HC semi Sarries vs Clermont

First topic message reminder :

Well played Sarries, I didn't see that score line coming!

so, to take a hypothetical, lets just say that Mr Tayto, worlds largest spud/crisp distributor, decides to supplement Munster's salary budget by GBP5m per annum, for whatever reason.

presumably you would stop supporting munster?   

TJ wrote:

Cyril wrote:]
Not really. Just a bit tired of the anti-Saracens sentiment on here. Still, I'm sure you'll be the first to blame the ref if Sarries win again.

No anti Sarries sentiment I have seen.  Played a good attacking game and provided entertainment all season.  A couple of their players are heartily disliked by many including me - but the team?  No.   Everyone think their team is hated once they get some success.

There's plenty on here. I'm not a Sarries supporter but find plenty to admire in how they play and how close they are as a team unit. Best team spirit around and it shows in how hard they work for each other. Maybe some people are a tad envious as you say.

You really dont understand do you. The money will only go towards paying off the building debts on Tayto park. If wont make a difference in overall terms to whether we can "buy" in big name players or not as the IRFU set the rules in terms of the make up of the team. It might mean we get one marquee name but thats it...

It's not like Sarries are buying in stars. Most of the their team have become big names playing for Sarries rather than before. Smit came for a year or two. Then there was the massive signing of Gavin Henson. Their success is down to the coaching structure, especially their organised defence.

Granted they require a lot of money pumped in that they don't generate themselves.

quinsforever wrote:Fupping ERC. How hard would it be to either market it at sensible prices, market it properly, or set up some sort of "contingent ticket reservations" once the QF draws are known? For the love of god it can't be that hard.

You could have got a ticket for £15. Thats the problem when you give away tickets for free, the new fans expect them free after that.

Saturday, 26 April
Saracens v ASM Clermont Auvergne
Twickenham Stadium, 3.40

General Sale
A public sale allocation is currently on sale with prices starting from £15


Prices
Category 1: Adults £50
Category 2: Adults £35
Category 3: Adults £15

Notes:
All tickets may be subject booking/admin fees.

Sunday, 27 April
Toulon v Munster Rugby
Stade Vélodrome, Marseille (capacity: 41,000) 4.30

The Veledrome apparently is sold out in Marseille (41K)!

I believe some Munster fans helped with the numbers at the London semi!

LondonTiger wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Bit disappointed they only used the lower tier. Is there really that little demand for tickets or are they just seriously under-marketed?

Ed Griffiths was on radio saying that with just 3 weeks to sell tickets and ERC responsible for ticket pricing it was always going to be barely 20k supporters.

Lets face it an attendance of double your standard fanbase at the inflated prices ERC set is actually pretty good. Shame there was not a more suitable stadium for ERC to elect to use.

He is going to have even less time next season because the French are insisting that the comp is finished by the end of April so as not to disrupt the Top 14 play offs & final.

Sin é wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Bit disappointed they only used the lower tier. Is there really that little demand for tickets or are they just seriously under-marketed?

Ed Griffiths was on radio saying that with just 3 weeks to sell tickets and ERC responsible for ticket pricing it was always going to be barely 20k supporters.

Lets face it an attendance of double your standard fanbase at the inflated prices ERC set is actually pretty good. Shame there was not a more suitable stadium for ERC to elect to use.

He is going to have even less time next season because the French are insisting that the comp is finished by the end of April so as not to disrupt the Top 14 play offs & final.

The French really are becoming a pain in the proverbial. I can't understand how people on here are complaining about the English being greedy...imo they are just doing what they can to try keep up with the French.

Might even be the case if Toulon reach the final that we have a half empty millennium stadium...

quinsforever wrote:Who chose twickenham as the SF venue? ERC

Who hoes the dates for QF and SF giving no time to fill the stadium? ERC

Who did ZERO to expand the crowd at a serious showcase event (last HC match in England FFS - even I could have sold a few tickets with that as the catchphrase) - E R fupping C

I'd imagine the RFU wanted it in Twickenham and not going to some football club somewhere.

