You're completely right!
A LOT less.
Enjoy Championship 1, we'll wave at you from SL

Correct , lack of atmosphere , compounded by playing on a Thursday night with little or non existent away support

I find the RFL declaration quite alarming by declaring the viewers figures, it would be more positive if they could say if these amount of viewers passed through the turnstiles and financed the rugby league clubs.
Its obvious viewing figures will be up on the basis of televising matches on a Thursday night when probably you could say 50% of the usual away supporters cannot attend.
The RFL development officer is quite happy with these figure but do we have to ask the question who do is work for, SKY Development or the RL fans public.

Quite correct , the real question to be answered is are the Championship clubs benifitting from the coverage ?

I have asked this before on here and no doubt we will get the usual ' PC ' answers from the usual suspects , personnaly I dont think the clubs get much if any , for the clubs to benifit they either need more interest and therefore bigger attendances from their communities or bigger sponsorship deals

Basically in my opinion the TV audiences for these games are already fans of the sport and therefore of no real benifit to the clubs , fans of SL clubs and other Championship clubs are not going to suddenly start attending matches at these clubs because of what they have seen on TV

A much better deal would be a highlights programme so that the clubs can concentrate on getting fans , both home and away to attend the games , which in the long term is the only way any Championship clubs will srvive and prosper

I cannot see any ' blue chip ' sponsors jumping on board with a championship club because of the TV coverage

Yes they state that many clubs get their biggest attendances at these games but that is partly because of the free tickets given out to try to make the grounds full and rarely does this seem to continue after the camera's have left

If you can't convert people who are willing to physically attend a match on a Thursday night (albeit for free) into regular fans how on earth do you think you're going to manage it with people who catch a few minutes of a highlights show now and then?

Based on the thursday night show have the Championship clubs received increased funding or is that down to the Sky Super League deal? I thought you received improved terms this season was all.
Secondly where does the increased prize pot come from this year for winning the league. I know it's an incentive due to lack of promotion but the money must come from somewhere.
Granted there are less paying supporters attending on a thursday but if you'd rather go back to no TV deal then fair enough, I fail to see the real negative. As SBR said if you can't get free supporters coming back then there's no chance. Are these handed out in schools? sometimes it takes a while to get these kids involved and maybe their parents aren't initially willing to shell out but give it a couple of years you should see an increase.

The only concerning thing for me was considering the closeness of the comp actual attendance figures dropped this year didn't they? Again, could be down to the recession but maybe next season the Chp clubs should have a good marketing drive towards Season ticket sales to get bums on seats? Do kids get away games free like SL clubs? That was a huge benefit in SL imo, attendances rose pretty much instantly as parents were willing to go when they wouldnt before because they could have a family afternoon out cheap. I know we went from attending 3 or 4 away games to pretty much all of them

The 50% of away fans who can't attend probably amount to no more than a couple of hundred for your bigger teams.

This statement is very much one for the sponsors, who will be much happier that these people are seeing their brand.

It's also worth pointing out that the matches always feature in the Top 10 programmes on their channel.

Not Blue Chip, that's a fair point, but surely clubs will be using stats like this to attract sponsors. If not, they want sacking?

In one live game a shirt sponsor can be seen by more fans than they would all season at the grounds.

If there was no benefit, why do they persist with the coverage?

Lets look at the sponsors that Championship clubs have , the vast majority are there because they support the club as a fan , very few if any actually profit from it , most are localised businesses that are already known to the towns support base

The increase in figures is great , but that in itself is not the real issue , unless the clubs are getting or will get a benifit from it is the issue

It can have a detrimental effect on attendances , all the SL play off games have been on TV but the paying attendances have been dissapointing

No and not really no

Attendances are up very slightly in the Championship but down in Championship 1

Differant tastes i suppose i've been streaming the nrl off big pond, but my attention often wavers and i rarely watch the full 80 minutes, as alot of the games bore me. I watch most sl matches but quite alot of the fixtures bore me (every week one of saints, leeds, wigan, its boring) but every week i go and watch the championship games in the pub and i love them, the skill level may not be as high but for me theres more passion. I love watching the hull derby on sky, but given a choice between that and watching batley v dewsbury i'll take the lower league game every time.

