Sarries Wembley attendance. Really?

[Old Hob]

I went to see Tigers play them at Wembley and asked this chap if he was a Sarri supporter. He said he wasn't even a rugby supporter "though I watch the internationals" but he worked for Allianz and he said that everyone of the 35,000 employees had been offered 5 free tickets.

That's how they fill Wembley.

[trendylfj]

Tigers could be more innovative IMHO. Agreed that the 15,000 ticket holders are the priority but why not consider moving a big game to LCFC or perhaps asking to see if we could be involved in the 4 club London Twickenham weekend at the expense of Irish?

No No No - I do not want to go to LCFC to watch us play any game let alone a "big game". Neither will I be going to see any WC game there either. Would rather travel to Kingholm and watch a game there than give any credance to King Power as a rugby venue. How would we benefit from playing in a 4 club weekend at Twickenham? The stadium would be seem to be empty unless you were playing against Sarries as the other clubs will not give tickets away or sell them for stupid prices. I am not against football stadium being used for rugby but only when there is no viable rugby ground to play the game at. Neither have I anything against LCFC - I just want to keep our games at our stadium which we are rightly proud of.

I do agree with the statement about getting the rest of the ground sorted out and am pleased to see the big screen finally arrive.

One other thing, if anyone goes to Alliance Park next year - don't book any seat which is not at least 12 rows back if you book the open side of the ground. We had seats 3 rows from the front in the open part of the ground on the 10m line and saw half a game. The 2 groups of subs, waterboys, medics, microphone holders and cameramen form a perfect football wall from one 10m line to the other - we saw nothing in one half of the field as a result (and got :censored: soaked as well).

[Isambard]

Realize that it is a bit of a struggle but I m talking about imagination. New ideas, different ideas to attract a new audience. Maybe more youngsters, more uni students, more people of different ethnic origins?
That is what marketing people are paid for, not just put some "comfy" seats in Goldsmiths and charge £900 a season for the privilege.

The club has a large amount of corporate business and promotion activity. The London clubs are able to hire one of the large stadia in the city and present special rugby events.

It is not a case of squeezing the existing fans nor businesses it is a policy of finding new people to enjoy watching Tigers. The club is good at youth involvement at different ages and in different formats.

Of course it needs to be done in the Tigers' way which has been grossly watered down imho in recent years.

You mock at my concern about fixtures. Well look in the mirror. The fixtures are a joke. They are meaningless. Whenever this comes up in discussion with friends, family or musicians they think I am making it up.

[SuperEagle]

At the risk of being shot down, I'm going to say that I think that Saracens' attempt to build their club and grow the game as a whole deserves a bit of credit.

Whether or not you like Allianz Park, Saracens have shown ambition and have actually gone and built a rugby ground in London. It's more disappointing that Wasps, London Irish, Sale, London Welsh etc still play in football grounds and have zero intention of moving. Also, Sarries have started franchises around the world to try and grow the global game.

What they're doing with the big games at Wembley reminds me of what Stade Francais did 10 years ago. At the time, everyone said "Paris has no rugby culture" and "rugby will never be successful away from the heartlands in the south of France." Now Paris has 2 successful teams, the southern "big boys" have had to up their game and the Top14 is the biggest league in the world in terms of both revenue and attendance (and is still growing).

I don't like Saracens as a team, but I do respect the ambition they're showing and I do respect their attempts to grow the game of rugby union

[jgriffin]

I'd respect them more if we could figure out how they afforded some of their bought in players under the cap.

[Johndudey]

You don't see any other sport using other teams grounds so why should we in rugby?! I don't see it as innovative when Sarries go to Wembley, I see it as useless, other than the £. And I cannot agree to us playing at the KP. Imagine if LCFC played at Welford Road? Unthinkable. Then why should we play there? I think it's fine how it is. Look at our attendance yesterday. We're obviously selling tickets, and nearly reaching capacity on a standard game. That's great considering the size of our ground. Instead of focusing on where to play for what games, we should focus on enhancing the grounds anyway we can, to make it a viable place to play week in week out.

[SuperEagle]

You don't see any other sport using other teams grounds so why should we in rugby?! I don't see it as innovative when Sarries go to Wembley, I see it as useless, other than the £.

Well, going by your logic - Wasps, Sale, LI, LW, Bristol etc... deserve much more criticism than Sarries who have built the first new rugby stadium in god-knows how many years. Wasps, LI and Sale play in football grounds EVERY WEEK. Should we condemn those clubs too?

