Big exhibition events are proving popular with rugby fans but the future of the domestic game hangs in the balance
If you land from outer space into Tottenham High Road on Saturday afternoon and join the crowd of 60,000 people heading to Spurs to watch
Central revenues from the RFU slumped in the second half of the eight-year Professional Game Agreement; the new version is under negotiation right now. Another depressing development is England players leaving to play in France –from Saracens among the latest to go, for next season. Newcastle Falcons have staved off some financial problems by slashing their playing budget by half.
As to the make-up of the crowd, in surveys the vast majority have stated they are fans of Saracens, while nine out of 10 give “the rugby” as their primary reason for attending, against other options such as “the day-out experience”. Mark Thompson, the new chief executive at Saracens, tells: “There’s some level of existing rugby engagement, but by definition most of them aren’t people who come to Saracens on a weekly basis.
The capacity at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium is around 10,500. Seasonal members plus hospitality making up roughly half, so for each regular fixture around 5000 tickets are on general sale, and they rarely sell out. Saracens also have the most expensive Premiership season tickets, ranging from £300 to £1300, plus the swanky W tunnel club with very limited places at £13,000 a season.
Harlequins are different in that they have sold out every Premiership match at the 14,800-capacity Stoop in the last three seasons, barring one on a train-strike day, and two during the World Cup. Only Bath in the Premiership can tell a similar tale. Stadium expansion at the likes of Leicester, Northampton and Exeter has – so far – come at the cost of some empty seats.
“We tactically have to choose when we turn off membership, so we’ve got enough churn of people coming into the Stoop and experiencing Quins for the first time,” Wells says.
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