The Virtual Terrace • Doom & Gloom...but here we are
I remember 20+ years ago, when SL was still in it infancy, we had gone from 6,500 attendance to 7,500, but we had already seen a drop in annual TV revenue from SKY from the initial £17,000,000 a year to just £11,000,000......it would then drop to £9,000,000 a year not long after.
At the time, there were Hundreds of threads on various forums saying the game was being sold short and was heading for oblivion....but hey, 2 decades later, we have survived and we are now seeing threads downplaying a deal that is apparently worth between £25 and £30 million a year........
in 2001 the average cost of a Pint of Lager was £2.00, it's now £3.90
in 2001 the average cost of a house was £164,000, it's now £260,000
In 2001 I paid £14.00 to watch the London Broncos....that figure is now £22.50.........
Is the game in need of some changes? Quite possibly, but not at the expense of the grass roots. The Likes of London (Skolars and Broncos) Sheffield, Coventry and the welsh sides are looking down the barrel of obscurity or worse if the SL chairmen get their way and pull up the drawbridge.
They've become too used to the "free money" from SKY, but in reality, they are all a whisker away from being the next Bradford or Widnes.
The game Needs SKY, but to what extent? If the owners had concentrated on their match day offerings, then the reality is that 8,000 extra fans per home game would cover the ENTIRE bounty they get from the trough each year.
What they need to do is stop being "addicts". If Sky saw a 20% hike in attendances in 2022, they'd be hard pressed to come back with another "insulting" deal.
This "fan engagement' lip service the RFL are engaging in is to be of any use, they need to understand that SKY aren't the lifeblood of the game...we are, the Fans. So let's stop fiddling with structures and concentrate on the real issue......filling stadiums and making RL a must do event in 2022.
At the time, there were Hundreds of threads on various forums saying the game was being sold short and was heading for oblivion....but hey, 2 decades later, we have survived and we are now seeing threads downplaying a deal that is apparently worth between £25 and £30 million a year........
in 2001 the average cost of a Pint of Lager was £2.00, it's now £3.90
in 2001 the average cost of a house was £164,000, it's now £260,000
In 2001 I paid £14.00 to watch the London Broncos....that figure is now £22.50.........
Is the game in need of some changes? Quite possibly, but not at the expense of the grass roots. The Likes of London (Skolars and Broncos) Sheffield, Coventry and the welsh sides are looking down the barrel of obscurity or worse if the SL chairmen get their way and pull up the drawbridge.
They've become too used to the "free money" from SKY, but in reality, they are all a whisker away from being the next Bradford or Widnes.
The game Needs SKY, but to what extent? If the owners had concentrated on their match day offerings, then the reality is that 8,000 extra fans per home game would cover the ENTIRE bounty they get from the trough each year.
What they need to do is stop being "addicts". If Sky saw a 20% hike in attendances in 2022, they'd be hard pressed to come back with another "insulting" deal.
This "fan engagement' lip service the RFL are engaging in is to be of any use, they need to understand that SKY aren't the lifeblood of the game...we are, the Fans. So let's stop fiddling with structures and concentrate on the real issue......filling stadiums and making RL a must do event in 2022.
Statistics: Posted by orangeman — Mon Oct 18, 2021 10:22 pm