The showcase obviously didn't work because none of them turned up today in Twickers.

Seriously, if I had any interest in rugby at all I'd have gone to that game today to just go to a game in Twickenham that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

if sarries can fill wembley for a group match against toulouse, then the ERC have no excuse for not being able to fill MS for the HC final.

i know its heresy, but maybe hosting the finals in countries which never has participants might not be the smartest idea? i know its great for the overpriced hotels in Cardiff, and Rome was probably eagerly looking forwards to hosting HC 2015, but does it make sense?

quins this has nothing to do with what I might feel about Saracens, and everything to do with your almost comical need to see ERC bogeyman behind every shadow.

You could have seen that game for £15. Thats the same price as a walk up for your bog standard league game between two mid-table sides most places- in fact it's a lot less in most places. In 2011 I went to see Edinburgh vs Cardiff Blues in a totally meaningless mid-season game in the middle of a freak winter that shut down the country, there were probably only 1000 people there with the weather conditions being so extreme and that cost £20. So £15 is a song. Thats as cheap as tickets for a game of this magnitude get.

And as for the marketing angle- Saracens had the responsibility for marketing the game as hosts NOT the ERC. The timeframe is tough for everyone, but it'll be exactly the same in any form of European competition.

So I don't see how any fault can be held with ERC. The stadium is too big I agree, but there are a lack of purpose built rugby stadiums of the appropriate size in this country.

Talk about a storm in a tea cup.

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Who chose twickenham as the SF venue? ERC

Who hoes the dates for QF and SF giving no time to fill the stadium? ERC

Who did ZERO to expand the crowd at a serious showcase event (last HC match in England FFS - even I could have sold a few tickets with that as the catchphrase) - E R fupping C

I'd imagine the RFU wanted it in Twickenham and not going to some football club somewhere.

The showcase obviously didn't work because none of them turned up today in Twickers.

Seriously, if I had any interest in rugby at all I'd have gone to that game today to just go to a game in Twickenham that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

except you would never have known about it, because ERC did ZERO ZERO ZERO marketing. i called 4 friends and got 9 people to go in the space of 5 minutes.

no sh1t you would have been able to fill twickers with people who haven't been there and were curious. just complete commercial ineptitude. rubbish.

quinsforever wrote:Of course sarries don't currenrly have an awful lot of support. That is my entire fupping point. Talk about missing the bloody point. Yes sarries managed to break attendance records this season for a HC match and AP match. How did they do that I wonder? Keeping quiet about the match and only letting season ticket holders in? Jeezus.

I am fed up with the Irish posters on here who seem to think that the provinces have always been well supported and anyone else who doesn't have he same amount of season ticket holders is not a proper club. Spur grapes I the most pathetic kind.

Would have liked to say I would look forwards (as a quins fan) to a sarries Munster final. But I can't lie. I hope Toulon drill Munster and drill them hard. Of course I know it'll be because of a couple of bad refereeing decisions, but anyway....

Munster started getting the numbers within 5 years of the game going professional. Ulster the same - they had 50K at their final in '99.

Leinster were slower out of the blocks and they used get an almighty slagging about it, but since 2006 they have built a huge fanbase.

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Who chose twickenham as the SF venue? ERC

Who hoes the dates for QF and SF giving no time to fill the stadium? ERC

Who did ZERO to expand the crowd at a serious showcase event (last HC match in England FFS - even I could have sold a few tickets with that as the catchphrase) - E R fupping C

I'd imagine the RFU wanted it in Twickenham and not going to some football club somewhere.

The showcase obviously didn't work because none of them turned up today in Twickers.

Seriously, if I had any interest in rugby at all I'd have gone to that game today to just go to a game in Twickenham that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

except you would never have known about it, because ERC did ZERO ZERO ZERO marketing. i called 4 friends and got 9 people to go in the space of 5 minutes.

no sh1t you would have been able to fill twickers with people who haven't been there and were curious. just complete commercial ineptitude. rubbish.

