Next Years Season Tickets

[jamiewilkinson]

Sale play the majority of home games on a Friday night, I'm sure their fans are even more disgruntled. They must loose out hugely from the away support as well.

[Jay C]

It makes me chuckle that our roundball cousins are having similar issues this season, for example this article which says that they have had EIGHT home matches moved because of tv commitments this season.

That's a third of their matches and its been back page headline news on the Mercury all week, saying how unacceptable it is and how they've sold the game out to television, etc, etc.

By comparison, we have had ELEVEN out of 14 games (league and HC) moved from the Saturday at 3pm slot, which is nearly 80% of our home games this season.

Both sets of fans are right to be unhappy about it, both clubs should take notice of it and in both sports the TV companies will continue to ignore it.....

[arickett]

All the clubs get the same from the TV deal but last year we had more games moved because of demand. Is this the same this year ? and if it is shoukd we be paid more?

[yellow_balaclava_hunter]

I think people need to open their eyes and realise this is the 21st century!

I would say that the TV companies offer each club a lot of money so it is hard for them to turn it down, not because of greed but for the club to be able to run without losses etc. Most clubs in the league, including us the past couple of seasons, dont make a profit anyway, so without this tv money, where would these clubs be? There probably would be very few clubs left!

Which sums everything up really. Rugby Union is the amateur code of Rugby and doesn't work as a professional sport which is why the clubs should never have gone professional.

To claim that 'The club need to money to keep afloat' to supporters who have been members of the club since the amateur days is complete nonsense and is disrespectful to those supporters. The club chose to go professional like the others and should never have done so therefore has no argument when it comes to 'needing the TV money'.

Even with professionalism no club should be reliant on the TV money. If they are then they are paying the players too much and should be lobbying for a more stringent salary cap.

Rugby Union is getting ever closer to being totally controlled and ruined by TV companies like Association Football currently is.

[tigerburnie]

Which sums everything up really. Rugby Union is the amateur code of Rugby and doesn't work as a professional sport which is why the clubs should never have gone professional.

To claim that 'The club need to money to keep afloat' to supporters who have been members of the club since the amateur days is complete nonsense and is disrespectful to those supporters. The club chose to go professional like the others and should never have done so therefore has no argument when it comes to 'needing the TV money'.

Even with professionalism no club should be reliant on the TV money. If they are then they are paying the players too much and should be lobbying for a more stringent salary cap.

Rugby Union is getting ever closer to being totally controlled and ruined by TV companies like Association Football currently is.

I think the phrase "after the horse has bolted" applies here. It is too late to go back to the amateur days in the Premiership, so we must act responsibly as a company and plan forwards and maximise our profit making capabilities, to fail is go the way of Orrel and cease to exist, that is not an option.

[bluntiger]

I can't help thinking that it is actually in the TV companies interests for people to watch the games on TV (with their £10/month subscription) rather than to attend the games live. Of course, some people will do both as I have done for the last few years.

I appreciate that in the extreme, games with no people attending live would be a dead spectacle but the TV companies must know that these constant rescheduling of KO dates/times is really going to frustrate a lot of fans (of every club, not just Tigers), some will reach the breaking point and will eventually not attend the games live.

And with 80% of our home games this season moved from Saturday 3pm, that is now, no longer the norm - in fact there clearly is no norm.

[Jay C]

I can't help thinking that it is actually in the TV companies interests for people to watch the games on TV (with their £10/month subscription) rather than to attend the games live. Of course, some people will do both as I have done for the last few years.

I appreciate that in the extreme, games with no people attending live would be a dead spectacle but the TV companies must know that these constant rescheduling of KO dates/times is really going to frustrate a lot of fans (of every club, not just Tigers), some will reach the breaking point and will eventually not attend the games live.

And with 80% of our home games this season moved from Saturday 3pm, that is now, no longer the norm - in fact there clearly is no norm.

In the mercury article I referred to before, it gave the average attendances for the City games that were on & not on TV. The ones shown live on telly were down 2000 spectators (24k v 22k), which means - if City calculate attendance like Tigers do, ie tickets sold, so you can ignore ST holders - that attendances were down 25% for those games !!!!

I don't think our calculated attendances have varied as much as that, but I do think the actual number of people in the ground has varied more significantly this season with the impact of televising games.

[tigerburnie]

Attendances are also affected by the lack of money around, all gates are down. I think the tv companies don't care about the gates or the clubs really, they are just interested in the profits.

[Tigerbeat]

Without the TV money clubs would struggle to survive. Season ticket prices would have to be increased to raise the lost revenue and I am sure that there are quie a number who may not be able to afford season tickets.
Rugby needs TV and unfortunately he who pays the piper calls the tune!

