party there were 10 that couldnt due to distance and travel and work alone.

It's the last of year of it - hence it don't get worked up by it.

It's actually a terrific advertisement for the new structure. Only one playoff game max next year (for each of the 4 clubs that qualify) with big stakes.

RL fans do seem particularly reluctant to pay for games outside the season ticket though, whether it be cup games or playoffs. Why I'm not sure. Although one possibility is fans being asked to pay for match tickets for potentially four weeks in a row within the current playoff system. I'm not sure that scenario occurs in any other sport.

I agree with point 2, the fact the Hudds game was on a Thursday may have knocked a few hundred off the crowd, but our home POs have been consistently low over the previous 5 seasons when they were on Friday night or Sunday afternoon.

With point 1 you're comparing football to rugby league there, and the two just don't compare. Premier league football teams know they can charge upwards of £50 a ticket and still get a full house. They also have loyalty systems in place for cup competitions where if you miss an unattractive early cup fixture you wouldn't be eligible for later rounds. Neither of those apply to RL.

The main flaw is the PO structure. Every Wigan fan knew last week that we were guaranteed another home game over the next two weeks should we win or lose against Huddersfield. With that in mind, a lot of fans clearly chose to miss last week's game and save the cash for the later rounds and potential GF. Even our semi in a fortnight will be lucky to get up to this season's average weekly round attendance (about 14k).

I agree about next season though. Only one game won't count on a ST, and that will be a semi-final knockout game.

If a season ticket covered play-off games, and the club failed to reach the play-offs, would there be a case for some refund?

Talking of playoff attendances, its a bit ironic that we got slated about our attendance on thursday night and yet it turned out to be the biggest attendance of the lot!

I finish work at 7pm most nights and work in Warrington. I never miss a home game. That being said, I believe people should be entitled to spend their money how they see fit. If we get all the way to the final a family of four may have to spend almost £150 on tickets. That's a lot of money in a 3 week period.

Factor in cost of travelling to the ground, car park, refreshments and maybe a cheeky flutter it's a big chunk of change.

You also need to factor in the game essentially meant nothing. We all knew we'd get to see the lads again at the DW before the end of the season. If you had twenty quid for a ticket and no more, would you go for the game that mean nothing, or the knockout game? It's a no brainer.

I hate that some fans have a holier than thou attitude [not singling anyone out here] because they attend every game. Well done, your support for the club is commendable. But don't look down on others for not having the money, time or desire to go watch their team play.

The sight of empty terraces at season ending playoff matches have for a few years been a source of embarrassment for the game (especially when on TV),also to a lesser extent the same applies to RL cup matches.
This weekend the matches have been attended as follows.
Wigan v Hudds 8652, Saints v Cas 7548, Wire v Widnes 7239 and Leeds v Cats 7112 which is abysmal.

I have been thinking for a couple of years of ways of incorporating playoff and cup matches into the season ticket structure and what I have come up with is only an idea which people may pick holes in, but it may be an idea that could be worked on.

Talking only now about Wigan my idea would be as follows, to start the system off look at how many matches Wigan have played at home in the Cup and the playoffs over a 3/4 year period and work out an average per season and if that average came to lets say 4 matches (just an example) use the following system.
Put a minimal increase on the season ticket for the extra 4 matches which would not have to be what the match day prices with a season ticket are now, because even when only getting 8000 in the present system the match day overheads will have been covered.
What I am trying to say even though the season ticket may break down to lets say £15.00 they could put the extra match fee to about £8.00 (to be debated) and still have more fans in the ground as well as show an increase in revenue.
Going back to the start when I said take an example over app 3/4 years, it could be carried on a rolling bass to cover for when you may have 6 knock out matches one year and maybe only 2 in another year, this is an idea which could be set up by other clubs and if thought out proper could at least make the grounds seem less empty and devoid of atmosphere.
Like I have said this is just the basis of an idea which could be worked on.

I don't think incorporating playoff tickets into the cost of a season ticket will be too much of an issue from next season, as there will only be one semi final that doesn't count. It should have been looked into over the past 6 seasons that we have had this structure, however.

The RFL obviously decided that they would rather receive the revenue from 1/3 full stadiums with full priced tickets than try to offer discounts to get more bums on seats.

The play offs have taken far too long, become boring and with a second chance factor have lost the "must see" tag!
It will be interesting to see the crowds next year when there's one play off game a season then the GF.

No. Didn't they already cover the first round of the Challenge Cup the club was involved in if at home? If so that is probably out of the window now SL clubs enter later but any "extras" such as a CC game or playoff game should be viewed as a bonus nit cause for a refund if we don't get a home game or into the playoffs.

The top 5 system was never given enough of a run IMO. While under that the loser in the 2nd v 3rd game in week 1 got another chance I think there was more value in winning it so it was a bigger game less likely to be dismissed.

As to attendances next season the playoff game will probably be a good crowd. It's the crowds we have before it that will be interesting. This system resulted in lower attendances in the Swiss soccer league overall and was a reason it was abandoned.

They moved to a top 8 PO system when they scrapped P+R so that more teams had something to play for. If they scrapped P+R and kept a top 5 PO system the last 3 months of the season would be meaningless for the majority of teams.

Wigan's average attendance has fallen by over 2000 over the last two seasons, so it's not like everyone loves the current structure. Comparisons with its use in other sports are pretty moot tbh, it needs to be looked at in terms of how it will work in RL. We are losing two home games against London and Bradford, and gaining 3 or 4 games that will likely be against top 8 opposition. There is more emphasis on finishing higher up in the table and the long, drawn-out PO system with 2nd chances and weeks off will be gone. People may have reserversations with this system, but the problems with it are more for the middle and lower tiers. For top 8 teams, it will be much, much better than what we have now.

There's always the chance that the teams finishing 7th or 8th after 23 games have no chance of getting in the top 4. They will then have 7 meaningless games and games that the fans won't be able to plan for because the fixture list won't be available until all of round 23 is completed which no-one seems to have picked up on.

At the moment the fixture list is out in December enabling people to plan for the season. The top8 and middle 8 can't be sorted until round 23 finishes. We might be playing Catalan away for example with a weeks notice. We might be playing Leeds for the fifth time in say 6 months if we get them in the cup as well as the magic weekend. Try marketing that as the Big One 6.

Similarly the top 4 may already be pretty much nailed on by then also. Leading to teams coasting through August and September, as pretty much happens now.

The problems with the new structure is the same with all structures that try to manufacture excitement. In a sense it may be best to stop tinkering around with systems and just play the season out. Let the top 2 go to Old Trafford. Try to build something in to reward the team coming first - like greater prize money.

It's very easy to scratch the surface and say "this MIGHT happen". I know it isn't perfect but too many people seem to be too premature in dismissing it because it's a bit unconventional. We could get Catalans away at short notice in the cup or the current PO structure. I agree that we may end up playing one team too often (as we did in 2011 under the current system when we played Saints 6 times), but that's because of the poor, additional game format of the MW IMO. It's very unlikely that 7th and 8th will mathematically not be able to reach the top 4 and have nothing to play for the whole 7 games.

We didn't know the finishing positions of 5 of the top 6 until the last game of the weekly rounds this season, if that happens under the new structure then one team doesn't make the POs. Neither Leeds or Warrington would have been included. The tactic of coasting through the weekly rounds and peaking for the POs disappears, because you could end up missing out on the POs altogether.

I would have liked them to structure it as 22 pre-split home and away games with a 9's tournament MW as round 23, that would at least give an extra week to sort the post-split fixtures and get rid of the extra game and lopsided fixture calendar (which shouldn't exist now relegation is back).