Okay one final time...

The host team of the semi-final is responsible for marketing not the ERC. That would be Saracens. They are the team responsible for marketing the tickets. If you have issues with how they did that, take it up with Sarries. Not the purview of the ERC.

Notch wrote:quins this has nothing to do with what I might feel about Saracens, and everything to do with your almost comical need to see ERC bogeyman behind every shadow.

You could have seen that game for £15. Thats the same price as a walk up for your bog standard league game between two mid-table sides most places- in fact it's a lot less in most places. In 2011 I went to see Edinburgh vs Cardiff Blues in a totally meaningless mid-season game in the middle of a freak winter that shut down the country, there were probably only 1000 people there with the weather conditions being so extreme and that cost £20. So £15 is a song. Thats as cheap as tickets for a game of this magnitude get.

And as for the marketing angle- Saracens had the responsibility for marketing the game as hosts NOT the ERC. The timeframe is tough for everyone, but it'll be exactly the same in any form of European competition.

So I don't see how any fault can be held with ERC. The stadium is too big I agree, but there are a lack of purpose built rugby stadiums of the appropriate size in this country.

Talk about a storm in a tea cup.

nobody knew about it notch. nobody apart from those who already followed HC and had the QFs in their calendar. and even they probably didnt know there were lots of tickets left.

i ask again. how did sarries fill wembley and twickers for HC pool match and derby within AP, yet ERC cant even fill the lower tier at HQ?

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Who chose twickenham as the SF venue? ERC

Who hoes the dates for QF and SF giving no time to fill the stadium? ERC

Who did ZERO to expand the crowd at a serious showcase event (last HC match in England FFS - even I could have sold a few tickets with that as the catchphrase) - E R fupping C

I'd imagine the RFU wanted it in Twickenham and not going to some football club somewhere.

The showcase obviously didn't work because none of them turned up today in Twickers.

Seriously, if I had any interest in rugby at all I'd have gone to that game today to just go to a game in Twickenham that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

except you would never have known about it, because ERC did ZERO ZERO ZERO marketing. i called 4 friends and got 9 people to go in the space of 5 minutes.

no sh1t you would have been able to fill twickers with people who haven't been there and were curious. just complete commercial ineptitude. rubbish.

Or just lack of support...its obvious really.

quinsforever wrote:

Notch wrote:quins this has nothing to do with what I might feel about Saracens, and everything to do with your almost comical need to see ERC bogeyman behind every shadow.

You could have seen that game for £15. Thats the same price as a walk up for your bog standard league game between two mid-table sides most places- in fact it's a lot less in most places. In 2011 I went to see Edinburgh vs Cardiff Blues in a totally meaningless mid-season game in the middle of a freak winter that shut down the country, there were probably only 1000 people there with the weather conditions being so extreme and that cost £20. So £15 is a song. Thats as cheap as tickets for a game of this magnitude get.

And as for the marketing angle- Saracens had the responsibility for marketing the game as hosts NOT the ERC. The timeframe is tough for everyone, but it'll be exactly the same in any form of European competition.

So I don't see how any fault can be held with ERC. The stadium is too big I agree, but there are a lack of purpose built rugby stadiums of the appropriate size in this country.

Talk about a storm in a tea cup.

nobody knew about it notch. nobody apart from those who already followed HC and had the QFs in their calendar. and even they probably didnt know there were lots of tickets left.

i ask again. how did sarries fill wembley and twickers for HC pool match and derby within AP, yet ERC cant even fill the lower tier at HQ?

And I'll tell you again. Saracens are just as responsible for marketing this game as they were the other examples you cite.

They only had three weeks to do it and the price tier is set but it is 100% their responsibility to actually go about the business of selling the tickets. Nothing to do with the ERC. At all. The only games that the ERC is responsible for marketing are the Finals of both competitions. Everything else is down to the home side in every instance; group stages, quarter-finals and semi-finals.

