URC 22/23

[wixfjord]

Cardiff team out watching the match today

Are they sinking ship tshirts?

[blockhead]

A URC Team in each Final!
Lets turn out in droves for Glasgow on the Friday night.
Leinster for life, Warrior for the day Tshirts and all that.

[FLIP]

A URC Team in each Final!
Lets turn out in droves for Glasgow on the Friday night.
Leinster for life, Warrior for the day Tshirts and all that.

Or a shirt that says "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".

I think they'd like that.

[Morf]

A URC Team in each Final!
Lets turn out in droves for Glasgow on the Friday night.
Leinster for life, Warrior for the day Tshirts and all that.

Or a shirt that says "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".

I think they'd like that.

Just batter and deep fat fry it first!

[blockhead]

Attendances for the URC are way up on any previous year.
Almost 9.5K average for a URC game in the league stage this season, up 700 from the previous best year.
The big reason for the rise is the South African sides of course with 3 of them having averages over 10k.
Leinster have the highest attendance for the umpteent season although the Stormers, Bulls & Sharks have the potential to go much higher.
Average Attendance 2022/23 League stage:
1. Leinster 18.4K
2. Stormers 16.1K
3. Sharks 14.8K
4. Munster 13.7K
5. Ulster 13.5K
6. Bulls 12.8K

No other team exceeded 10K
With the play-offs coming up, the total attendance could reach 1.5M for the season

[munster#1]

Attendances for the URC are way up on any previous year.
Almost 9.5K average for a URC game in the league stage this season, up 700 from the previous best year.
The big reason for the rise is the South African sides of course with 3 of them having averages over 10k.
Leinster have the highest attendance for the umpteent season although the Stormers, Bulls & Sharks have the potential to go much higher.
Average Attendance 2022/23 League stage:
1. Leinster 18.4K
2. Stormers 16.1K
3. Sharks 14.8K
4. Munster 13.7K
5. Ulster 13.5K
6. Bulls 12.8K

No other team exceeded 10K
With the play-offs coming up, the total attendance could reach 1.5M for the season

Some really impressive figures. Fair play to the URC and to Leinster.

The value of the Leinster v Munster match in the Aviva is really highlighted in the figures.
Minus that game the Leinster average drops to less than 15k.
Still a very respectable figure on its own.

Munster must really look to do the same for the return fixture by moving it to a larger stadium, either PUC or the Gaelic Grounds, and extend Musgrave to 10k-12k in order to compete financially.

[blockhead]

Attendances for the URC are way up on any previous year.
Almost 9.5K average for a URC game in the league stage this season, up 700 from the previous best year.
The big reason for the rise is the South African sides of course with 3 of them having averages over 10k.
Leinster have the highest attendance for the umpteent season although the Stormers, Bulls & Sharks have the potential to go much higher.
Average Attendance 2022/23 League stage:
1. Leinster 18.4K
2. Stormers 16.1K
3. Sharks 14.8K
4. Munster 13.7K
5. Ulster 13.5K
6. Bulls 12.8K

No other team exceeded 10K
With the play-offs coming up, the total attendance could reach 1.5M for the season

Some really impressive figures. Fair play to the URC and to Leinster.

The value of the Leinster v Munster match in the Aviva is really highlighted in the figures.
Minus that game the Leinster average drops to less than 15k.
Still a very respectable figure on its own.

Munster must really look to do the same for the return fixture by moving it to a larger stadium, either PUC or the Gaelic Grounds, and extend Musgrave to 10k-12k in order to compete financially.

Most teams have a big day out during the season. Your one is the big xmas derby spanking.
Agree about Cork getting the sh!t end of the stick when it comes to games to go and see, especially since that's were the players come from. It would be like Leinster playing most of their games in Athlone.
At least they get the U20s.

[munster#1]

Attendances for the URC are way up on any previous year.
Almost 9.5K average for a URC game in the league stage this season, up 700 from the previous best year.
The big reason for the rise is the South African sides of course with 3 of them having averages over 10k.
Leinster have the highest attendance for the umpteent season although the Stormers, Bulls & Sharks have the potential to go much higher.
Average Attendance 2022/23 League stage:
1. Leinster 18.4K
2. Stormers 16.1K
3. Sharks 14.8K
4. Munster 13.7K
5. Ulster 13.5K
6. Bulls 12.8K

No other team exceeded 10K
With the play-offs coming up, the total attendance could reach 1.5M for the season

Some really impressive figures. Fair play to the URC and to Leinster.

The value of the Leinster v Munster match in the Aviva is really highlighted in the figures.
Minus that game the Leinster average drops to less than 15k.
Still a very respectable figure on its own.

