If you are interested, I have put a questionnaire on the Wire forum as to why we are getting such low attendances.

I've often wondered the same, and the same question applies to Challenge Cup games...

I guess that the answer is that most supporters attend regular games by virtue of a season ticket. With playoff/cup games being an additional expense, and usually televised then many choose to save money and not attend, in case of attending the final...

What does surprise me is that there aren't more like myself who pick and choose games...

You can either buy the season ticket, take the risk you won't be able to attend a couple of games due to other commitments and then sit all league games, games many of which where we will likely have it won before half time. Not only this but in this day and age, league position is almost irrelevant in terms of silver-ware....

Surely the more entertaining and better value option is to attend the games you know will be high quality/close encounters, or the derbies. Pick a few away games such as Wakey/Bradford/Cas etc etc that are just as cheap to attend as a home game, and then go to a few rounds of the cup and the play-offs... Games where the result actually matters...

If it's a choice between Leeds-Widnes in the regular superleague rounds, where league position doesn't matter one bit and we should in theory have it wrapped up by half time, or a game of knock-out rugby where the result is anyones guess, then I know what I choose every time...

From a purely Leeds point of view you have a good number of season ticket holders who buy the ticket for several reasons...

1. They hold southstand tickets and panic about the fact that a few seasons ago that stand almost fully sold out to season ticket holders.

2. They hold Carnegie or North Stand tickets and wish to keep their current seat(s)

3. Its just a "thing" that they do and they have no other explanation.

Number 3 is of course the type of customer that all sporting clubs covet because they need no persuasion or marketing, they will buy one or even two new cheap (to produce) man-made fibre replica shirts (the word "replica" being the misnomer here, they are the same colour is about as close as they come), they will buy every little trinket that the club shops produces, and they will buy into the "Extra" tickets for the challenge cup and playoffs in sufficient numbers that the marketing gurus do not yet think it viable to include them in the season ticket prices, or even give a generous discount.

While you have sufficient season ticket holders to keep the gravy train running then the issue of poorly attended "Extra" games does not need to be tackled although I suspect that its probably raising some concern.

One solution would be to sell tickets at seriously reduced prices, based on the Ryanair principle of flying with every seat full. No matter how cheap as people will spend some money on drinks and other products. Hopefully the added spectators will buy a couple of beers and a programme. Also it may introduce some new fans to the game . At least most people agree something needs to change with the current format.

There seems to be a supposition that lower prices woud significantly shift attendances. Is the demand curve that elastic? These games are all televised so it remains a perversely easy option to just sit at home and watch there. If people really valued these games they would be there regardless of price. The answer shouldn't be one which involves giving away the game on the cheap, it should address why fans don't consider it worth being there for the biggest games of the year.

Had my Carnegie Stand centre ticket been £ 10 or maybe even £15 I may have been persuaded to attend last night's game.
But since the 3 other people I usually go with were unable to attend for various reasons, I chose to stay at home & watch both playoff games in the comfort of my own home.
Despite having to watch both on delay since she who must be obeyed commandeered the tv to watch some dance competition on BBC1.

It wasn't even the dance competition, it was the preliminary to the dance competition. It's the equivalent of you not letting her watch the Strictly final because Leeds's Boxing Day game is on TV.

Disgraceful.

Because, for two of the games, they were simply an 'extra' designed to generate cash for the RFL, with the losers still getting a second chance and a home draw ..... if the losing teams had to at least travel to their next opponents, they'd have possibly given at least one hoot (maybe not quite two) about losing.

I concur...if you were on the Catalans staff knowing that if you were to lose against Wigan you would get one last money spinning, home game in front of your own passionate, partisan supporters, what would you do ?

Wigan - and I presume the other top clubs as well - offer pretty good value family season tickets, but the extra games are at standard prices, so my normal 4 tickets - 1 adult 3 juniors - would cost £62 for last Friday's game. That's a fair bit of money for 2 or 3 play off matches, when you will have to hopefully pay for 4 grand final tickets as well.

Win and still get one, even bigger, money spinning game at home.

Some really well thought out views on here. I have now got 34 votes, and surprisingly ( for me anyway ), money is not the main reason for the low attendance.

I think the only way to get better attendances at the play offs is to include the matches (barring the final) in your season ticket.

Last years play offs (barring the final) saw a total attendance of 76, 544. If on average every ticket sold at say £15 this would have brought £1.15m.

The average attendance this season was 9950. So say on average 5000 season ticket holders for each club. If each club charged £15 extra on the season ticket price which would allow free entry into all the play off games there team participate in (home or away, barring the final). 70, 000 season ticket holders paying £15 extra would bring £1.05m and then you would get more revenue from pay on the gate customers and stadiums would be a lot more full.

