Essentially, has anyone (i.e) the RFL missed out on any revenue from this game not being at Elland Road? Or is the amount being charged by Headingley significantly less than the cost of hiring Elland Road which therefore offsets any lost revenue?

I know that without having sold out the game, the question might be moot, but i was curious and thought someone on here might be a bit more clued up on the financial side of RL.

Also, are Leeds Rhinos going to do better financially out of teh arrangement than they would have done had the game been held at ER?

theres no family deal at headingley as there was at elland road so that might have hit the attendance figures
the rfl should be using rugby grounds more often and i can see odsel being used more once its had a redevelopment

The costs of using Headingley will minute in comparison to that thieving old wind bag at Elland Road. The policing alone of the match will be tens of thousands cheaper.

Would have preferred a bigger venue if truth be told, and Headingley does tend to embarass me these days as a showcase venue, but were they really that many options available.

Its under a thousand away from being a 21,500 sellout. www.therhinos.co.uk/news/18740.php Paying in on the western terrace until all tickets are gone. One thing to be sure of, 20,000+ at headingley is gonna be as good if not better than any atmosphere at Elland Road!

Its under a thousand away from being a 21,500 sellout. www.therhinos.co.uk/news/18740.php Paying in on the western terrace until all tickets are gone. One thing to be sure of, 20,000+ at headingley is gonna be as good if not better than any atmosphere at Elland Road!

Very difficult to answer your question without access to detailed financial figures available from previous WCC encounters... how many spectators paid what price for their tickets, cost of stadium hire, etc.

What I do know is that attendances at Elland Rd for the WCC which Leeds have been involved in have shown a steady decline since 2005.

2005 V Canterbury - 37,028
2008 V Melbourne - 33,204
2009 V Manly - 32,569
2010 V Melbourne - 27,697

It's also worth bearing in mind that for all those fixtures above, lots of cheap £10 tickets were on offer in the week or two leading up to the game in order to boost the attendances.

Given there's been no cheap, discounted tickets made available for tonight's fixture at Headingley, an anticipated attendance of around 21,000 to 22,000, money to be made flogging their own utility food and p[ii[/iss masquerading as beer in plastic cartons, the absence of Elland Rd hire costs, etc, I think it's safe to conclude that Leeds will do better out of tonight's fixture financially than they did in 2010 at the very least.

Thats a staggering decline in attendances. 9000+ in 5 years, any obvious reasons for that?



Would Leeds be entitled to bar and food revenues, or would these facilities fall under RFL control for the evening?

Either way a massive shot in the arm for Leeds Rugby it seems.

The clues are in the numbers as Keith has pointed out. Embarrassing just over half full stadium for this showpiece event vs full to brimming.

Yes. The novelty wore off. Simple as that.

Should be a good criac tonight, i know of plenty of non Leeds fans attending, hopefully we get a better performance than last week.

Definately



Win, lose or draw, heads will be sore................................in the morning

Although a pretty big decline in 2010 in terms of % to capacity i'm sure it isn't as bad because the East Stand upper was closed.

Since the rest of the ground wasn't full, I don't think that made any difference to be honest.

The first 2 were sell outs and the 3rd was almost sold out. The last time though was well below cap.

I like the idea of 20k in Headingley (our biggest att in 5 years?) and the atmosphere will be a lot better in the compact stadium than maybe a few thousand more would have created at ER. Not to mention all this has probably done is cut down on the amount of Neutrals attending.

What would you consider to be novel about the game? and for whom?

I miss the days when a Bradford match attracted a crowd of around 25k and Headingley was bouncing

Of course the novelty has worn off......playing in a WCC final for the first time was exciting because it was new.

Now this is the 5th time we have played in it - the novelty is bound to wear thin.

For those who wonder if GF loses it's novelty value - then no, obviously not - it is a prestigious competition.

However, the WCC is nothing more than a glorified friendly. I want us to win, but I am not fussed if we don't. I would rather win the challenge cup or the GF (again).

In 2005 we were champions for the first time in 30 odd years (first time in my lifetime). The WCC was our reward, we hadn't played one before. Having seen Bradford and Saints win the previous ones, expectations were high. Thus it was novel and exciting for the good citizens of Leeds.

By 2010, it was our 4th in 5 or 6 years. Thus no longer novel. It wasn't even the first against Melbourne.

Given that very few people really believe that victory in this match really makes you the best team in the world on anything other than paper, the novelty was an important selling point, particularly to people outside the club's core support.

The fact that we've lost the last two has probably dented consumer confidence too.

For most fans (certainly for me, I speculate for the rest) this is the 3rd or even 4th most important trophy (depending on how you value the LLS). It's nice to win, don't get me wrong, but not the be all and end all.

None of them were sell out games.

Probably a fair assessment. I think a precedent was set last year when the Game was held at the DW. So assuming that the SL Champions play in a ground with a large enough capacity, that is where the games will be held from now on.

Still a decent money spinner for both club and the RFL i would guess.

Give or take a few tickets then. 40k was the cap for the 1st game and 33.5k was the cap for the last 3.

3,000 short of a sell out then, give or take a few £10 tickets here and there.


East Stand Upper was open for the first Melbourne game in 2008 so how do you arrive at a drop of 40k to 33.5k in capacity?

Not sure why you're attempting to paint a rosy picture of WCC attendances when they have clearly been on the decline since the first one due to reduced interest/novelty value.

From memory the upper tier of the east stand was closed for the 2008, 2009 & 2010 WCC. This knocked 6-7000 off the capacity and availability of cheaper tickets and tickets with a better view.

East Stand Upper was [url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/leeds-rhinos/tier_is_re_opened_to_meet_demand_1_2171648[ure-opened in 2008 in order to meet demand[/u[/url.

Attendance was still almost 4K less than for the Canterbury game.

When was that?

The economics of of WCC are a bonanza for the competing clubs. I think the prize money is shared by the players but do some math on gate money alone and I reckon it amounted to £450k to £500k. Add in sponsorship, advertising and concessions.

Now, remember that the reported highest offer of sponsorship for the whole league was £750k from Betfair which would be shared between 14 teams over a whole year then you begin to understand why this one game is a very important fixture. Leeds will have been set up nicely by last night's match.