leinsterforever wrote: ↑June 6th, 2022, 10:20 am
I can't read his articles. Most of the points he makes don't stand up to any kind of scrutiny.
Just too many stats as well. I like stats but when he's on the42 rugby pod (when it was free) he had paper in front of him. He spent half the segments looking down. That is fine for written form when you can reread to digest the info better but over a radio or podcast. I'm scrolling back to find which number 6 has the most minutes this season.
When talking about Australia's injury list on today's Rugby Weekly Extra, Eoin Toolan said that picking up an injury in the warmup is almost unheard of. He obviously doesn't follow Leinster closely!!
Birch taking a few cheap shots at Emerging Tour having previously been critical of Ireland's prioritising 6N over World Cup. He always wants to have a moan.
Do all the RTE podcasts set it so that all the silence/pauses are cut out. Literally not a second to catch your breath or thoughts listening to the Rugby podcast. Been the case for a while.
Ruckedtobits wrote: ↑September 14th, 2022, 6:20 pm
Birch taking a few cheap shots at Emerging Tour having previously been critical of Ireland's prioritising 6N over World Cup. He always wants to have a moan.
Based on the squad, it is kind of hard to see how this tour (at this time) will really contribute to the world cup preparations: it's neither one thing nor the other.
About the only player that might benefit would be Frawley. And then, only if you assume Leinster wouldn't be playing him at 10 against better opposition.
It's simple: If Ireland win a k.o. match at the RWC for the first time ever in France next year, the Emerging Tour to SA will have been a good idea, if they don't it won't.
riocard911 wrote: ↑September 15th, 2022, 10:19 am
It's simple: If Ireland win a k.o. match at the RWC for the first time ever in France next year, the Emerging Tour to SA will have been a good idea, if they don't it won't.
This tour isn't just related to the RWC, and there may be nobody from the tour in the RWC squad, certainly likely that nobody from the tour will be playing in a RWC knockout game.
It's a long term thing than that.
If we unearth 1-2 players who can get into a RWC squad great, if we give Frawley more time at 10 or Balacoune scores a load of tries then great.
But directly correlating winning a RWC knockout game to this tour isn't right imo.
riocard911 wrote: ↑September 15th, 2022, 10:19 am
It's simple: If Ireland win a k.o. match at the RWC for the first time ever in France next year, the Emerging Tour to SA will have been a good idea, if they don't it won't.
This tour isn't just related to the RWC, and there may be nobody from the tour in the RWC squad, certainly likely that nobody from the tour will be playing in a RWC knockout game.
It's a long term thing than that.
If we unearth 1-2 players who can get into a RWC squad great, if we give Frawley more time at 10 or Balacoune scores a load of tries then great.
But directly correlating winning a RWC knockout game to this tour isn't right imo.
In reality, what you say is correct. In the politics of the IRFU however, it may be different.
Interesting article in the IE and as revenue and getting more people through the gate was being spoken about elsewhere I thought I'd mention it.
A couple of paragraphs that surprised me somewhat......
"“Leinster Season Tickets went on sale at the end of February and we’re delighted to confirm that we’ve beaten our sales target, ahead of our forecasts with a fantastic response from holders and new season ticket holders,” said Quinn.
That number is 12,800 approximately with hopes of further sales ahead of the first URC home game of the season v Benetton at the RDS on September 22, when new facilities and greater options will be presented to fans."
and also.....
"“Basically we identified that rugby and Leinster Rugby had an overreliance on match day ticket sales to balance the books,” Kevin Quinn, Head of Commercial & Marketing told The Pitch.
“Ticket sales for highly successful sporting organisations aren’t necessarily a false economy during good times.
“But what Covid did was demonstrate that through extraordinary events and even fallow periods of success, the reliance and emphasis on ticket sales is highlighted.” "
Leinster have been a successful professional capital city club for 20 years and they still fail totally at providing proper hospitality offerings.
If they want to increase revenues independently from strict ticket sales, that's the place to start. And it means getting the planned stand built and betting on the power of rugby to draw corporate hospitality money.
Not much of a bet considering that the 6N in Ireland is built on hospitality.
In 2019, the last full year of normal sports attendances before the pandemic, approximately 60 per cent of all revenue at Leinster came through its ticket office. The impact of that strategic rethink and a diversification of revenue streams has reduced that reliance by 10%, to approximately half of all income.
In 2019, the last full year of normal sports attendances before the pandemic, approximately 60 per cent of all revenue at Leinster came through its ticket office. The impact of that strategic rethink and a diversification of revenue streams has reduced that reliance by 10%, to approximately half of all income.