Munster must really look to do the same for the return fixture by moving it to a larger stadium, either PUC or the Gaelic Grounds, and extend Musgrave to 10k-12k in order to compete financially.

Most teams have a big day out during the season. Your one is the big xmas derby spanking.
Agree about Cork getting the sh!t end of the stick when it comes to games to go and see, especially since that's were the players come from. It would be like Leinster playing most of their games in Athlone.
At least they get the U20s.

Ha ha. Never let an opportunity to slate Munster pass you by.

The derby is a good little earner, as it obviously is for Leinster in the return fixture, but imo Munster could capitalise a fair bit more on this.
The Gaelic Grounds is only a few hundred meters away from TP and holds 44k and PUC holds 45k, that is the equivalent of an additional derby match against Ulster or Connacht.

Increasing MP to 12k, assuming it is filled, could bring in an additional 12k over the 3 matches, essentially an additional URC game. This also gives justification to move more games to Cork.

[blockhead]

I agree, with the novelty factor you could fill PUC with a decent game, v Leinster/Heino. But what price would the GAA demand?
Also, pouring money into your 2nd stadium and moving big games out of your 1st stadium sounds odd.

[IanD]

Some really impressive figures. Fair play to the URC and to Leinster.

The value of the Leinster v Munster match in the Aviva is really highlighted in the figures.
Minus that game the Leinster average drops to less than 15k.
Still a very respectable figure on its own.

Munster must really look to do the same for the return fixture by moving it to a larger stadium, either PUC or the Gaelic Grounds, and extend Musgrave to 10k-12k in order to compete financially.

Most teams have a big day out during the season. Your one is the big xmas derby spanking.
Agree about Cork getting the sh!t end of the stick when it comes to games to go and see, especially since that's were the players come from. It would be like Leinster playing most of their games in Athlone.
At least they get the U20s.

Ha ha. Never let an opportunity to slate Munster pass you by.

The derby is a good little earner, as it obviously is for Leinster in the return fixture, but imo Munster could capitalise a fair bit more on this.
The Gaelic Grounds is only a few hundred meters away from TP and holds 44k and PUC holds 45k, that is the equivalent of an additional derby match against Ulster or Connacht.

Increasing MP to 12k, assuming it is filled, could bring in an additional 12k over the 3 matches, essentially an additional URC game. This also gives justification to move more games to Cork.

When I see people recommend moving games to GAA stadiums to increase attendances I think of this.

"Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity but cash is king."

For example renting Croke Park is 1 million euros. The IRFU might sell 30,000 more tickets but would lose a million plus bar and food concessions on the day. Add to that you still have to maintain The Aviva.

So the rugby version could be.

"Attendance Figures are vanity, profit is sanity but 1 million quid cash is king."

[IanD]

Cardiff team out watching the match today

Are they sinking ship tshirts?

I have to admit I did think this was funny when I saw it.

But imagine you are a Cardiff fan who has just paid for the renewal of your season ticket.

Not a good look.

[munster#1]

I agree, with the novelty factor you could fill PUC with a decent game, v Leinster/Heino. But what price would the GAA demand?
Also, pouring money into your 2nd stadium and moving big games out of your 1st stadium sounds odd.

The price would be the key point. PUC would generate an additional 20k tickets, with a considerable number of additional corporate tickets available.
At an estimated average cost across the 20k additional tickets of €35 brings in an additional €700,000 on tickets. Up it to an average of €40 and you are at €800,000. So you start from there and work back, but there is massive potential to earn a considerable additional profit.

What would you consider to be an acceptable additional profit to justify a move?

Munster already have a second stadium and already play 3 games a season there, and most of the time these games sell out.
At 12k capacity I wouldn’t be moving any big games.

[FLIP]

I agree, with the novelty factor you could fill PUC with a decent game, v Leinster/Heino. But what price would the GAA demand?
Also, pouring money into your 2nd stadium and moving big games out of your 1st stadium sounds odd.

The price would be the key point. PUC would generate an additional 20k tickets, with a considerable number of additional corporate tickets available.
At an estimated average cost across the 20k additional tickets of €35 brings in an additional €700,000 on tickets. Up it to an average of €40 and you are at €800,000. So you start from there and work back, but there is massive potential to earn a considerable additional profit.

What would you consider to be an acceptable additional profit to justify a move?

Munster already have a second stadium and already play 3 games a season there, and most of the time these games sell out.
At 12k capacity I wouldn’t be moving any big games.

Enough for Munster to pay off their loans from the IRFU

[munster#1]

I agree, with the novelty factor you could fill PUC with a decent game, v Leinster/Heino. But what price would the GAA demand?
Also, pouring money into your 2nd stadium and moving big games out of your 1st stadium sounds odd.

