I e-mailed the RFL ticketing office a few days ago about the Manchester Magic (Tragic) ticket prices. I wanted to take a few friends with me who have never watched rugby league live but are into different sports. I asked what the cheapest option for them would be as they are not season tciket holders, students, oap's etc so do not qualify for a discount. Here is their reply:

[iThank you for your email. If your friends are full paying Adults (as opposed to Juniors aged 16 and under, Seniors aged 65 and over or Students) then £30 for a day ticket is the cheapest option.

I understand that this may seem like a lot but when you consider that there are 3 or 4 games to watch as well as entertainment inside and outside the stadium it does offer a good value day out.[/i

Now you try convincing somebody that £30 to watch several RL games is a bargain, they have never been to a game, dont know what to expect and are being asked for what i would consider a significant amount of money.

Who is this event aimed at? Existing fans or attracting new support?

Thoughts...

It's aimed at both. If you want to watch one game then £30 isn't good value. If you watch 3 or 4 than it is. If you're mates don't want to pay £30 then they can get in most SL grounds for about £20. If they want to pay less than that they need to go back to 1997.

RL fans in moaning at what are actually very cheap ticket prices shock

Oh my word, someone complaining that it's £30 to watch 3/4 games of rugby!

£30 is great value. Give it a rest.

Several of my friends only ever go to Wembley and Old Trafford, no other club games. One of them actually dislikes Rugby League but comes along anyway and we always get £26 or £31 tickets. All of them come along as they know it'll always be an excellent day out.

Put it in context - People who dont know one end of a rugby ball to the other, how would that conversation go "Hey i know you have never been to a game but give me £30..."

MM is not the GF or CC is it tho...?

Or alternatively if the prices were a tenner to get in, the conversation would go "ten quid for four games? It must be bobbins if the prices are so cheap!".

Works both ways.

Nope, its 3 decent games of Rugby League in a modern stadium surrounded by mainly friendly RL fans and lots of beer. £30 is brilliant value.

Tell them to go to twickers and watch union,i'm sure they'll know what shape of ball that is

Wow, I can't believe I'm actually agreeing with you. Its superb value. Will you be there?

Just out of interest how many of you will be paying £30 instead of £15 with a season ticket or any other discount?



I will be honest im not but will be asking other people to

If they are that unconfident about it, they're hardly going to watch 3 games are they! You might want to start them off at one!

Sadly not.

Nobody would moan about going to watch a cup final at Wembley for that much! This is 3/4 games for less than the price you would pay to watch the Manchester football teams for one game.

£30 is great price! Try getting into a PL footy match for less.

Will be taking some RL "virgins" with me who were quite willing to pay that. But I've got the vouchers from fellow ST holders who can't go. So £15.

£30 is a great price for three or four games of RL. People seem to complain about pricing at every rl event. People complained tickets were too cheap for England at Wembley when you could buy them for a tenner or through Groupon.

Bang on mate. If I can get any of those two days off i'll be there, i'm baffled why any SL fan would'nt go if it was possible. If they did a Championship Magic Weekend i'd be there.

I dont know how much the actual tickets have cost because I havnt arranged it, but I am paying £110 for a weekend ticket plus a hotel on Saturday night. That to me is brilliant value.

The OP is sadly typical of the blinkered, whingeing type of fan RL does have. They think that £30 is "too much" for a whole-day event like this at the top level of our sport in a prime venue; but don't say what it [ishould[/i be, or why.

It's really cheap for a full day's high level sport. WTF should it be? a pound? If you have already paid and are a season ticket holder then you can get very cheap tickets but that is part of the advertising offer/package which persuades people to buy the season tickets in the first place.

Some sort of comparison might be the joke that is WWE Raw wrestling. It's aimed at being a sort of family event, with several contests. Each to his own and I am not knocking anyone who likes it, but the point is, the cheapest tickets for that crap start at £40.

Tell your mates to go pay £31.50 instead to go see Matt Cardle at Boston Town FC that day. Or get some sense of proportion. You give me a mental picture of Norris Cole.

Speaking of Norris Cole, how much are tickets to the Corrie musical? Bet they're touching £30 for that enormous bag of %hit£

Yet people pay upwards for £50 to go and watch games of union that they have never seen much of before. I would guess if your mates are unwilling to shell out £30 for 3/4 games of a sport they know nothing about you would be better off taking them to a different rugby league event.

The OP seems to be advocating some sort of sliding scale depending on how much you actually like RL.

Maybe 50 quid each if you're a fan of the game, a tenner if you've never attended a match or 50p if you actively dislike the game.

Judging by the VT, the majority of posters fall into the 50p bracket.

£7.50 for 3 matches is even better!!

It depends on how you finish your sentence. If you say:-

"...and you can watch one game". Then they'll probably pie it off.

If you say

"...and you can watch 3 games back to back inlcuding a couple of fierce local derbies". They unless they're tight they'll appreciate the value unless they're very cheap individuals. If they are, we don't need their sort in Rugby League.