And then obviously the two finalists are responsible for selling their own final allocations, but those are the lesser part of the overall sales for that game.

quinsforever wrote:if sarries can fill wembley for a group match against toulouse, then the ERC have no excuse for not being able to fill MS for the HC final.

i know its heresy, but maybe hosting the finals in countries which never has participants might not be the smartest idea? i know its great for the overpriced hotels in Cardiff, and Rome was probably eagerly looking forwards to hosting HC 2015, but does it make sense?

There are some teams out there that are just not marketable.   

Notch wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Who chose twickenham as the SF venue? ERC

Who hoes the dates for QF and SF giving no time to fill the stadium? ERC

Who did ZERO to expand the crowd at a serious showcase event (last HC match in England FFS - even I could have sold a few tickets with that as the catchphrase) - E R fupping C

I'd imagine the RFU wanted it in Twickenham and not going to some football club somewhere.

The showcase obviously didn't work because none of them turned up today in Twickers.

Seriously, if I had any interest in rugby at all I'd have gone to that game today to just go to a game in Twickenham that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

except you would never have known about it, because ERC did ZERO ZERO ZERO marketing. i called 4 friends and got 9 people to go in the space of 5 minutes.

no sh1t you would have been able to fill twickers with people who haven't been there and were curious. just complete commercial ineptitude. rubbish.

Okay one final time...

The host team of the semi-final is responsible for marketing not the ERC. That would be Saracens. They are the team responsible for marketing the tickets. If you have issues with how they did that, take it up with Sarries. Not the purview of the ERC.

wrong. the "host" team only knows they are in the match 3 weeks prior. so are they responsible for marketing it before then? what if ulster had won, would the match have been at twickers or in ireland? did sarries construct the mechanism of the QF to SF home/away strategy?

ERC is responsible for ticketing and marketing. not the home team. because ERC takes ALL ALL ALL the money. so whats in it for Saracens to market to the wider public, especially when it doesnt control pricing or get any of the revenues?

quinsforever wrote:

Notch wrote:quins this has nothing to do with what I might feel about Saracens, and everything to do with your almost comical need to see ERC bogeyman behind every shadow.

You could have seen that game for £15. Thats the same price as a walk up for your bog standard league game between two mid-table sides most places- in fact it's a lot less in most places. In 2011 I went to see Edinburgh vs Cardiff Blues in a totally meaningless mid-season game in the middle of a freak winter that shut down the country, there were probably only 1000 people there with the weather conditions being so extreme and that cost £20. So £15 is a song. Thats as cheap as tickets for a game of this magnitude get.

And as for the marketing angle- Saracens had the responsibility for marketing the game as hosts NOT the ERC. The timeframe is tough for everyone, but it'll be exactly the same in any form of European competition.

So I don't see how any fault can be held with ERC. The stadium is too big I agree, but there are a lack of purpose built rugby stadiums of the appropriate size in this country.

Talk about a storm in a tea cup.

nobody knew about it notch. nobody apart from those who already followed HC and had the QFs in their calendar. and even they probably didnt know there were lots of tickets left.

i ask again. how did sarries fill wembley and twickers for HC pool match and derby within AP, yet ERC cant even fill the lower tier at HQ?

They had the tickets on sale for those two games for a lot longer I'd imagine. Also most of the people that go to them games; in Wembley especially, don't follow rugby or support Saracens (which is why there is no atmosphere). So its asking a lot for them people to go to 2-3 games a year.

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:if sarries can fill wembley for a group match against toulouse, then the ERC have no excuse for not being able to fill MS for the HC final.

i know its heresy, but maybe hosting the finals in countries which never has participants might not be the smartest idea? i know its great for the overpriced hotels in Cardiff, and Rome was probably eagerly looking forwards to hosting HC 2015, but does it make sense?

There are some teams out there that are just not marketable.   

who holds the current record for AP and HC pool match attendance? and i'm not even a fan of theirs.

i'll give you a clue...they won today.

Not sure why anyone is going on about marketing...most sports are based on fan base and support. You either have it or you dont or you grow it based on success...and with good loyalty programs like Leinster for example.

