I honestly think this SHOULD have been an excellent proof-of-concept weekend that could have shown there is genuine interest in an expanded WCC. The massive slip up IMO was having no qualification criteria for the two NRL teams not involved in the main event. That meant any credibility was lost before dates were even announced and tickets had gone on sale. It should have been Saints v Souths, Wigan v Bulldogs and Wire v Roosters and then it would have been the genuine NRL v SL "series" it is being billed as.

Wigan's attendances have been gradually on the slide since 2012 and the club don't seem to be doing a massive amount to get those fans back tbh.

They offered ex season ticket holders the same price deal as renewal of current season ticket holders. What more do you want them to do without upsetting current season ticket holders?

I think there's more to growing attendances than just offering special rates for ex ST holders. IIRC at a Fans Forum a few years ago IL stated his desire to grow our average attendances to 20k. Magnificent if that could be achieved but we're going the other way.

I wonder, do the club still go into schools and target the younger audience? Are they promoting the club in other local towns? Would be interesting to hear the official strategy on this.

Agreed, advice taken

That was a good deal I agree but it's obviously not enough. The average in 2014 was about 2000 down on what it was in 2012. The attendance at the Hudds game was worrying to say the least. From Lenegan's speech at the fans forum it was almost like he was saying there is a new structure and that will automatically help the crowds but I don't think that is the case. At the minute it seems like some fans are ready to throw any excuse as to why they can't get to games. Thursday's don't help, there's now no free car parking on site, they've scrapped ancient and loyal memberships. There needs to be more done to get people back. FWIW I'm not one who has stopped going so I can't offer any suggestions but a decent number of the fan base are obviously disillusioned for various reasons and its up to the club to understand those reasons and do what they can to get the average back to the 16k plus it was. Thursday games are here to stay and the answer isn't to give tickets away for nothing.

Just to play devil's advocate for a moment, Wigan's season ticket sales are slightly up on last year. The Widnes performance clearly put off a fair few hence a very low walk up against Hudds.

Add to that an early gettaway for anyone with kids off for the week, bloomin' awful weather, Sky broadcast, Hudds never bringing more than 2 men, their wives, 2 sheep & a dog, roadworks, early in the season etc.

Look at last year's stats: except for the opening game, home attendance didn't rise above 15k 'til Easter Monday then dipped again right up to the play-offs.
I'm not convinced people will automatically trot up simply because of the "new format". If it works, then maybe next year. But I suspect the nay-sayers & cynics will still stay away for all but the tastiest of games. Then the Norweb shirts will get ironed & the part-timers will come out to play.

If the WCC was a proper comp and not just 2 friendlies on an under-card to Sunday's effort then many more would have made the effort (me included - I simply can't get excited about our game & quite frankly I've got better things to do), regardless of whether it's a chance to see the "superstars" of the NRL in action.
Add to that the media coverage: the BBC are only covering Sunday's game & none of their trails even mention us or Wire's game (that aside from slandering us in the narrative - penned by a Stainer I think). Not got Sly so I've no idea what they're doing.

Then you look at all the build up to the new season. Again, with almost every ignorant BBC pundit bleating on that the format was too complicated and they didn't understand it (no matter how simplistically or slowly it was explained), it gave anyone who was dithering about whether to attend games the perfect excuse to keep cherry-picking games.

The RFL have done next to nothing to promote these games beyond the core fan-base. Even the Wigan Ob's website leads with Latics' latest woes in the sport section.

Sales are around the 18,000 mark now according to the website.

As a beneficiary of the A & L last season, I fully agree. I can't believe it cost the club that much, but it was a nice gesture which said, hey, we realise you live a distance away and can't come every week, but here's a little sweetener.

BTW I've a Norweb shirt at home (somewhere, haven't worn it for years); does that makes me an 'official' part-timer? I suppose when I bought that I was, I was a Challenge Cup Final only guy.

Fully agree about this, though. The BBC has a duty to inform, yes, and they shouldn't be saying "This is too complicated" (i.e. "The public are too thick to understand this"icon_wink.gif, they should simply be explaining it as clearly as possible, and keep the editorialising out of it.

The only way they could have built up a Ryder cup feel would have been to have all three games on the same day and at the same venue. I'd even go as far to say that the players could have played in the same style kits (maybe a dream team kit) with their own club badges on at the side of a Superleague badge.

Without all that it's just two friendlies and a main event and many Wigan fans will want Saints and Wire to get beat and the same for them.