Aviva Premiership 17/18 - Round 3

[ratsapprentice]

How did Saracens convince Falcons to give up their home game for this USA experiment? I hope they're getting a hefty pay packet for it, especially as they're not exactly gonna be raking it in from ticket sales from the 3 people who turned up.

More than turned up for Leinster/Kings...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Still 3x more than at the AJ bell...

....relevant how exactly?

Saracens can more than afford to take the hit of lost sales, smaller clubs can't.
Plus lower table sides rely more on home advantage,
Just seems harsh to force all that on Newcastle when this is clearly Saracens' pet project.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Empty stadiums aren't half depressing...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

....relevant how exactly?

Saracens can more than afford to take the hit of lost sales, smaller clubs can't.
Plus lower table sides rely more on home advantage,
Just seems harsh to force all that on Newcastle when this is clearly Saracens' pet project.

I was just bantering.

TBH i don't get why the prem are trying to target NA anyway, the only way Rugby will kind of crack NA will be the international route.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Another reason why the Churchill cup should be brought back

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Another reason why the Churchill cup should be brought back

here here.

What with the World rugby changing the U20 rules (How a player can only be tied with a A team not a U20 team) it would be a perfect comp to have setup again.

 

[Hound]

I was just bantering.

TBH i don't get why the prem are trying to target NA anyway, the only way Rugby will kind of crack NA will be the international route.

I'd have thought they'd have been more of a Pro14 target, m'self...

 

[ratsapprentice]

This will not have convinced many uninitiated to follow the sport....

 

[Hound]

This will not have convinced many uninitiated to follow the sport....

I assume it's payback for sending London so many Jacksonville Jaguars NFL exhibition games...

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

I was just bantering.

TBH i don't get why the prem are trying to target NA anyway, the only way Rugby will kind of crack NA will be the international route.

Ehh...
International rugby is a bigger presence here cause it's a bigger brand globally.

If we are going to truly have rugby as anything more than a niche amateur sport it's going to be clubs. We don't give a **** about any international sport, don't expect rugby to be different.

 

[Chief Pete]

Pointless exercise going to the states IMO, I'd rather have had home advantage against Sarries...

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Ehh...
International rugby is a bigger presence here cause it's a bigger brand globally.

If we are going to truly have rugby as anything more than a niche amateur sport it's going to be clubs. We don't give a **** about any international sport, don't expect rugby to be different.

TBH i don't see NA as a market anymore.

But their are still targets in England that could be marketed that we don't.

How about a double header in a big Manchester stadium instead of twickers? The north in England gets zero exposure.

Still think one game a year should be played up north by England.

 

[ratsapprentice]

NA is a viable market, but we should be worrying about developing the game in our own country fully before trying to develop it in the most competitive market in the world.

Focus on fully saturating our own market.

 

[Chief Pete]

NA is a viable market, but we should be worrying about developing the game in our own country fully before trying to develop it in the most competitive market in the world.

Focus on fully saturating our own market.

It needs much more exposure on terrestrial tv IMO, the only way to get people into it is to make it easily accessible in the first place...

 

[stus768]

It needs much more exposure on terrestrial tv IMO, the only way to get people into it is to make it easily accessible in the first place...

There will be games on channel 5 this year I believe.

 

[stus768]

I was just bantering.

TBH i don't get why the prem are trying to target NA anyway, the only way Rugby will kind of crack NA will be the international route.

I assume they want an improved TV deal and it is a huge market there.

 

[ratsapprentice]

3 games on channel 5 is better than none, but 3 games on channel 5 is fairly paltry.

It's channel 5 FFS...

 

[ratsapprentice]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jun/24/premiership-rugby-philadelphia-newcastle-saracens

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Apparently attendance was in the low 6,000s
I imagine that includes all season tickets from Sarries + Falcons and then they doubled it as well, cause that seems crazy high.

I mean it looked like the two end stands were completely empty/closed off, so that's capacity taken down to 12k, and there's no way 50% of the two side stands were full.
I'd have guessed <4k, maybe even <3k

 

[ratsapprentice]

Depending on how full the main stand (the one the camera doesn't show) was, I would say there were 1,500-2000.

A pitiful turnout.