Again Munster will more than likely have more hardcore supporters away in France than Saracens can muster in a home game...just find it interesting that the failings of support are being blamed on the ERC....

if u dont know why anyone is talking about marketing then you probably shouldnt get involved in any conversations about Sarries.

most professional sports are based on money. fan base and support are one revenue stream. owners are another. unions are another. shirt sales another. local sponsors another. advertisers another. these are all just dimensions of something which in the modern era is all and only about entertainment. if you disagree then its just because you havent caught up with the reality of the situation.

quinsforever wrote:

Notch wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:Who chose twickenham as the SF venue? ERC

Who hoes the dates for QF and SF giving no time to fill the stadium? ERC

Who did ZERO to expand the crowd at a serious showcase event (last HC match in England FFS - even I could have sold a few tickets with that as the catchphrase) - E R fupping C

I'd imagine the RFU wanted it in Twickenham and not going to some football club somewhere.

The showcase obviously didn't work because none of them turned up today in Twickers.

Seriously, if I had any interest in rugby at all I'd have gone to that game today to just go to a game in Twickenham that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

except you would never have known about it, because ERC did ZERO ZERO ZERO marketing. i called 4 friends and got 9 people to go in the space of 5 minutes.

no sh1t you would have been able to fill twickers with people who haven't been there and were curious. just complete commercial ineptitude. rubbish.

Okay one final time...

The host team of the semi-final is responsible for marketing not the ERC. That would be Saracens. They are the team responsible for marketing the tickets. If you have issues with how they did that, take it up with Sarries. Not the purview of the ERC.

wrong. the "host" team only knows they are in the match 3 weeks prior. so are they responsible for marketing it before then? what if ulster had won, would the match have been at twickers or in ireland? did sarries construct the mechanism of the QF to SF home/away strategy?

ERC is responsible for ticketing and marketing. not the home team. because ERC takes ALL ALL ALL the money. so whats in it for Saracens to market to the wider public, especially when it doesnt control pricing or get any of the revenues?

Whats in it for them? Well, a lot of teams enjoy it when fans come and watch them play. Especially band wagon fans who buy lots of their gear and merchandise for their big day out. It creates a nice atmosphere and then sometimes people who don't normally go to games enjoy it so much they decide to come back. So it's generally a good thing when fans come to watch teams playing rugby.

It's comical that you can't just hold your hands up and go "Aye, fair play".

ERC give each team their allocation and its up to them to go out and sell them. Ulster would have had the game in Dublin like before. And we sold 45k tickets in those three weeks. Could we have sold more? Yeah, we could have probably sold more tickets than that if we had more than three weeks to do it. It affects every team equally but most other teams manage to shift them because they have bigger fan bases. Pointing that out is not a slight, it's a fact.

But unless we change the structure of the season radically there will be this problem with a short turnaround whoever is running it. Neither can the ERC. None of the clubs involved can market a game when they don't know if they're going to be in it. Thats just the nature of knockout competitions. There's a tight turn around. Sarries are dealing with very low levels of demand. Thats it really.

The marketing strategies that revolve around targeting one-off big games from months and months out are not possible. I'm sure Saracens will do better if they are in this position again next year.

You are of course correct QF...wouldnt have a clue of marketing (thankfully) however I do like to support my team in whatever sports. Its interesting to note that of the eight Quarter finalists only Sarries would require Marketing while all the other seven would have no problem in filling different stadia or certainly getting more than 25K at a game.

quins - ERC did actually place two  full page ads in last Sunday's TRP for this game, and both Amlin semis. They didn't need to for the Toulon v Munster game. That may be because TRP is not sold in France or Ireland, but I suspect it was because they didn't need to.

People may have an issue with ticket prices, but imo they are reasonable given the stage of the competition.

twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

quinsforever wrote:twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

They still only got about 25K though..

i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

"Last ever semi final of the Heineken Cup in England. Come see London's top-of-the-table Saracens play against top-rated ASM Clermont Ferrand of France in this epic matchup."

few banner ads on websites, couple of buses, get it on the news, etc, etc.

no point just advertising in TRP if one would like to fill HQ.

