Challenge cup games are always poorly attended and obviously some of the season ticket holders don't go.

Maybe it's worth handing out more freebies to local schools, rugby clubs and business.

Aye.
Just over 5K at Bradford today.

What was at the Wigan v cas game?


If teams have few thousand season ticket holders that don't go, it will greatly effect the attendance. Also the fact all the games have been shown live on tv will have bearing on it.

I think all clubs should adopt the stance that any season ticket holder should get free admission to any / all home CC games. they'd certainly turn up instead of watching it on the box in my opinion.

I'm not even a ST holder, that is just my opinion and also I think part of the reason they don't attend is because, despite, being a ST holder, they feel they are being mugged into paying for another home match should they be drawn in the CC at home.

if wane is going to call out to the fans to ask us to turn up in numbers and show our support then the club (and RL in general) need to understand the reasons why we are still not doing; prices!

i'm sure there are more underlying reasons as to why this doesn't happen but take a step back and its simple really.

The ticket prices for the Cas game were very reasonable.

Disagree, unless the cost of the ST goes up and a portion is specifically carved out for cup games.

Reason being the cash these games generate for clubs - if you're drawn away in the cup, you won't get much cash if the majority of home fans are in for free!

I'm thinking more of the lower league and smaller SL teams.

Absolutely ridiculous. The Challenge Cup is a separate competition, it has nothing to do with the league so why would Wigan allow season ticket holders free admission for every round of the cup. If Wigan and all the other clubs allowed this to happen they would all lose money because only season ticket holders would turn up. Ticket prices for season ticket holders were spot on if you bought them before the game. £15 Adult £10 concession & £5 for Under 16's. What more can the club do?

I don't think allowing season ticket holders to get into CC games for free is the answer. Perhaps some sort of Wembley priority deal for people who attended earlier rounds is the way forward? I can't understand why people don't bother watching to be honest. In 2011 we got nearly 80k for the final at Wembley, but couldn't even sell out the Halliwell Jones for the semi against Saints or QF against Wire (both 12-13k attendances). We could offer even cheaper tickets or group deals I suppose but I'm not sure rugby crowds are particularly responsive to ticket price changes, we seem to get the same crowd whether tickets are £10 or £25

It is a difficult one and I'm not really sure the club can do much more. A priority system for final tickets would work if final tickets were more in demand, but as it stands anybody who wants one is able to get one, either by waiting for general sale through the club or buying off the RFL. Priority ticketing, like what is seen in football for cup games, only really works if there is a risk of missing out on tickets for the bigger games altogether.

The only real excuse for Saturday's attendance was the clash with amateur fixtures, but even taking that in to account a large number of ST holders/regular attendees simply wont have bothered going. There is simply very little interest in the CC until the final, and I'm not really sure there's much the club or the RFL can do about it, it's down to the attitude of the fans. Giving tickets away isn't the answer, that completetly devalues the product and loses revenue for the club, ATEOTD 8000 people paying £15 is better than 12000 paying nothing, regardless of how poor it looks on TV.

my response was in relation to a large number of season ticket holders who did not attend or by the sounds of things did not attend and also in reply to Wanes war-cry about wanting a big turn out.
I still think it is a good idea, I'm sure you had the option in the good old days to attend a free CC match with a season ticket?
and surely for it to work then the ST prices may need to increase slightly, yes, I don't deny that, in which case all the RFL has to do is pump more money into the competition and clubs by way of better sponsorship deals. away teams would still get their cut from the initial ST sales and any additional sales on the day. share and share alike.
I suppose its easy for me to say, much harder if not impossible to apply. just a passing thought!

That was paid for by the RFL (I think) - not sure why it was stopped.
Although, there is a case for some sort of discount for these games (in the same way the RFL subsidise Magic for example) & that might help bump up numbers in general if you knew that shelling out for a ST would get meaningful discounts for CC games (home and away).

Up until about 2/3 years ago, ST holders could get in to a 4R cup match for free. Cup quarters and semis should be seen as some of the biggest games of the season, the attendances for these games clearly show a lot of fans don't view them as such, same with first couple of weeks of the POs.

You can't manufacture atmosphere and that is what that did try and do IMO. It lasted as long as those involved were interested and was seen as a clique or if you prefer some sort of club within a club. It lasted about as long as I expected it would.

I don't know what the answer is but that wasn't it.

ticket prices for the CC games cannot be blamed for poor attendances. We paid £13 adult and £7 concessions. Superb for a game of that quality.

Better still I paid £9 for a concession ST holder and my grand daughter got it for free value for money .