wellington 7s
-
@JayCee said in wellington 7s:
Just heard on radio sport from the deputy mayor of Wellington that only 1300 tickets sold so far.
I've been out of the country for almost 5 years now, so I'm out of touch a little these days, and I've heard over the years that the event is slowly dying due to the cracking down on fun & cost, but it's surely dead now if the demand is that low?
Wellington have it for another 3 years to turn things around, but it looks like things are getting worse.
I was told yesterday that that number is higher than it was last year at the same time. So relatively speaking, more tickets have been sold than last year; that trend just needs to continue until the weekend itself.
The family zone was pretty full last year, so they got that right and probably should make that zone bigger.
Must say I find the marketing of the Wellington 7s (28-29 Jan) pretty bad compared to the Auckland 9s (4-5 Feb), Sydney 7s (4-5 Feb) or Brisbane 10s (11-12 Feb), which are all being held in a time span of 3 weeks. I haven't seen one single ad on tv for the Welly 7s and see ads for the Auckland 9s several times every day. Social media, same story. I'm getting sick of the Brisbane 10s tweets on my timeline; don't think I've seen more than 2-3 tweets from Welly 7s the last 3 months. They say the Welly marketing is focusing on specific parts of the community, but it's obviously not reaching everyone as mates of mine who are keen to take their kids, didn't know when it was and hadn't seen any advertising. Maybe it's because they don't live in CBD, but the organisation is definitely not reaching enough people.
-
@hydro11 said in wellington 7s:
BBL is $40 for a family of 4, one day at the sevens is $179 and the beach is free. Kids eat free at the sevens but you have to buy food for yourself. Having $40 tickets for the 7's is probably uneconomic given that you have to house 16 teams and support staff.
Sydney 7s tickets are $35 for a single day, or $60 for a two day pass (from memory).
One of the reasons that last year was so successful and this year will be just as good.
-
@barbarian said in wellington 7s:
@hydro11 said in wellington 7s:
BBL is $40 for a family of 4, one day at the sevens is $179 and the beach is free. Kids eat free at the sevens but you have to buy food for yourself. Having $40 tickets for the 7's is probably uneconomic given that you have to house 16 teams and support staff.
Sydney 7s tickets are $35 for a single day, or $60 for a two day pass (from memory).
One of the reasons that last year was so successful and this year will be just as good.
Makes a huge difference. Wellington 7's used to actually be more expensive as well and they sold it out.
-
The reason the 7s has fallen flat is that the novelty value that attracted swathes of people with no interest in rugby has gone. So you are trying to sell tickets to rugby diehards now.
I remember back in Uni (early 2000s), people in my class who wouldn't know the difference between a rugby and a soccer ball scrambling to get tickets.
It was a fad, the fad has passed, desperately trying to make it a fad again is doomed to fail.
Best bet: make it cheap, target families.
-
@Billy-Tell said in wellington 7s:
The reason the 7s has fallen flat is that the novelty value that attracted swathes of people with no interest in rugby has gone. So you are trying to sell tickets to rugby diehards now.
I remember back in Uni (early 2000s), people in my class who wouldn't know the difference between a rugby and a soccer ball scrambling to get tickets.
It was a fad, the fad has passed, desperately trying to make it a fad again is doomed to fail.
Best bet: make it cheap, target families.
That's what they have done and crowds have fallen. The police decided it can't be a party - it wasn't that people got tired of it at all. Plenty of parties nationally and internationally sustain themselves. The Wellington races, Toast Martinborough and Saturday night on Courtenay Place are all events which have seen aggressive police presence and in many cases has led to people staying away. It's not a coincidence.
-
-
@RaGe_X said in wellington 7s:
Playing devils advocate..
Surely the teams form this season isnt helping the cause?
It was probably at its most successful in the early 2000s when we lost in Wellington but won everywhere else. I went in 2001, I though sevens was pretty ordinary before that , two days of it was pretty tedious and I never went back.
-
We went last year, and will probably go again this year. Great to be able to watch rugby (our main reason for going) and enjoy the entertainment without annoying drunks around you. We brought home-made food because of the insane cost of buying it at the stadium. Although it would be great if NZ was in top-form, I also enjoy a tournament if other teams play good rugby. Fiji and Kenya are always fun to watch.
-
damn, for some reason I cant link the sound file through this browser...
but from about 0808-0820 is an interesting chat about the 7s'
-
I will be heading to the 7s in Vancouver again, last year's turn out exceeded expectations as they were originally only going to open the lower bowl of the stadium but ended up opening parts of the upper bowl - this year much the same: http://theprovince.com/sports/rugby/target-close-vancouver-7s-ticket-sales-blow-the-roof-off-for-second-year-running, Wellington gets a mention at the bottom of the article: "But the move two years ago to make it a dry event — following a couple years of highly intoxicated fans which caused some embarassment to organizers — appears to have driven a good segment of fan interest away. Last year’s stadium was only half full on both days."
Sport
