NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:29 pm  

& yet the RFL can't sell out either of our premier events the CC & GF & are abysmal even with promoting our national team !

Having recorded game 2 today & seen part of game 1 *work dictated* I was struck by the Big Event feel & thought to myself that I must attend one year soon.
Having gone online to check ticket prices I found that the range for adult general admission was approximately £45 - £155 per person & unless I am mistaken you could not buy just 1 ticket only 2 or more * I did search on ticketmaster on my phone* for the next event.

Now, at £155 p/p for a premium centre line seat normally I would be horrified & turn & run, however as a real one off or even once a year treat I would go for that or at least a very good seat up to around £100 - £120 such is the spectacle pur on.

I was wondering what views you all have as to why us Brits can by into a big 'ol slice of American pie but not our major RL events ( I have my own ) & would like to hear them !

I won't be visiting this thread until I have watched the game to avoid spoilers !

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Sun Oct 21, 2018 11:52 pm  

The NFL spend way more money promoting there events in the UK

It's not even close

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:29 am  

It comes down to the product on offer. The NFL London games are seen to be a product worth paying for, and they're an event that people want to be at. Yes, you might not like American Football, but clearly a lot of people do. Crucially, they sell it to a very diverse audience of people and amongst those people are those who are willing and able to spend £150+ for a ticket. Look at the amount of celebrities that were interviewed pitchside during the game, and similarly look at the number of celebrities that will be at the NBA games at the O2 - they're events people want to be seen at.

The CC Final simply isn't that good a product. Yes, the games can be exciting every now and then, but as an overall package, it doesn't cut it.

Let's face the hard truth that this "greatest game" and "the best kept secret in sport" nonsense is just that - nonsense. The sport in its current guise doesn't appeal to that many people and all of the advertising and promotion in the world doesn't change the fact that England v France on a cold Wednesday night, or the CC Final iun is about as appealing as piles.

The sport as a whole needs to focus on putting on a product that people want to pay for, and stop trying to sell it exclusively to people who are waiting for a discount code to appear.

The NFL London Series is exactly the result of what the RFL should be doing - stop paying too much attention to the people who already buy the product, and spend more time talking to and listening to the people that don't. The problem is that the RFL and the clubs are petrified of doing that.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:44 am  

it may have sold out, but bear in mind, its 83k people that can't/don't want to fork out thousands to go to america to watch this stuff.

I don't think its a fair comparison.

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:04 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

it may have sold out, but bear in mind, its 83k people that can't/don't want to fork out thousands to go to america to watch this stuff.

I don't think its a fair comparison.

compare it to the Denvor test match then, surely 60-70k Americans would have wanted their fix of Rl as the can't/wont fork out to come over here.

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:08 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

it may have sold out, but bear in mind, its 83k people that can't/don't want to fork out thousands to go to america to watch this stuff.

I don't think its a fair comparison.

It might not be a fair comparison in that sense, but it's an event that is taking a big bite out of the market for sports in the UK. RL has to acknowledge and respond to that.

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:11 am  

not sure its the big event factor that sells it out, its to tens of thousands on NFL uk fans that buy the tickets as they get first dibs and it sells out pretty quickly, you have to buy a season pass all 3 games to be guaranteed tickets. and NFL tv season pass holder get first dibs., and there is a waiting list. NFL is very well supported in the Uk NFl do not need to do too much marketing or make it and "event) they sell them selves. unlike RL were an international, match within less than 20 miles of 3 of the top 4 super league clubs last year can only get 4.5k. Rl fans wont turn up for there own "events" so what should anybody else. if CC final and international matches were all sell outs then people outside the sport would think, that's the hottest ticket in town i want some of that, we then would not need big marketing.

ps it took me about 3 years to get a season ticket and had one 3 years in a row, renewals get early buy options aswell, there are very few tickets for individual games that get sold to general public.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:14 am  

rollin thunder wrote:

compare it to the Denvor test match then, surely 60-70k Americans would have wanted their fix of Rl as the can't/wont fork out to come over here.

Well no, as you've not got 60-70k americans that have fallen in love with RL, due to EA pumping out a (high quality) video game every year since the early 90's.

Let's address this issue, people haven't just started liking NFL for no reason, my generation and below mainly fell in love because of john madden football on the megadrive, thats how they got their roots over here over the last 30 years.

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:25 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

Well no, as you've not got 60-70k americans that have fallen in love with RL, due to EA pumping out a (high quality) video game every year since the early 90's.

Let's address this issue, people haven't just started liking NFL for no reason, my generation and below mainly fell in love because of john madden football on the megadrive, thats how they got their roots over here over the last 30 years.

i was being deliberately a bit flippant. i love NFl and i got my fix and my team from channel 4 in the 80's and Dan Marino at the Dolphins still my team watch all there games on season pass and seen them in the flesh twice. in the mid 1980's american football was everything RL was not, and still is to some extent. whist i still think RL is the best team sport on the planet the perception of the game outside of RL circles is still that it is a northern flat cap n whippets sport and stop and start and a poorer version of union. and even quite a lot of its own fans want to keep it that way. american football up until the 19060's was seen as a north eastern seaboard college types only game, baseball was king in the states. but expansion and the merger of the leagues and the introduction of the super bowl tuned it into the biggest sporting league in the world. we still cant sell out a 10k stadium in leigh for an international game.

Re: NFL sell out Wembley *again* ! : Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:28 am  

You’ve been able to buy tickets for this for nine months and everyone has known exactly who the fixture would be. None of the tickets are kept aside for whoever two clubs will be playing as anyone will just turn up.

In Rugby League’e two biggest games you have to keep tickets aside for the two finalists and you don’t know who that will be in either final until three weeks before in one and a week in the other.

You could expect to be in the final as a fan of a team and buy tickets in advance and then your team could lose and not make it so you don’t bother going to the final.

The comparisons are so different that it’s not worth the comparison. If we had a one-off game that we knew who the fixture would be between nine months in advance then there’d be a comparison.

And more fool all of those sheep anyway. Gridiron is by far the most boring code of football by a loving mile. Anyone who enjoys a live game of that dirge needs their life re-evaluating. Proper loada shyite! There’s more standing around doing nowt than the worst game of rugby union could ever dream of being as boring as.