Leinster v Cardiff Sat 3PM TG4/Sky Sports

[simonokeeffe]

Another dreadful crowd on Saturday - just over 10k

and the weather can't be used as an excuse..

It kind of can: it was so good, a lot of people might have spent the day doing something else outside.

I have to say it again though: ticket pricing is excessive. That surely has an impact on people's decision.

They were looking for north of 60 Euro for a seat on the 22 in the Anglesea Stand...in a Pro12 game against Cardiff. There is simply no justification for that. I can't imagine any club in Europe charges that much for tickets into - what was - a pretty bog standard league match.
I know the boom is back with a vengeance and Dublin, and it's almost as boomy as ten years ago...but the sales and marketing crew are clearly getting something wrong.

I think they might be working off a model of want they want to offer as a discount on season tickets overly dictating per game prices

[curates_egg]

and the weather can't be used as an excuse..

It kind of can: it was so good, a lot of people might have spent the day doing something else outside.

I have to say it again though: ticket pricing is excessive. That surely has an impact on people's decision.

They were looking for north of 60 Euro for a seat on the 22 in the Anglesea Stand...in a Pro12 game against Cardiff. There is simply no justification for that. I can't imagine any club in Europe charges that much for tickets into - what was - a pretty bog standard league match.
I know the boom is back with a vengeance and Dublin, and it's almost as boomy as ten years ago...but the sales and marketing crew are clearly getting something wrong.

I think they might be working off a model of want they want to offer as a discount on season tickets overly dictating per game prices

Well it is a stupid model. If they were getting bums on seats, you could say it was working but they are not.
From my own personal example, in seasons gone by, I always brought a friend along with me to games...but I am not going to pay over 60 Euro for a friend to join me to watch Leinster play Cardiff...and I like to sit in good seats on the infrequent occasions I do manage to make it over to Dublin to see Leinster.

[Dave Cahill]

Those tickets were expensive last year, the year before and the year before that - all the way back to 2008. It doesn't explain the downturn in attendances.

[curates_egg]

Those tickets were expensive last year, the year before and the year before that - all the way back to 2008. It doesn't explain the downturn in attendances.

They haven't been that expensive Dave. I go to games when I am home and my wallet has only recently started feeling the pain. 55 Euro was the acceptable limit for me: I found it overpriced but acceptable. I don't know if we passed that this season or last but prices have only been over 60 Euro very recently. When I compare with what I pay to go to Top14 games, it's a joke.

[johng]

You can sit on the 10M line in the grandstand for 32.50 literally rubbing shoulders with the people who pay 50 for halfway line and 10M either side.

Always choices.

I can never work out why the Anglesea side is so expensive.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'd say it was a combination of people not wanting to have rugby taking up their weekend after the 6N had finished, the great weather, the clash with some huge AIL games, and the fact that there's a big game next weekend which a lot of people will make a day out of.

I was there on Saturday but tbh I was sitting right in the sun for the entire game and my mind kept drifting from the pitch. Unfortunately I think the players were of a similar mindset

[wise7]

In looking at the performance against Cardiff, I was struck by how tired and flat the whole team looked pretty much from the off. The training sessions are meant to be incredibly tough with a huge emphasis on running and playing unstructured at a very fast pace. We have enjoyed watching the benefits of that over the past number of games but maybe on Saturday the players had done just that bit too much during the week. The missed tackles, dropped passes and slow reaction to the counter were all indicative of tiredness.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

There was no energy on the kick chase as well. I'd expect a totally different performance on Saturday though, I'm really not worried.

[wise7]

No I'm not worried either as you can't take too much from last Saturday. We know how much energy, pace and stamina the young players bring but thet looked like they had emptied the tank before match day. Simple to correct and bound to happen at some stage.

[curates_egg]

You can sit on the 10M line in the grandstand for 32.50 literally rubbing shoulders with the people who pay 50 for halfway line and 10M either side.

Always choices.

I can never work out why the Anglesea side is so expensive.

I couldn't have worked on my tan in the Grandstand. I paid 65 Euro for tickets there inside the 22 vs Connacht though...at least then the internationals were playing but, still, you aren't going to convince me that the ticket pricing for Pro12 games is reasonable or in any way good value. If you want to get the punters in, it needs to be though.

[All Blacks nil]

Another dreadful crowd on Saturday - just over 10k

In fairness there was a Six Nations game last weekend and there is a ECC match next week. Three weekends in a row is both costly and (family) time consuming.
The weather was unfortunately a little bit too good after it being so bad for a long period. The grass is after taking off. Only some of the internationals were playing. 3.00 on a Saturday is a mad time for a game. At this stage we are guaranteed a home semi final.

