Pure fantasy (well, it is the off season) but were we to sign Burgess (and I don't think we are) on the back of THAT treble, I reckon with a bit of marketing we could be looking at easily our highest average since the start of SL. Could an average of 18k be do-able? Or 16.5k with no SB?

Think 16.5-17k sounds very do-able depending on how well we do as the season progresses

On the back of the massive crowd for NZ and what surely will be a sell out for the WCC with people wanting to see Thurston in action, Gary must be rubbing his hands.

And hopefully opening his wallet.

Hq isn't big enough for us to be looking at breaking records. Back when we were putting up big numbers we were getting 1 or 2 24k attendances a couple of 20k plus ones and we can't fit those in any more and replacing a 24k game against Bradford with even a 18k game pretty much knocks off 600 from the average.

It could be possible, but I think the averages will be determined more on the factor of the visiting teams support. I think Leeds could pull 16K every week without any problems, but the likes of Salford, Catalans etc will lower the attendance by up to 1500. The addition of Thursday night games etc doesn't help either for travelling fans.

I've been saying for ages that we need to up our marketing game. A couple of canvas billboards outside the ground and a "A" board is not good enough.

We need to create a presence in the city outside of North Leeds. 14k home fans might be OK for RL but we should be striving for 20k a game in a 800k population city after a decade of great success.

I would say that Leeds online and email marketing is pretty good as its relationship with the newspapers which helps. They're also pretty good at developing relationships with organisations that give them a bit of additional advertising/marketing.

But I definitely agree we can do more. The sad thing is that Leeds are one of the better clubs at this.

Maybe look into more on Radio Aire or Yorkshire Radio, not to mention Made in Leeds.

150,000 likes on Facebook, should be full every week

Are you suggesting this has some relevance?

I've liked about 15 different RL clubs pages and followed a similar amount on twitter. But I'm only going to go and watch either Leeds or York.

Whenever big name signings are discussed people talk about them adding thousands to attendances. Apart from an initial surge in interest I can't think of it ever happening over the course of a season. What matters is winning.

And 89,000 twitter followers. Social media is certainly a big part of our marketing.

You Fan of easy virtue you

Tis true, I'm an RL slut.

Whilst I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment, it's harder than simply saying "Leeds should get 20k+".

Populations in cities might be bigger, but they are far more transient that they are in the towns. You say that Leeds has a population of 800,000, but around 100,000 of those are student. That's a lot of people off the bat, probably from elsewhere in the UK (or the world) who are likely to have little or no affiliation with Leeds and who aren't actually in the city for large parts of the rugby season.

Leeds also has a lot of people migrating to it from other parts of the UK for work / education and the rest. Again, these are probably people with their own sporting affiliations and it's hard to break those down. Other clubs in the game, aside from Salford and London, don't have that problem. Nobody ups sticks and leaves their home to start a new career in Widnes or Castleford.

Then there is the problem that the leisure market in cities is far, far more competitive. There is a hell of a lot of stuff to spend your money on in Leeds on a Friday night.

Sure, there is stuff the club can do better, and it does a lot of things very well, but this idea that Leeds could get 25k+ every week doesn't take into account the fact that Leeds' market is very different from most of RL land.

Leeds core support started from a pretty low ebb in the summer era, probably around 9,000 based on the 1996 game against London.

It's now closer to 15,000 based on the 2015 fixture against Catalans Dragons. Only very briefly did it go above that, probably in the 2004-2005 period where the club finally broke its title hoodoo and attendances seemed to peak for the big games in particular.

Attendance is of course restricted by safety certificates for the various parts of the ground, and allowance has to be made for visiting fans. If Leeds were to be averaging around 20k then every game would probably have to be all-ticket, which in return would likely cut down numbers as it takes away the impulse attender.

In the best part of 40 years since I started going to Headingley, I'm struggling to think of a time when Leeds would have even come close to averaging 20k over the course of a season. There have been 20k plus attendances for the odd game - a Widnes cup replay in the mid 80s, a handful of games around the early/mid 2000s maybe, but nothing to suggest a 20k average attendance is feasible irrespective of the level of success the club enjoys.

I think once headingley is fully or partly upgraded and a capacity around or above 24k. Then a 20k average us achievable, but this would require north stand up to around 7k Seats and south stand back above 8k

Ps bought a season ticket for 2016 first time since 2005.
Not had one for a few years due to other commitments, but can go to every home game up to super 8's could be a lottery after that.

Where are the other 4k fans going to come from, out of interest? If they haven't been coming to games during the last decade, I'm not sure it's going to be that easy to convince them to come watch a team in transition.

I think it would be quite achievable with a big push on marketing.

And a hundred thousand students is an opportunity not a hindrance.

Just look round the city? would you guess there is a sports team that has just won a treble? and season tickets are available for 27 quid a month

With a footfall of what must run in the hundreds of thousands within the city centre and train station it's criminal there is not one billboard, poster not anything to let a person know there is an elite title winning Club 5 mins away from the city.

I agree that we need an upgrade, as HQ gets quite uncomfortable when it hits 20k

I think we are on the crest of a wave regarding potential support. A lot of people within the city have become proud of the club and really feel part of the success achieved by the team. Leeds has never really been a hotbed of sporting passion despite the success of both Leeds Utd and Leeds RL. This could be the period that it really changes, and I feel a real bond between the club and the people of our city at the moment. Add to that growing numbers of supporters from far and wide attaching themselves to the club and a good increase in numbers looks likely. Dwindling away followings will ultimately impact on attendances, but I think we can grow to an average of 16500-17000 next season.

Stick a roof on the west stand and you might get some more away supporters for a start. It's 2015 ffs!

Come back when you've paid off a mortgage and you aren't renting.

Can't do this - won't be able to launch bog brushes from the ginnel behind