So half of our income relies on ticket sales.
That would seem to be the position but if you take them at their word that seems like something they are looking to change and they may be aiming for sponsorship income to take the bulk load of going forward. They'd need to be careful though. You ignore your support base at your peril.
wixfjord wrote: ↑September 15th, 2022, 12:20 pm
12,800 is good going for ST sales though. I think 12,500 or so is the highest figure I've seen before.
12,800 has traditionally been the max number of season tickets available, based on a nominal ground capacity of 18,200 (70%). The capacity can be upped in a number of ways - opening the blocks on either end of the Anglesea stand - two additional temporary stands at the North and South ends - and a row of seats in front of the front row of the grandstand, to an approximate max of 20k, but a lot of those extra seats (Anglesea Stand especially) are sub-optimal in terms of sightlines etc
In 2019, the last full year of normal sports attendances before the pandemic, approximately 60 per cent of all revenue at Leinster came through its ticket office. The impact of that strategic rethink and a diversification of revenue streams has reduced that reliance by 10%, to approximately half of all income.
So half of our income relies on ticket sales.
That would seem to be the position but if you take them at their word that seems like something they are looking to change and they may be aiming for sponsorship income to take the bulk load of going forward. They'd need to be careful though. You ignore your support base at your peril.
I would hope they're doing both rather than one or the other!
Dave Cahill wrote: ↑September 15th, 2022, 12:33 pm
wixfjord wrote: ↑September 15th, 2022, 12:20 pm
12,800 is good going for ST sales though. I think 12,500 or so is the highest figure I've seen before.
12,800 has traditionally been the max number of season tickets available, based on a nominal ground capacity of 18,200 (70%). The capacity can be upped in a number of ways - opening the blocks on either end of the Anglesea stand - two additional temporary stands at the North and South ends - and a row of seats in front of the front row of the grandstand, to an approximate max of 20k, but a lot of those extra seats (Anglesea Stand especially) are sub-optimal in terms of sightlines etc
I know quite a few ST holders who rarely go to games. That may change with harder financial times ahead but I think there are a number of people who buy STs as a matter of course or are buying it just because it’s something they’ve always done.
In 2019, the last full year of normal sports attendances before the pandemic, approximately 60 per cent of all revenue at Leinster came through its ticket office. The impact of that strategic rethink and a diversification of revenue streams has reduced that reliance by 10%, to approximately half of all income.
So half of our income relies on ticket sales.
That would seem to be the position but if you take them at their word that seems like something they are looking to change and they may be aiming for sponsorship income to take the bulk load of going forward. They'd need to be careful though. You ignore your support base at your peril.
If they’ve reduced the reliance to 50% but that 50% is partly made up of a sales figure that has exceeded the target then that would imply that the other revenue streams are in good shape. Those season tickets sales are obviously a healthy portion of the RDS capacity as well, it’s not like it’s a low bar they’ve aimed for.
They’ve also managed it despite the revenue and staffing issues presented by the pandemic, not to mention all the work needed around Covid itself.
Sounds like the place has been run superbly over the last few years and everyone involved deserves massive credit.
I suspect that the new CEO is on a collision course with the coaches when it comes to growing other revenue streams but that’s for another day.
The idea of growing the brand Internationally is a no-brainer for me, as Leinster are one the world's top club sides. For that reason I don't understand why, when for example Toulon are sponsored by VW, our lads are running around with Bank of Ireland on their jerseys. That for me is totally parochial. Our main sponsor should be Intel, the largest private employer in the RoI - based IN Leinster. The advertising bods would have a hay day with that, finding ways to combine "Intel inside" with the Leinster Way etc. etc. A hook up like that and plugging into the diaspora stateside makes commercially even more sense.
Last edited by riocard911 on September 15th, 2022, 2:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
We are hamstrung in a number of ways when it comes to revenue, the main one being the RDS itself. I believe we get no cut of the food or drink concessions, and that’s a huge chunk of change to miss out on on game day.
I was at the Toulouse vs Toulon match in Toulouse last weekend and the match day experience was phenomenal. Massive bar with a DJ, jugs of beer being sold for €20 a pop, numerous food stalls all pretty high quality, coupled with a fully sold out game of about 20,000 people and almost 1,000,000 people watching the game at home.
The game was at 9pm on a Sunday evening and the stadium was still pumping at almost 1am. I’d say they pull in insane revenue from games like that. Would love something even vaguely similar on match day in Dublin.