There will be 34,000 extra people there next week though. There won't be a garden cut in D4 next Saturday

[IanD]

Another dreadful crowd on Saturday - just over 10k

In fairness there was a Six Nations game last weekend and there is a ECC match next week. Three weekends in a row is both costly and (family) time consuming.
The weather was unfortunately a little bit too good after it being so bad for a long period. The grass is after taking off. Only some of the internationals were playing. 3.00 on a Saturday is a mad time for a game. At this stage we are guaranteed a home semi final.

There will be 34,000 extra people there next week though. There won't be a garden cut in D4 next Saturday

You forgot the Confirmations.

I heard anecdotally of one family unable to attend due to a Confirmation in the family. If the match was later they may have been able to attend but could not travel eat etc before the match.

Not likely to be a big number but as said elsewhere every little helps.

[the spoofer]

Another dreadful crowd on Saturday - just over 10k

In fairness there was a Six Nations game last weekend and there is a ECC match next week. Three weekends in a row is both costly and (family) time consuming.
The weather was unfortunately a little bit too good after it being so bad for a long period. The grass is after taking off. Only some of the internationals were playing. 3.00 on a Saturday is a mad time for a game. At this stage we are guaranteed a home semi final.

There will be 34,000 extra people there next week though. There won't be a garden cut in D4 next Saturday

You forgot the Confirmations.

I heard anecdotally of one family unable to attend due to a Confirmation in the family. If the match was later they may have been able to attend but could not travel eat etc before the match.

Not likely to be a big number but as said elsewhere every little helps.

I can't go next Saturday for that very reason. Best of luck with the new flag, looks great.

[riocard911]

I share David Cahill's and Curate's Egg's concern re attendance. While Leinster only got around 10.000 through the gate at the weekend, Wasps had around 15,000 in attendance in the Ricoh. As the Pro 12 is unlikely to ever match the AP or the Top 14 on the TV money front, we need to be getting more bums on seats. Maybe Leinster could take a leaf out of the Ulster book. In Ravenhill they regularly get around 15,000 punters through the gate. For Ulster's most recent home league game against lowly Zebre 16,000+ people showed up. If that's what can be done in Belfast then our gang in Dublin with at least double the population need to get the finger out, IMO.

[johng]

It's not like the product on the field isn't top notch either

[cormac]

It's not like the product on the field isn't top notch either

Losing a few thousand season ticket holders over the last few seasons hasn't helped.

[curates_egg]

It's not like the product on the field isn't top notch either

That matters to you and I but the punter on the street needs something else to get them in.
I don't know if there have been major changes in the sales and marketing team but it seems the major sales and marketing successes (and they were very good) of the decade or so previous are just not being worked on/delivered on.
There was a market of idle hungover Welsh football fans in Dublin on Saturday: how much was done to tap into that market?
Why was there not some kind of Mother's Day package?
It seems like there is too much resting on laurels going on.
You can't just say: there's a game on; Cardiff vs Leinster B; 65 Euro thank you very much...and then scratch your head and wonder why only 10,000 people turned up.

I would say an non-innovative marketing strategy and the ridonculous ticket pricing is surely a major factor in low turnouts.

PS Playing extremely loud shouty ads to advertise the Wasps game at regular intervals was, well, very annoying. It was really loud and quite unsettling.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Yeah the one with the lads roaring is dreadful.

[Dave Cahill]

It's not like the product on the field isn't top notch either

Losing a few thousand season ticket holders over the last few seasons hasn't helped.

We haven't really. Last year we had just shy of 12000 season ticket holders, and iirc the max amount we can sell is in the high 12,000s

The biggest problem is that, not unlike the playing and coaching side, there has been a huge turnover of non-playing staff, including the entire Marketing and Communications departments. Its harder for them now too - their predecessors had a blank page and no expectations - the new folks have to deal with their predecessors track record in a more difficult climate

[johng]

You can sit on the 10M line in the grandstand for 32.50 literally rubbing shoulders with the people who pay 50 for halfway line and 10M either side.

Always choices.

I can never work out why the Anglesea side is so expensive.

I couldn't have worked on my tan in the Grandstand. I paid 65 Euro for tickets there inside the 22 vs Connacht though...at least then the internationals were playing but, still, you aren't going to convince me that the ticket pricing for Pro12 games is reasonable or in any way good value. If you want to get the punters in, it needs to be though.

Not disagreeing that the prices are too high. Just that there are places to sit that are decent and not too expensive. I have never heard of tickets on the 22 in the GS (Blocks H and L) for that kind of money even for knockout games.