Obviously i'm not sure how much the average ticket would be, based on child and adult prices and i've no idea how many Super League season ticket holders there is. But if you could bring in similar revenue but make the stadiums full, it could be the way forward. SL should take the £15's and split accordingly when it gets to the play offs. Obviously lesser teams wouldn't like to pay £15 more if they are unlikely to reach the play offs, this maybe the drawback.

A potential idea to resolve the low crowd problems.

The play-offs haven't started yet, that happens next week.

We've just witnessed an abbreviated round 28 of the regular season where quite rightly the teams finishing 7th and 9th have fallen by the wayside and we've got the second chance mentality out of the way now.

Time to get down to the serious knock out business now between the top 6.

Week after next IMO.

Round 29 to negotiate before the serious action begins.

If there must be another 8 team reperchage for allowing lower placed teams to have a crack at silverware, why not run it as a separate cup competition ala the Regal Trophy with qualification from the previous years finishing positions? You want knock out rugby, let's have it. Pick weekends where some randomly picked squad of top players are playing a meaningless international against some team that won't hurt you too much. Play then. You want strength in depth, you want more players playing intense matches here you go. Then at the seasons end have the Champions of the regular season named such, and if you need your October fix play the final of said knockout then.

We have season tickets in the North Stand, It only cost £ 5.00 per junior to sit. For the Juniors it was £ 5.00 any where in the ground, to me that is good value.

Maybe the question to ask should be why are the regular rounds so well attended?

Plenty of people like routine. Maybe that's a big factor?

What's all this about adding play-off games to your season ticket price nonsense?

How PO'd would you be if:

A) Your team didn't make the Play-Offs

B) You'd already paid for the first 1 or 2 Play-Off games in your season ticket price?

Aren't the play offs technically RFL events, and would therefore not be part of the season ticket. Just like CC Semis & Final.

To answer the OP, I would say that whilst extra cost is a factor, the biggest factor to me would be the late notice of the games, and uncertainty over whether a game will be at a certain venue, or on a certain day.

Lets get back to top 5 play offs where all the games are intense and are mostly straight knockout games.

These first couple of weeks are quite tedious with all top four getting a second chance if they lose and then end up playing each other again anyway down the line.We havn't got enough strength in depth for top 8 and going back to a top 5 play off system would put an end to teams coasting through the regular rounds.

People will turn round and say that means the lower teams will have nothing to play for half way through the year when they know they cant get in the 5, but whatabout pre Super League and Wigan were marching to title after title and nobody else having a look in?

Something has to be done quick because this system isnt working.The early games in the most part are poor quality and mostly the results are not in doubt or if you are top four, meaningless and the fans know this.hence,poor crowds.

Play-off winning margins in Week 1 last year = +47, +50, +32, +8 = Average +34.25
Play-off winning margins in Week 1 this year = +40, +22, +22, +36 = Average +30.00

Play-off winning margins in Week 2 last year = +44, +6 = Average = +25.00
Play-off winning margins in Week 2 this year = ????? TBC

Play-off attendances in Week 1 last year = 40,386 = Average 10,096
Play-off attendances in Week 1 this year = 35,128 = Average 8,782

Play-off attendances in Week 2 last year = 14,662 = Average 7,331
Play-off attendances in Week 2 this year = ????? TBC

Some suggestions i've heard is to have it as a straight knock out without any 2nd chances, but just wait for the first time 1st place loses to 8th place or 2nd vs 7th in the first week and they'll be calls for that system to go straight away.

Also, even going back to 5 or 6 teams playoffs, still some one sided wins took place
Catalans beat Warrington 46-8
Wigan beat Catalans 50-26
Leeds beat Wigan 36-6
Bradford beat Salford 52-6
Hull beat Wire 40-6
Bradford beat Hull 71-0
Saints beat Wigan 54-16
Wigan beat Bradford 40-12
Wigan beat Saints 44-10
Bradford beat Wigan 37-6 in a GF
Wigan beat Leeds 41-18
Leeds beat Wigan 40-12
Bradford beat Leeds 46-12

So lets not pretend it was all rosey and it was always full of close intense matches when we had less teams in the playoffs, especially when a few of them one sided scorelines took place between some of the bigger names playing each other. Any playoff structure that has been used has had its flaws and this one isn't any different and if teams like Huddersfield didn't just roll over and be content with making it then half of the problem would disappear. Wakefield's performance and reaction to defeat on Saturday was so refreshing to see, they were genuinely gutted about losing and wanted to keep going in the playoffs and already talking about coming back next year and improving still, none of this 'just happy to make 8' attitude from some other clubs.

Last year had a big Wigan vs Saints at the DW match-up first week which is usually the biggest attended game of the regular season to help it, as well as the Leeds game being on a Sunday last year compared to this year's Saturday night 8pm kickoff. That's pretty much the difference made up in those 2 explainations.

Slightly OT but I did wonder what depths a game between yesterday's Huddersfield and Friday's Catalans might have plumbed. Honestly, a shudder went down my spine at the thought of it!