Just looking up the attendances - Munster hold the record for the highest attendance of a game in both Switzerland and Spain    (32K I think for the one in Spain against Biarritz - and no, Biarritz fans don't travel).

quinsforever wrote:i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

Not what you were saying before I quoted the prices of the tickets.

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

Not what you were saying before I quoted the prices of the tickets.

Its always going to be something else...not the bleedin obvious...

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

They still only got about 25K though..

isnt that how i started this whole discussion? by highlighting my disappointment that they didnt even attempt to seat anyone in the upper 2 out of 3 tiers?

ERC is responsible. They are the ones who created the format. make a much bigger break between group and QFs. only take top 4 from pool stages (have 4 groups) and have home and away SF legs. allow conditional ticket purchases. theres a few suggestions which might improve visibility and attendances and allow us to fill the big stadia.

quinsforever wrote:

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

They still only got about 25K though..

isnt that how i started this whole discussion? by highlighting my disappointment that they didnt even attempt to seat anyone in the upper 2 out of 3 tiers?

ERC is responsible. They are the ones who created the format. make a much bigger break between group and QFs. only take top 4 from pool stages (have 4 groups) and have home and away SF legs. allow conditional ticket purchases. theres a few suggestions which might improve visibility and attendances and allow us to fill the big stadia.

or maybe hope that the remaining teams have half decent support...

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

Not what you were saying before I quoted the prices of the tickets.

i was there. i bought the GBP50 tickets. in order to fill the whole stadium they would have needed more tiering and flexibility on pricing and more marketing and awareness.

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

Not what you were saying before I quoted the prices of the tickets.

i was there. i bought the GBP50 tickets. in order to fill the whole stadium they would have needed more tiering and flexibility on pricing and more marketing and awareness.

Or just more supporters. At least the Munster fans tried...

quinsforever wrote:

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

They still only got about 25K though..

isnt that how i started this whole discussion? by highlighting my disappointment that they didnt even attempt to seat anyone in the upper 2 out of 3 tiers?

ERC is responsible. They are the ones who created the format. make a much bigger break between group and QFs. only take top 4 from pool stages (have 4 groups) and have home and away SF legs. allow conditional ticket purchases. theres a few suggestions which might improve visibility and attendances and allow us to fill the big stadia.

That is not going to happen. There is going to be a shorter space of time next season.

Top 4 with home and away. That would have meant that there would have been no English team in the KOs this year.

Having 4 groups (of 5) would mean that teams would have to play more games (instead of 6, there would be 8). Wouldn't go down well with the owners of the Premiership clubs who think their league is gods gift.   

yawn. what i hear from you is always how you dont want any change. well how did that approach work out for you?

change is inevitable. getting ahead of it means shaping things the way you want them to become not just the way you want them to be. and definitely not going back to the way they used to be.

on that bombshell, i bid you all goodnight...

quinsforever wrote:

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

They still only got about 25K though..

isnt that how i started this whole discussion? by highlighting my disappointment that they didnt even attempt to seat anyone in the upper 2 out of 3 tiers?

ERC is responsible. They are the ones who created the format. make a much bigger break between group and QFs. only take top 4 from pool stages (have 4 groups) and have home and away SF legs. allow conditional ticket purchases. theres a few suggestions which might improve visibility and attendances and allow us to fill the big stadia.

If this is true then you should be congratulating them on all the years they've got it right and managed to get 90%+ of capacity into the stadiums for the semi-finals,I mean this is probably the 1st time in years that the attendance has been so poor so I'd forgive them for one slip up.

quinsforever wrote:ERC clearly do not give a cr4p as they are being wound up.

About f-in time

  

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

Not what you were saying before I quoted the prices of the tickets.

i was there. i bought the GBP50 tickets. in order to fill the whole stadium they would have needed more tiering and flexibility on pricing and more marketing and awareness.

