The Situation

Filling Murrayfield for major matches remains paramount for the success of Scottish Rugby: 1. It is a principal source of revenue, around £2.4m per game for a full house at last season’s prices 2. A full house helps secure major sponsors and interest from television companies, the two other principal sources of revenue 3. A full house helps the team, thereby allowing success to breed success.

Getting the yield (total income) right depends on getting the right ticketing structure but the aim must simply be to fill Murrayfield at the highest price achievable. As has been well documented this season the SRU has been heavily criticised for poor attendances at Murrayfield, and the significant impact on income.

Clubs have a key role in selling tickets, however the problem of poor sales this season was demonstrated by only 33% of uptake for the French match, a loss in revenue of around £450k. Indeed over the last three seasons the clubs have only sold on average 60% of their allocation for the two major 6N games each season, a total loss in revenue of around £1.9m. There are of course a number of factors affecting this, however clearly it is vital for both club and country that this situation be rectified.

Survey of Clubs

In order to address the factors the SRU undertook a survey of clubs, the results of which fed into a sub-group of the Scottish Rugby Council, appointed to look at the issues of playing club matches on international days under the theme of “working together”. The group saw two main objectives: removing obstacles to supporting the National team and creating a unity of purpose where the interests of the National team and the clubs are not in conflict.

The survey found that the main reasons for club members not attending international matches were: 1. Ticket prices 87% 2. Timing of International Matches 48% 3. Clashes with Club Matches 23% (non players) 43% (players) 4. Standard of Scotland Team 29% In addition to this a number of clubs proposed that getting better tickets earlier would help club sales.

The Proposals

The following is proposed for Season 2006/7: 1. Ticket prices will be reduced, notably for the Autumn Tests where an adult can see all three tests in the best seats for £60, and kids can see all three matches for £20. 2. All matches in both the Autumn Tests and the Six Nations are scheduled for Saturday afternoons. 3. Clubs will get their allocations earlier and a ring fenced number of better seats will be part of the allocation. These seats will be “reserved” for a set time period. 4. In order to maximise club take up, at the same time minimising disruption to the club season, no league fixtures are proposed on the four main Saturdays (3 in 6N and Australia), but league fixture will be held on the weekends of the two other Autumn Tests. For these the SRU requests that Clubs seek to arrange the timing of fixtures to avoid clashing with Murrayfield wherever possible, and/or look to use this fixture to encourage attendance of minis and midis, reflecting the pricing structure. 5. In addition to suit concerns of clubs, cup matches rather than league matches are scheduled for the weekends of the two away matches. 6. Further the SRU will examine the practicalities of paying clubs commission for tickets sold on the internet to club members Clearly we now have a more successful national team and all wish this to continue.

For the good of the game, we seek your support in re-establishing Scotland as an International force.

This article was posted on 6-Jun-2006, 16:44 by Hugh Barrow.