Having bought a season ticket in November, I’ve had no reason to look at pre-purchased or matchday ticket prices. Got to say, when I bought a ticket for the old fella on Thursday, I was shocked to say the least. Only in Gary Hetherington’s world is inflation running at over 20%. He may have crunched the numbers, and made his financial game plan, but a walk up price of £27 to stand seems like it will only alienate more people from attending matches. For a section of people with limited disposable income, this is a surefire way to keep them away from Headingley. Season tickets are a reasonable price at Leeds, but I can’t say cranking pre-purchased tickets up by 20% and increasing walk up prices by £5 is a great business decision or an ethical one. Dwindling attendances at games has become an issue for a number of reasons, this is another way of killing the atmosphere by driving fans away. If Gh’s master plan was to see thousands of walk up supporters paying inflated prices to watch an entertaining top of the table team, that strategy appears to have crashed and burned. I’ve a feeling our next home game will be like a morgue for a number of reasons, one of those being the inflation busting ticket prices.

A Mother and Daughter wanted tickets for last nights game , they were told for the Carnegie Stand it was £39 for the mother and £25 for the Daughter , needless to say they did not pay . What a ridiculous amount of money to charge for a game of Rugby . With the season virtually over for Leeds there wont be many walk ups at those prices and we will soon have a half full fantastic stadium .

Sorry i must have created a thread at the same time , maybe it could be merged

When ticket prices were first released I thought wow what a big increase. However after thinking about it more, the investment going on at the stadium is massive, the facilities in the new southstand are excellent, prices were also frozen for quite a few years previously, it all seems reasonable. If price is an issue surely you would buy tickets in advance at the cheaper price.

When ticket prices were first released I thought wow what a big increase. However after thinking about it more, the investment going on at the stadium is massive, the facilities in the new southstand are excellent, prices were also frozen for quite a few years previously, it all seems reasonable. If price is an issue surely you would buy tickets in advance at the cheaper price and opt for standing rather than the seating price you have quoted.

Do get a drink and a meal with that

i had someone swap shifts with me for last night so was free but at no point did i consider going as it suddenly became a £75 night out for the wife and i once travel and extras are taken into account

I was talking to someone other day who had been chased on taking corporate tickets for Wigan game in August, in the North Stand. Apparently it was £225 per head. He told them where to shove it, as rudiculous pricing for rugby league. Said he does Leeds United corporate for £135 per head, and more clients interested.

£27 for away supporters on the day £24 in advance I was there of course but I can see those prices for the Western Tereace may be an inhibitor to some travelling fans

Reasonable can only be defined in entertainment value, and in relation to the other teams, not on fancy looking stands. In that respect it can’t be termed reasonable.

Even the advance prices have gone up by £4. In austere times I think an increase of 20% on the advance purchase is too much. Not everyone has the same disposable income, and I do think a certain demographic will feel ripped off and vote with their feet. When I had a back op and lived on the benefits received, it made me reassess what I spent and made made me realise the choices you have to make at a lower income level. I think Leeds prices will become an issue and some people will draw a line in the sand. Away supporters that are unaware of the £5 walkup increase will certainly feel ripped off and will certainly think twice about even the advance price on top of a possible schlepp across The Pennines to boot. I think Leeds are sending out the wrong message to what has historically been a working class fan base. If they want to go down the football route of possibly alienating them, I think it’s a dangerous game to play.

Bradford are currently charging £23 for standing tickets and that price rises on the day to £25. Some of our supporters are voting with their feet. In my opinion, that price for Championship rugby is a bit steep.

The away fans know they are going to the match so buying in advance is no problem , its the walk ups who may decide to go late in the day who will decide the prices are too much and not go

Yep it is pure greed and it will backfire .

A £4 increase after a prize freeze for several years and £40M spent on the stadium is reasonable IMO. It will be unaffordable for some, as will the latest iPhone, or an evening in the pub, or Leeds Utd tickets, that is life.

No it’s not. It might seem reasonable to the club on those terms, but it is not reasonable for the product it is for, not when in comparison to other similar options out there. It is nearer to extortionate than reasonable. The fact people pay it, me included, doesn’t make it right.

The teams performance is obviously poor at the moment, but pricing doesn’t fluctuate with form.

What other similar entertainment options do you see as better value for £24?

1 month now tv pass £25. The sudden jump may seem steep but if have had a price freeze for a few years also then this is probably what it would be had it increased a little each year. I wonder if ths post would have arouse had you won most of your games and played well?

On the whole rugby leagues match day experiences are not great. Many people turn up early for games no entertainment maybe dome dancers but nothing really great or some random finger on a poor pa system. What us is there to do after the final whistle except try and get out and not get cought in traffic? More so on afternoon games. Clubs need to make the experience appealing for fans and something to interest new fans.

It’s £27 on the day. I can go stand in a fancy stadium at Warrington against Cas next week, a quality product, for £24 on the day. A near 13% less.

Where RL fans are concerned? A cert, I'd have said



Flippancy aside, the simple fact is many fans don't have a whole load of disposable cash around. It would be a worry to me if the game became beyond the budgets of increasing numbers of young families. After all, those kids are tomorrow's fans - and maybe players.

Prices are going up and crowds will go down , we need to attract as many spectators as possible so we must give them a good product at a price that encourages them to come along , otherwise we have less and less people interested in Rugby League

That’s fine but how is any SL club going to dish out this amazing product without the money to pay for it first? Clubs need to make a profit (see Widnes, see Bradford).

I’m sorry but it’s just not a linear relationship between the price you pay to attend a game, and the win ratio.

As an aside, interesting how many people are NOT happy on this forum seeing a losing side play attractive rugby....

They've quietly walked back the prices in the last few weeks and designated more of the stands as "wings" than they initially did, but even with the limited capacity seats were available to buy and plenty were visibly empty

Madness that an adult and kid could have gone to Elland Road last night from £34 a pair and been in a packed stadium with an amazing atmosphere and Leeds RL were charging so much for a game of RL with no atmosphere whatsoever. As events, the two games were chalk and cheese, but they expect people to pay up to £39 to watch a salary capped game of RL??? Half the players probably couldn't afford it!

St Helens and Warrington play in arguably better stadiums and don't use it as an excuse to charge so much, not to mention Hull, Hudds and Wigan

But surely pricing should be a balance of maximising revenues whilst not pricing out the core fans. Even if we were playing well were we ever likely to fill a stadium this season with those prices? Would a slightly lower price attract more people and increase revenues? It's a hard balance to strike but I think they've gone in a bit high.

You can’t compare going to watch live sport to a streaming service. Leeds are planning big improvements to the match day experience, such as the live music they had on in the southstand pre match yesterday. They also had something after the game (not sure what i didn’t stay) with discounted drinks, lessons learnt from the Wolfpack it seems.


If price is an issue buy in advance and pay £24 to watch Leeds, if you can’t get to the ticket office you can “print at home” for free.