Quote ="AXE2GRIND"If the average price of attending a game in SL is say £20, then the 2019 season saw in excess of £30,000,000 taken on the gate at SL games including play-offs and the Grand Final.
£2,500,000 average gate income per club is more than £1,800,000 TV money that those clubs receive. I am all for off the cuff remarks when they are accurate, but yours is not...by any stretch even remotely that.
Sponsors you say?
HKR are sponsored by a local company who specialise in Domestic and Commercial Drain Cleaning in the Hull Area......Wigan are sponsored by another local company, as are LEEDS BUILDING SOCIETY on the shirts of the Rhinos....do you really think these firms are trying to grab customers in London by sponsoring the local RL side
?
I'll give you wealthy owners and the occasional corporate bone being thrown in, but gate receipts are a key part of the turn over of successful SL clubs. If you doubt me, look at the NRL or even super Rugby Union clubs that are frantically trying to replace the fans they alienated a decade ago when they all thought the TV cash could keep them afloat.'"
Gate receipts are a part of it, but they are probably too much of a proportion of RL club income than they should be. Look at most pro sports and the reliance on gate income has gone down (replaced by TV, commercial and non-match day) yet in RL, it remains very high. Its the sort of situation that leads to decisions like loop fixtures - clubs rely on game income, so they insist on more and more games.
All clubs need to do better on commercial performance. When you take the difference in TV income out of the equation, Leeds (our most commercially successful club) turn over about the same as Rotherham United - a club that attracts an average of about 9,000 vs Leeds' 13,000-14,000 or so.
What Leeds Building Society does get from their sponsorship with Leeds is, amongst other things, a relatively cheap way to get on TV nationally (they do have branches and serve customers nationally). What they pay Leeds, vs what it would cost for a similar amount of TV exposure of they simply bought the media, is probably very good value when you consider how frequently Leeds games are televised.
But if the clubs are going to do better on commercial but that means they need to get better at attracting audiences that there companies want to reach. Only speaking to C2DE demographics in the North of England that are easy and cheap to advertise to isn't going to do that.
?