[divingrob]

These are the same people that want the salary cap increased. the money has to come from somewhere and TV uncomfortably as it, is a major income that clubs cannot ignore.

[Eon B]

Tigerbeat writes

I am sure that there are quie a number who may not be able to afford season tickets.
Rugby needs TV and unfortunately he who pays the piper calls the tune!

I'm sad to say that I shan't afford to buy tickets for matches I can't attend and see little point in being part of a club that doesn't cater for me. Apparently I just don't pay enough.

Perhaps the club should change its name from Leicester FC to BT Tigers to accurately reflect it's new constituency.

I am sad.

[MrPartridge]

Sorry - but what utter nonsense here!!!

Sky and the TV companies have revolutionised Rugby Union for the better. It seems like some here want to see us back to the days of Rugby Special.

I appreciate that costs to attend games add up in the current hard financial times, but Tigers ticket prices compare very favourably with any Premier League football club. And if you can't attend a game, why not use it as an excuse to be sociable and watch in the pub with friends. That is what we will do today for the Exeter game. If you go back to the halcion amateur days - how would I watch Tigers away to Exeter, or Orrell or whoever? Answer - I would have to travel and pay petrol, ticket, food costs, etc. Today thanks to ESPN and SKY I can watch virtually all Tigers games live...

Of course it is not a perfect world. Changes to fixture lists are a frustration... but this talk of 'TV doesn't care about spectators, clubs, the game, etc'... what absolute rubbish! Where is the evidence that TV is ruining our sport?

[longlivethecrumbie]

Tigerbeat writes

I am sure that there are quie a number who may not be able to afford season tickets.
Rugby needs TV and unfortunately he who pays the piper calls the tune!

I'm sad to say that I shan't afford to buy tickets for matches I can't attend and see little point in being part of a club that doesn't cater for me.

I'm sorry, but I don't quite follow. How is the club not catering for you?

The reality is, like it or lump it, that the TV deals help us get the players that we have and also to keep them at the club. You cannot have clubs playing every game at 3pm on a Saturday any longer because of the TV contract. Do you expect Tigers to tell SKY or ESPN to get stuffed if they ask them to move a game to a Sunday? No, because they can't due to the contract.

As another poster said on here previously - the TV companies get what they want, which is three live games a weekend, and the clubs get what they want which is a huge wedge of cash that helps keep the club going and allows for things like the ground development to take place.

What we all need to bear in mind is that there are other fans who like the kick off moves because that means they can make games because they may work on a Saturday and can't make games but have Sunday's free. What suits one will not suit all.

We either accept it and move on or we go the way of the dinosaurs and become extinct. I know what I'd rather have.

[Eon B]

Longlivethecrumbie asks

"how is the club not not catering for you?"

The answer is by changing match times after the ticket is sold. This is occasionally acceptable but has been excessive this year. There is a point when it's simply cheaper to pay only for the tickets that you will use and that point has been passed.

I suppose if you can bear to watch Rugby on TV I suppose there is an upside. I'd rather watch an A team match from the Crumbie, listening to the crowd, than endure the babblelog of commentary and the camera showing the wrong things.

I might give Nottingham a visit soon. They had a good game today.

[longlivethecrumbie]

Longlivethecrumbie asks

"how is the club not not catering for you?"

The answer is by changing match times after the ticket is sold. This is occasionally acceptable but has been excessive this year. There is a point when it's simply cheaper to pay only for the tickets that you will use and that point has been passed.

I suppose if you can bear to watch Rugby on TV I suppose there is an upside. I'd rather watch an A team match from the Crumbie, listening to the crowd, than endure the babblelog of commentary and the camera showing the wrong things.

I might give Nottingham a visit soon. They had a good game today.

Do the club have a choice? The answer is no.

The alternative is all clubs are able to broker their own TV deals and all games are on TV (a la NFL) and they kick off at the same time, 3pm on a Saturday *unless there is a clash with a football team* and TV companies get what they want and you get what you want - 3pm on a Saturday without fail. Only down side with that is that the TV subscription will be far less than a season ticket and only die hards will bother to go.

I'm afraid that the clubs will cater for the fans as and when they can but if your pay master asks you to work on a Sunday, as it says you can in your contract, then you will work on a Sunday. This is absolutely no different at all. You either want a professional game or you don't - if England goes back to a non-professional game then you can kiss goodbye to a competitive England team.

Of course, that won't happen and Tigers are in no position to take the moral high ground on their own as it is not in the interests of the club as a whole to do so.

If you feel that your interests are best served by going to watch Nottingham, then good luck to you. I, for one, will be at the ground next season, along with 10,000+ other season ticket holders.