Fair point, there are certain sections of our crowd who many be put off by the price increase (particularly those who have been "disillusioned" by style of play, etc and need an excuse not to come) but I still don't expect the price to have any real impact on our overall attendances.

Probably not. It’s more to do with attracting more floating support and one-off visitors.



Certainly and there is no doubt Leeds Rhinos have ‘benefited’ from those who jumped ship from Leeds United. (I say benefited tentatively because I know there are some long-time Leeds Rhinos supporters that didn’t take to this influx with open arms.)

some of it is down to success but United since the war only twice have not topped the best average crowd for the season, they had the best crowd in all divisions when in Div 2, so is it success or something else, City and Newcastle get large crowds with nothing to show for it.
Even when we were League Champions in the 70's we only averaged about 5,500, so really the only times we got big crowds was in the 30's and since then Salford has only been a football city and that is what we are up against.

nothing to add! but would just like to say this has got to be the most interesting and thoughtful thread I've read on here,hopefully people from the club read this and take on, or just conceder some of the ideas.I've always enjoyed the "small family " feel of our club.But recent things(such as been kept in the dark about the stadium)makes me wonder if the club care about what the average fan wants from them

No truer words spoken, over the years when we've reached a challenge cup semi you sense the awareness visibly rack up , if we ever did reach Wembley they'd be out of the woodwork like something out of dawn of the dead. I feel the club are trying to get the development bit right:-Schools, Development Officers, Academy , Stadium but ultimately it's attractive winning rugby and wanting to associated with a club/brand that delivers that on a regular basis will ultimately be the catalyst. not everyone has Salford running through his/her blood and the stamina to see out also ran games - seasons for that ellusive victory aginst a Wigan , Leeds or St. Helen's. That feel factor needs to return ,,, and soon , we all feel this pressure and it's only going to build as teams battle for position to retain or win a franchise over the next 12 months.

Quick let's bang prices up to £50 then.

£18 is way too much for me to go regularly, I go about 3 times a season now instead of 10+.

The club would get more money out of me in total if it was cheaper as at £10 I'd go 10 times, at £18 I'll make 2 or 3 games. £100 vs. £54, and add-on the odd beer here and there.

The thing with the 70's Pev is that everyone struggled to get crowds, if you give me time I'll prove that crowds across the board in RL were, well, pretty dire. I believe had our success been in virtually any other decade especially the 60's the numbers would be different.

I have put together an article more or less ready to roll on the subject and I'll role it out soon and for me the the proof is in the reading, winning puts bums on seats.

Anyway I only really popped on to say that the pressure has eased a little.

Quins v Wakefield pulled in only 3,688 for their opening home fixture. Our first home game last year as with this year is Celtic and last year we pulled in 4,026 on Sky so I suspect a few more for this one. 5k anyone?

Your argument shows that cost of admission has little to do with attendances - you're only attending 3 games at a cost of £54 because you're annoyed at the club for raising the price of admission. If it was genuinely about cost you would attend 5/6 games that would cost the same as the 10 games you reckon you would attend at £10 a game, hence showing you can afford to spend £100.

As I said, unless we put prices up ridiculously (like the £50 you so intelligently suggested), people will attend if they want to and won't if they don't. Some who don't want to attend regularly will use the price as an excuse (as you seem to) but the fact still remains that we would struggle to fill the Willows if tickets were free.

I'm not annoyed at the club at all, it's their choice where they set the admission fee and my choice whether I am willing to pay that.

I do feel they are shooting themselves in the foot though by consistently increasing prices as my example shows that it's probable they are reducing total gate income (attendance x admission fee) as a result of crowd numbers being lower by more than the admission cost increases. Shrug.

I used the £50 example to show that people do choose their leisure pursuits based on cost, they don't just decide "I want to watch Salford" and ignore everything else. The very people who make the difference between a 3k crowd and a 6k one are the floating fans not the hardcore and they are more likely to take cost into account (as a reason, not an "excuse").