The price would be the key point. PUC would generate an additional 20k tickets, with a considerable number of additional corporate tickets available.
At an estimated average cost across the 20k additional tickets of €35 brings in an additional €700,000 on tickets. Up it to an average of €40 and you are at €800,000. So you start from there and work back, but there is massive potential to earn a considerable additional profit.

What would you consider to be an acceptable additional profit to justify a move?

Munster already have a second stadium and already play 3 games a season there, and most of the time these games sell out.
At 12k capacity I wouldn’t be moving any big games.

Enough for Munster to pay off their loans from the IRFU

As far as I know Munster are up to date on their repayment agreement?

Do you mean enough to pay it off in full?

[FLIP]

The price would be the key point. PUC would generate an additional 20k tickets, with a considerable number of additional corporate tickets available.
At an estimated average cost across the 20k additional tickets of €35 brings in an additional €700,000 on tickets. Up it to an average of €40 and you are at €800,000. So you start from there and work back, but there is massive potential to earn a considerable additional profit.

What would you consider to be an acceptable additional profit to justify a move?

Munster already have a second stadium and already play 3 games a season there, and most of the time these games sell out.
At 12k capacity I wouldn’t be moving any big games.

Enough for Munster to pay off their loans from the IRFU

As far as I know Munster are up to date on their repayment agreement?

Do you mean enough to pay it off in full?

Yes, stop paying to drive someone else's car when you've not paid off the already defaulted loan on your own

[munster#1]

Enough for Munster to pay off their loans from the IRFU

As far as I know Munster are up to date on their repayment agreement?

Do you mean enough to pay it off in full?

Yes, stop paying to drive someone else's car when you've not paid off the already defaulted loan on your own

So what you are saying is that Munster should reject the potential of increased revenue from moving games to another stadium until TP is paid in full.

Makes perfect sense, good argument.
Sure who needs increased revenue anyway.

[naraic]

If it makes financial sense to move a game Munster should be moving a game.

Remember to include all factors and make a provision for canabilisation of your own sales (A concept introduced to me by Mick Dawson in a Q&A many years back).

If Munster can play a game in PUC and pay rent and it makes sense to do rather than playing in Thomond it should be done. At the same time I don't think the Gaelic Grounds would ever make sense (provision for canabilisation of other fixtures would imo be too high).

Remember the media made it clear that they got PUC for bargain rates for the South Africa game. If they don't get the same bargain it should probably never happen.

[munster#1]

If it makes financial sense to move a game Munster should be moving a game.

Remember to include all factors and make a provision for canabilisation of your own sales (A concept introduced to me by Mick Dawson in a Q&A many years back).

If Munster can play a game in PUC and pay rent and it makes sense to do rather than playing in Thomond it should be done. At the same time I don't think the Gaelic Grounds would ever make sense (provision for canabilisation of other fixtures would imo be too high).

Remember the media made it clear that they got PUC for bargain rates for the South Africa game. If they don't get the same bargain it should probably never happen.

I agree that PUC makes more sense. Cork is an under serviced market in terms of big matches, so the novelty factor of a game like the Leinster match could be a real gem in much the same way as the Munster match in the Aviva.

I also agree that all factors need to be assessed, and that will be left to the pros.
In terms of rental, I believe that PUC is cheaper to rent than the Aviva, so it would likely make financial sense on ticket sales alone.
However, to your point, the knock could be that some fans would not bother with TP season tickets if the Leinster match wasn’t included. So it is not all positive.

I would be a big detractor of how Leinster have failed to expand their supporter base, so it would be unfair if I didn’t say the same about Munster.
Munster must do more in Cork, and the expansion of MP, along with at least 1 big game a season in PUC should be something that is looked at.

[blockhead]

This Connacht win really opens the door for the Stormers. Beat the Bulls tomorrow and surely they will beat Connacht in the semi at home. And if we don't come up trumps ourselves then the final will be in their own ground.

[munster#1]

This weekend showed a true reflection of what the general public think of the URC.

14.6k fans turned up to see one of the best teams in the world play in a quarter final.
That is following a week where 46k showed up to watch the same team play in a Euro semi, which many complained was over priced.

The league is definitely getting better, and the overall attendance is increasing, but it’s clear that fans haven’t fully bought into the league.
I expect to see a bump in attendance next week, as the derby nature of the game will generate reasonable interest, but I’d be surprised if it is a sellout.

Is this rugby saturation? Is it the fact that the result was inevitable? Or is it that the league is still not seen in the same light as other leagues?

This is not a Leinster problem, as I’m of Munster were playing Glasgow at home, they would have had a similar attendance.