[Cardiff Tig]

You don't see any other sport using other teams grounds so why should we in rugby?! I don't see it as innovative when Sarries go to Wembley, I see it as useless, other than the £. And I cannot agree to us playing at the KP. Imagine if LCFC played at Welford Road? Unthinkable. Then why should we play there? I think it's fine how it is. Look at our attendance yesterday. We're obviously selling tickets, and nearly reaching capacity on a standard game. That's great considering the size of our ground. Instead of focusing on where to play for what games, we should focus on enhancing the grounds anyway we can, to make it a viable place to play week in week out.

Except the NFL, which is probably the most commercially successful league in the world, and stages 3 games in London.

And the Premier League wanted to stage at "39th game" abroad.

Sarries are trying to increase their fan base, they should be applauded. Tigers are lucky to have such a large number of season ticket holders, they have to do relatively little marketing etc as they only need to attract a few thousand extra fans to reach capacity. Something that they don't manage every game.

[longlivethecrumbie]

I don't see it as innovative when Sarries go to Wembley, I see it as useless, other than the £.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that they will make much out of it. When you factor in the cost of hiring Wembley etc - especially if their sponsors have given away plenty of free tickets. I can't imagine that they will make much from the food and drink sales. I may be wrong, of course, but I just can't see how they can make money out of one off games at Wembley.

[Suftum64]

Hi Tigers,

We at Ulster have been informed Sarries returning 1,500 of their 4,000 allocation for the quarters. We sold out weeks ago and I know quite a few Ulster fans signed up as Sarries "out of town" supporters to get tickets from the Sarries allocation. Would laugh if half their 2,500 tickets sold were Ulstermen!

SUFTUM

[TomWeston]

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure that they will make much out of it. When you factor in the cost of hiring Wembley etc - especially if their sponsors have given away plenty of free tickets. I can't imagine that they will make much from the food and drink sales. I may be wrong, of course, but I just can't see how they can make money out of one off games at Wembley.

It's done for bragging rights (biggest club match attendance) and future marketing.

[MrPartridge]

At the risk of being shot down, I'm going to say that I think that Saracens' attempt to build their club and grow the game as a whole deserves a bit of credit.

Shot you down - I think what you have said above and in your wider post is spot-on. If Saracens were bottom 3 in the AP and no threat to us I wonder if this post would get any attention. Credit to them - they have built their own ground and wouldn't go to Wembley if it wasn't commercially beneficial. Chelsea is probably a credible mirror-image: overseas players, overseas owner, but who cares if they are successful.

As for how Saracens keep under the salary cap - as long as it is legal who cares?

In terms of innovation at Tigers, why not make the Matt Hampson fixture an annual event - that was a lot of fun last year or a return of the Baa-Baas fixture in some capacity…or a real effort to get a game against an Autumn touring team (which sadly did not happen last year)...

[biffer]

Hi Tigers,

We at Ulster have been informed Sarries returning 1,500 of their 4,000 allocation for the quarters. We sold out weeks ago and I know quite a few Ulster fans signed up as Sarries "out of town" supporters to get tickets from the Sarries allocation. Would laugh if half their 2,500 tickets sold were Ulstermen!

SUFTUM

Half of them Ulstermen and most of the other half given away for nothing. Be lucky if there are 200 Sarries fans there.

I'm actually a wee bit worried about this game. Ravenhill can be the most 'football' of rugby grounds, and if Sarries have been giving stuff away to the kind of groups that came up to Welford Road a few years ago...

[Latecomer]

Don't wish to be pedantic SuperEagle, but Sarries didn't build their ground. Barnet Copthall Stadium had been an athletics stadium for years. I used to watch the London Broncos play rugby league there before they moved to the Stoop. All Sarries did was agree to build a big new stand on one side, upgrade the pitch and sign a long lease to effectively take it off the councils hands, but it still isn't theirs and they didn't build it. It's a sign of how poor a ground it is that the visiting team have to change in a portacabin out back and walk in through the main stand to then walk out onto the pitch!

[Suftum64]

Hi Tigers,

We at Ulster have been informed Sarries returning 1,500 of their 4,000 allocation for the quarters. We sold out weeks ago and I know quite a few Ulster fans signed up as Sarries "out of town" supporters to get tickets from the Sarries allocation. Would laugh if half their 2,500 tickets sold were Ulstermen!

SUFTUM

Half of them Ulstermen and most of the other half given away for nothing. Be lucky if there are 200 Sarries fans there.

I'm actually a wee bit worried about this game. Ravenhill can be the most 'football' of rugby grounds, and if Sarries have been giving stuff away to the kind of groups that came up to Welford Road a few years ago...

"Most 'football' of rugby grounds" Not sure if that's an insult or not?
We have a great friendly atmosphere at Ravenhill I like to think, and can greet true travelling rugby fans in the same manner we were treated at Welford Road in January.
Watched the Sarries game at the weekend. Have to agree with earlier post, for 80,000 fans, sure were quiet!!