Its very different streaming off the net compared to watching on your telly. I have it on in the office but i'll usually be doing something else while its on.
The way tries are constructed are way above what you see in SL, it's no wonder we were murdered outwide in the WC. Even the distinctly average teams with imo very average players are coached far far superior

It was the same when i've watched it on tv with sky or setanta though, i suppose its the predictability that puts me off, you can normally see whats going to happen before it happens, its almost script like. Like i say its all differant opinions but the nrl and an increasing number of super league games can be boring.

Is there a general refusal to read no this thread, or just an inability to read anything which doesn't fit in with a predecided view?

You don't expect people to read threads as well as contribute to them surely?

P.S. I've finally made it to (binary) 10000000000 posts with this flippant comment.

The average attendance is up in Championship One (727 - 769) but down for the Championship (2198 - 1810). Although I'm not sure how comparable the Championship figures are as only 7 of the 14 clubs contributing to those averages were in that league for both years (the average attendance is down by 388 for those 7 clubs).

how many people on here actually know the set up on the sky games, and what it means for the home club involved......by the replies on here, not a lot

I have no idea, hence why I asked

How does national exposure for a club and its sponsors in front of a televised audience of thousands of people, watched at the stadium by the largest crowd of the season, with loads of kids present after a clubs marketing department have organised tournaments etc for the night of the televised match, offer anything to a Championship club?

Only in rugby league would this question be seriously contemplated.

So answer your own question , do the clubs benifit from it and how

Does it help to increase their fan base ?

Does it help to bring in sponsors ?

Do the clubs make more money out of these matches than their regular weekend playing time ?

Your post does not answer any of those things

Yes lots of RL fans get to watch another game on the TV

But is there a financial benifit short or long term in these clubs matches being televised ?

Yes. It both brings in potential new fans to the ground as well as increasing the exposure of the club to potential new fans via the medium of television.



Yes. Sponsors want exposure, they want their brand to be seen by as many people as possible. Televised fixtures give them exposure to more people both in the ground and the viewing public. They also want their brand to be associated with the club and being on TV raises the credibility of the clubs and the competition making that association more valuable.



Maybe. Higher attendances (with freebies paid for by the sponsors I believe) means higher gate receipts. It also means more sales of food and drink particularly at that time in the evening.



Yes. If they take advantage of the opportunities it presents them with.

I have enjoyed the vast majority of the Championship games on TV this year. I will be lost on a Thurs evening without them.

Well, I will be out on the beer earlier!

Some great games on Thurs nights this year, really enjoyed them.

I can't tell if you're joking or not, so excuse me if I've missed the sarcasm.

Let's take a real example.

Barrow will be competing for local sponsorship with other similar organisations such as the local football team. Them being shown several times a year live on Sky Sports in front of 70,000 viewers makes their case for sponsorship much stronger in comparison to the competition.

The fact that Barrow are live on national TV creates a sense of excitement in the town given that it is generally a small nothing town of little consequence to the rest of the country. As a result the club gets some of its biggest crowds of the year in the matches when it is on TV as people like to feel part of the big event.

Barrow will become "cooler" in the eyes of local children as they are now on TV like the big clubs not just playing other small towns in the local rundown stadium, and as a result the community department can get in to the schools and build the game up in the eyes of the children. A school tournament can be held which culminates with games on the evening of the match itself and as a result more young people in Barrow are interested in the club and the sport.

So you are saying that the people in Featherstone who watch Featherstone on the TV didn't know that there is a RL club in Featherstone




As I posted earlier virtually all sponsors at this level sponsor because they are supporters of the club , even with TV coverage , most are local businesses and never get a return on their investment , so while I agree that yes the potential exposure is bigger , in reality it doesn't work like that



Given that the potential for free tickets is up to 800 people unless these clubs are getting up to a 1,000 extra above their average then they are not getting a higher attendance [ paying wise , some clubs will make extra on the sales of food and drink but no extra because of a thursday night rather than a sunday




Little change in attendances and clubs requesting a lowering of the Championship Salary Cap for next year would suggest there is not

I'm saying there are people in Featherstone who will have never watched a RL match and may well be tempted to go after seeing them on TV.



Looks to me like Championship clubs have a mixture of sponsors ranging from small local businesses to large multinational companies. TV exposure gives them a stronger position when negotiating deals and the possibility of attracting more sponsorship from larger companies.



As I said I believe the 'free' tickets are paid for by the co-operative. 1,000 extra is a significant increase on the average attendance at most Championship clubs so a proportional (significant) increase in food and drink sales would be expected. I can't imagine food sales are great at three o'clock on a Sunday, seems a strange time to be eating, unlike half seven in the evening.