' No business in going to ' ?

, if you are going to have a 7 match festival in February , you don't have much option really

As for the cost , once again , that is just an option that people have to make a decision on

Ok the RFL has financial business into going to Cardiff. It’ll probably only run for years because the tourist board will pay for it due to the amount of money rugby league fans bring into Cardiff.

Behind the scenes the Millennium Magic is doing well. But up front it looks like a failure due to the empty seats and I’m afraid that is what judges success and failure in most people’s eyes.

Either way I think I’ve said all that I need to say on this thread and I hope those who went had a good weekend.

I'd agree but in the main that's because they now have a stronger brand and offer an 'exclusive and the place to be' event for them, this in itself is a clever marketing PR excercise.

Their international game goes one step further in that tickets are more scarce so people have a higher percieved value on the event ensuring impulse buying. The RFL tries this all the time - only everyone knows there is loads of tickets still available so what's the point.

Absolutely totally agree with you - dont blame the RFL blame the people who choose not to come as :

1, its too expensive - rubbish, it cost me and my 15 year old less than £20 between us for 4 games - what other event offers that kind of value.

2, its too far away - it is if you only go down to watch your own team then bugger off home, which , as a fan of RL in general i will never understand - you've paid for 4 (or 3) games so watch them. if you book a cheap hotel or guest house you can have a great weekend away.

3, wrong time of year - when is the right time of year then cos even in May people complained !

To me having this in the heartlands takes away a huge part of the MM experience. we see the same towns/cities week in week out , going to somewhere like Cardiff gives people a day/weekend out that they can look forward to rather than treking back down the M62 like they will do regularly anyway.
in my opinion it is a wonderful event and to remove it from the calendar or move it to the heartlands would be a huge mistake as it takes away that little bit of something different where every fan of every club can have a 'day out' .

Yes Id agree , but it is RU international aspect that has built this brand and place to be mentality , we quite simply don't have it , and I doubt we ever will , the same concept applies to lower tier pro RL , our brands ( although known about by the people of our towns ) has little value

Will it ever change ? Perhaps , in a few decades if we are lucky , not be a problem for me though

That aspect is not a negative, what is a negative is the fact it's not grown the sport. We're still flatcappers because we have no vision. You have to be business minded to succeed, not sentimental. The magic weekend is a marketing concept aimed at bringing in new fans and thus growing the greatest game, it's potential hasn't been maximised.

We have the product, but no one knows about it. Scully summed it up Thurs night on BBC 5 Live when suggesting RU had a magnificent event, great atmosphere etc etc...and then they kicked off.

How do you think RU got to that stage? Do you think it would have happened if, instead of attending, their fans had sat at home and moaned about how it was a waste of time and effort?

The MM was a marketing concept aimed at bringing in new fans , is it now , or has that changed ?

Scully is wrong , people do know we have a product , the vast majority of sports fans ( those that are likely to attend a live sporting event ) do know about RL and the events we have , they just don't see them as interesting because they lack ' value '

RU had to start somewhere, they didn't grow the international game on luck alone. It can be done, We just need vision and business acumen at the top of the RFL - South Sydney have both these attributes in Crowe and Holmes a Court. Maurice Lindsay had Vision, sadly no business sense

They got people off their ass and into the stadium rather than moaning about people who moan.

RU for over a century had very little real club competition , the International part of the game was the be all and end all , it still is , we however wanted more than that we were competitive , we needed ' real ' sport every week , that need is what has made the difference between the codes now , it isn't going to change in a hurry

The top tier holds 33,000 and wasn't even open so the bottom 2 tiers gave a capacity of 41,500 so 30,000 + makes them around 75% full !!

That's not correct. Most people do know about RL, they just don't know what it encompasses. They think it it some sort of weird hybrid of Union and are resistant to it, particularly if they are already familiar with the Union code. Once they watch a game, they realise how stupid they were. It's nothing to do with brand value, at least not at SL level.

What, do you want me to physically come and grab you? I would be arrested.

Outside the heartlands most folk don't know there are two codes of Rugby, these people represent a huge proportion of the market and shouldn't be ignored.

Value is a prob. This will decrease further if we take RL off terrestrial TV as this is the gateway to new fans. If i'm not mistaken, the AFL adopted a similar approach when negotiating their TV contracts, they agreed to a lower contract so that their games were screened live into Sydney (it was reluctantly agreed) - now they're making in roads into RL heartlands. I'd rather we took a hit now financially in order to grow the greatest game long term.

You need to slow down and read what you are quoting , I said that most sports fans do know what RL is , so why or you suggesting the opposite , you are also making the mistake of assuming that others think like you , they don't

Most sports fans will have seen SL on tv and Challenge cup finals on the BBC , but as I said many northern fans will prefer football as it has a higher profile and better atmosphere , southern fans just prefer what they conceive to be a more valuable brand , there is a huge snob value to certain events and sports ,RU has that , we don't and never will

Obviously Mr Peacock wouldn't , then again he won't be around when it does will he ?

I've lived in non-heartland areas all my life, I've introduced people to the game. Most of the time they know that RL exists, they may know the fundamental differences with RU but they have serious misconceptions about the nature of the game. It's nothing to do with brand value, the only way RL lacks 'brand value' is due to media coverage, which as we all know is no fault of our own and isn't going to change in a hurry. You're speaking as a Championship fan, this is an issue that does affect Championship clubs but I don't think SL ones really. I don't think there are many potential SL fans who know about the game but don't go because they think the clubs lack 'brand value'.

What is a ' potential SL fan ' ?

Why do you ask ridiculous questions like this when you can't think of anything to say?

Just try answering it first , then the logic of the question will become apparent

What do you think a potential Super League fan is? Really, come on.

From your id it says location , south Wales , so disregarding the north of England , what would you say are the most area and type of people to be ' potential SL fans ' ?