Whither Rugby? - What is in a Crowd?
By BrianC
June 8 2004
Whilst I was preparing this series of articles a hypothetical question was posed to me. Are crowd sizes all-important? If you were faced with a choice between average crowds of 15k and a place in the HC, or crowds of 20k and a place in the PPCC, which would you prefer? From such small beginnings…
June 8 2004
Whilst I was preparing this series of articles a hypothetical question was posed to me. Are crowd sizes all-important? If you were faced with a choice between average crowds of 15k and a place in the HC, or crowds of 20k and a place in the PPCC, which would you prefer? From such small beginnings…
Many observers, including this author, believe that top flight professional rugby will become the preserve of a smaller number of clubs than is currently the case, in much the same way as in football. These will be the clubs who compete seriously for the Zurich Premiership and Heineken Cup every season, who are frequently televised, and who will thus attract sponsorship and top talent. Most of us can reel off the names of a small number of elite soccer clubs matching these criteria - Man U, Juventus, Barcelona to name but some.
Assuming that rugby will follow the same pattern, ask yourself whether you want the club you support to be one of these top clubs? If your answer is yes, then you as supporters, and in particular the directors of the club you support, need to look hard at the future your club faces. In many cases some tough decisions are going to be called for.
Growth in crowd sizes is about a lot more than the revenue from ticket sales. Apart from the ticket revenue at that match, every person paying to go into a ground represents an opportunity to convert that person into a supporter – a regular. The more established supporters there are, the more opportunities there are to entice further new supporters. As has been demonstrated at London Irish, if you get the package right and people want to come back, a virtual circle is established.
There are those who deride the clubs which have large stadia to fill, for the quantity of 'free tickets' they give away. Certainly some of the earlier promotions I witnessed were so poorly executed that they only served to give free or reduced price tickets to those who would probably have paid full price anyway. However, such promotions can, if correctly targeted, bring new people into the ground, and a percentage of these people will return as paying customers. Arguably the best example of a successful promotion of this type was the London Irish 'Kids go free' one. This was first used in their 'big' Christmas game against Wasps which attracted a crowd of 20,318. The crowd figures for the subsequent home games of the season were substantially higher than for those prior to Christmas, even ignoring the record Saint Patrick’s weekend crowd.
A club's revenue derives from many sources other than ticket prices. In some cases merchandising revenue outstrips that from ticket sales. Games with larger crowds are more likely to attract increased media coverage, thus enhancing the club’s opportunities to attract sponsorship at premium rates.
Assuming growth patterns continue as they have done for the last seven seasons; by the end of this decade average crowds in excess of 15k will be the norm not just at Leicester, but also at London Irish and Northampton. Clubs such as Bath and Harlequins, even if they were to develop their grounds fully, will find themselves falling increasingly behind the leading clubs in terms of crowd size and ticket revenue. Whilst expansion of existing facilities or building in a nearby location is an option for some clubs, most notably Gloucester, they are all faced with a funding problem. Will ticket sales be sufficient to service the construction finance in addition to providing traditional revenue streams for other purposes?
Even at clubs where development is feasible, the question has to be asked. Is it practical? Take Northampton as an example. Those who have visited Franklins Gardens will testify that it is a wonderful ground, which has undergone substantial development over the years. There is further development in hand which will take the ground’s capacity to around 16k. To further increase this enlarged capacity would require extensive
re-modeling of the existing stands into a two-tier structure. The cost of doing so, coupled with the loss of revenue while the construction work took place, must place a massive query over the viability of this apparent option.
The next article in this series will look at stadia in the 21st Century.
Assuming that rugby will follow the same pattern, ask yourself whether you want the club you support to be one of these top clubs? If your answer is yes, then you as supporters, and in particular the directors of the club you support, need to look hard at the future your club faces. In many cases some tough decisions are going to be called for.
Growth in crowd sizes is about a lot more than the revenue from ticket sales. Apart from the ticket revenue at that match, every person paying to go into a ground represents an opportunity to convert that person into a supporter – a regular. The more established supporters there are, the more opportunities there are to entice further new supporters. As has been demonstrated at London Irish, if you get the package right and people want to come back, a virtual circle is established.
There are those who deride the clubs which have large stadia to fill, for the quantity of 'free tickets' they give away. Certainly some of the earlier promotions I witnessed were so poorly executed that they only served to give free or reduced price tickets to those who would probably have paid full price anyway. However, such promotions can, if correctly targeted, bring new people into the ground, and a percentage of these people will return as paying customers. Arguably the best example of a successful promotion of this type was the London Irish 'Kids go free' one. This was first used in their 'big' Christmas game against Wasps which attracted a crowd of 20,318. The crowd figures for the subsequent home games of the season were substantially higher than for those prior to Christmas, even ignoring the record Saint Patrick’s weekend crowd.
A club's revenue derives from many sources other than ticket prices. In some cases merchandising revenue outstrips that from ticket sales. Games with larger crowds are more likely to attract increased media coverage, thus enhancing the club’s opportunities to attract sponsorship at premium rates.
Assuming growth patterns continue as they have done for the last seven seasons; by the end of this decade average crowds in excess of 15k will be the norm not just at Leicester, but also at London Irish and Northampton. Clubs such as Bath and Harlequins, even if they were to develop their grounds fully, will find themselves falling increasingly behind the leading clubs in terms of crowd size and ticket revenue. Whilst expansion of existing facilities or building in a nearby location is an option for some clubs, most notably Gloucester, they are all faced with a funding problem. Will ticket sales be sufficient to service the construction finance in addition to providing traditional revenue streams for other purposes?
Even at clubs where development is feasible, the question has to be asked. Is it practical? Take Northampton as an example. Those who have visited Franklins Gardens will testify that it is a wonderful ground, which has undergone substantial development over the years. There is further development in hand which will take the ground’s capacity to around 16k. To further increase this enlarged capacity would require extensive
re-modeling of the existing stands into a two-tier structure. The cost of doing so, coupled with the loss of revenue while the construction work took place, must place a massive query over the viability of this apparent option.
The next article in this series will look at stadia in the 21st Century.
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
More London Irish headlines
- 100% Kicking Performance
- Don't Muck Up February
- Fantasy Irish Rugby - Week 20 (Leinster at Twickenham)
- London Irish 13 Harlequins 16
- Fantasy Irish Rugby - Week 19 Scarlets
- Irish bow out bravely
- THE MATCH REPORT - SCARLETS V LONDON IRISH
- Fantasy Irish Rugby - Week 18 Northampton
- Little difference between the sides - Irish v Saints