Wests Tigers raise NRL ticket issues - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Wests Tigers raise NRL ticket issues

By Adrian Proszenko 07/12/2005 07:43:55 PM Comments (0)

The Wests Tigers raised the issue of flexible venue and ticketing arrangements for NRL finals matches at the game's annual conference in a bid to give fans every opportunity to support their team.

The issue came to a head during the Tigers' stunning play-off campaign when thousands of the club's supporters missed out on tickets to the grand final qualifier against St George Illawarra at Aussie Stadium.

Despite unprecedented interest in the game, the NRL decided against switching the blockbuster to the 80,000-seat capacity Telstra Stadium, citing contractual commitments.

"We looked at re-visiting which grounds you could use, which really helps, and the holding back of tickets," Noyce said.

"With the St George week they agreed to hold some back but got smashed on the web, all those sort of issues.

"The further we went (in the finals) the less you were able to support clubs for the 26 weeks of the year, like season ticket holders, corporate sponsors and advertisers.

"On the grand final, we didn't have any corporate hospitality options.

"Also, with that final ticket allocation which was on the Monday or Tuesday, (we looked at) making that for the season ticket holders of those respective clubs - that would be sensational.

"(The NRL) were happy to talk about that - the reason this game is going so well is that everyone is trying to make it better."

CEO David Gallop said the NRL learned some valuable logistical issues in 2005.

"We are working closely with our current stadiums at Telstra and Aussie during the final year of our current contracts," Gallop said.

"It's likely that venues in weeks two and three won't be confirmed until the Monday before the game and we hope to be able to take some matches interstate where necessary.

"New agreements from 2007 will be based on a ranking system that gives clubs in weeks two and three either a home state or home city final.

"There are a number of details to be worked out but in principle clubs have supported this."

The clubs also had preliminary discussions on future representative matches following concerns about the workload on elite players.

ARL chief executive Geoff Carr revealed plans for a pre-season World Cup in 2008, along with those for a Tri Nations tournament at the end of 2006.

All CEOs expressed strong concern over plans to add the World Cup to the 2008 pre-season but asked for more information on the business plan behind the proposal and the impact on the NRL season.

They also put forward the concept of splitting the World Cup over two seasons, one as a qualifying tournament and one as a top four final series.

"There's still a long way to go as far as scheduling of the World Cup and rep games," said Canberra CEO Simon Hawkins.

"They (the ARL) just outlined a few things to us but we are still waiting on some more information."

The conference was also informed of salary cap changes which will give relief during representative commitments.

A player brought into the cap's second tier - the $300,000 allowance for players outside of the top 25 who play in the NRL - to replace a compulsory stand-down representative player will no longer be included in the cap in that year.

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