Or just more supporters. At least the Munster fans tried...

They've had 80,000 odd at Twickenham already.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:twickers is twice the size of everywhere else. capacity 82+k

They still only got about 25K though..

isnt that how i started this whole discussion? by highlighting my disappointment that they didnt even attempt to seat anyone in the upper 2 out of 3 tiers?

ERC is responsible. They are the ones who created the format. make a much bigger break between group and QFs. only take top 4 from pool stages (have 4 groups) and have home and away SF legs. allow conditional ticket purchases. theres a few suggestions which might improve visibility and attendances and allow us to fill the big stadia.

If this is true then you should be congratulating them on all the years they've got it right and managed to get 90%+ of capacity into the stadiums for the semi-finals,I mean this is probably the 1st time in years that the attendance has been so poor so I'd forgive them for one slip up.

I seem to remember there being an issue last year.

nathan wrote:

ME-109 wrote:

quinsforever wrote:

Sin é wrote:

quinsforever wrote:i thought the ticket prices were fair. but the effort to fill the stadium was pathetic.

Not what you were saying before I quoted the prices of the tickets.

i was there. i bought the GBP50 tickets. in order to fill the whole stadium they would have needed more tiering and flexibility on pricing and more marketing and awareness.

Or just more supporters. At least the Munster fans tried...

They've had 80,000 odd at Twickenham already.

I presume they had the tickets on sale a lot longer for that game though?

ERC have been poor lets hope the new guys bring a more professional attitude to the new comp.

Scrumpy wrote:ERC have been poor lets hope the new guys bring a more professional attitude to the new comp.

aye and hopefully Bath bring a more professional attitude too. Conceding 50 points at the Aviva is just unacceptable   

No point when we know the ref will be persuaded by the home fans anyway!

Fail to see what that has to do with this thought?

Why do you guys love ERC so much?

Advertising in any media that is intended to reach a wide an audience as possible is usually planned weeks or months ahead. Sure, space could have been pre-booked, but without knowing the participants in a sporting event spanning several countries, where do you reserve the space, and in which countries?

Both ERC and Sarries would have had limited time to maximise meaningful advertising space.

The large gap between pool and q/fs is a different argument, but occurs because of the 6N. Once the tournament reaches the ko stages it is important that momentum (and interest) is maintained.

Playing the pool games in 3 blocks of 3 may be an idea. But they would need straddle the traditional end of month pay days. That would ensure more fans can travel.

But ffs move the back to back round forward from December, when many fans are faced with the cost of Christmas.

Scrumpy wrote:ERC have been poor lets hope the new guys bring a more professional attitude to the new comp.

ha, ha, ha   

Saracens, who hosted a record crowd of more than 80,000 for an Aviva Premiership game against Harlequins at Wembley last month after a season-long promotion, had no control over the marketing and pricing for the game, while it was the Rugby Football Union that recommended the game be played at Twickenham.

That was no doubt in part to ensure that the hire fee paid by tournament organiser European Rugby Cup, which was thought to be around £150,000, remained ‘in the game’ rather than spent, say, on hiring Stadiummk in Milton Keynes, where Northampton played Perignan in the 2011 semi-finals in front of a crowd of 18,231.

ERC had expressed concerns about using Twickenham as a venue, given that semi-finals in England have traditionally averaged attendances of around 25,000.

The lowest ticket price was halved to £15 but it had no impact on increasing last season’s attendance when Toulon beat Saracens at headquarters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/10790562/Saracenss-Heineken-Cup-victory-over-Clermont-Auvergne-deserved-bigger-Twickenham-crowd.html

Sin - what's worrying is that only 35,000 tickets have been sold for the final.

Hard to fathom why that is the case.

Well Millennium hold 72k they reserve 15k for each of the 2 finalists to sell or something like that don't they? That would be 65k the other 7k isn't that much when you think the likelihood is most of them will be reserved by sponsors and stuff.