Warriors still on course for London game

[keptinthedarkfans]

I wonder how many ST holders complaining about the London game swerved the DW on Monday/Thursdays in favour of the TV? I've bought a ST for next season but I won't see all home games as those nights don't work for me.

As for the success, IFL said at the outset it was an experiment and the fact he aims to repeat the exercise suggests it was worth his while. He is nobody's fool!

As for which game, I reckon Sky will have the biggest say and knowing how much they like to televise a big crowd, doubt it will be Saints, Leeds or Wire. Huddersfield would be my bet because Ken Levy strikes me as the kind of entrepreneur who would like to 'test the water' for his own club.

With this in mind, I wonder if any other clubs have a similar plan in mind?

I toyed with the idea of going this year but baled at the last minute. I'll do my best next year because everyone I've spoken to who went had a great time. And I never got to a London away game which I know a great many fans used to look forward to every year!

Your right Kitt I loved going to London game. Was my favourite away venue. Only away game my wife went to with me. But will not be going to any game like this I bought my season ticket knowing that there would be a home game down south. But still feel it is wrong to take home games on the road especially to a place where for the last 20 years the RFL using better recourses than us i.e. no salary cap etc. have tried and failed to promote RL there. Just think With our home crowds on the decline we should be looking closer to home trying to promote a better match day experience to attract young local people and businesses. Not trying to brainwash the uninterested 200miles away.

[DaveO]

What I have never understood about this game is why any other club, apart from Les Cats, would agree to do it.

This fixture is not about promoting the game of RL but ostensibly about promoting the Wigan club.

Les Cats might have more fans in London than would normally travel to Wigan from France so I can see some logic in them agreeing.

But Saints or Leeds? Warrington? Why would they want to be party to a venture designed to secure Wigan better sponsors?

Why would they want to inconvenience their fans to promote Wigan?

As to which fixture. Well if it was one of the big home games then I think season ticket holders would rightly be very pissed off. As would non-ST holders who go to the bigger games or can only affords to get to a few per season.

I also don't see what is in it for southern based companies. Larger national companies already know about RL and will have view on whether or not it is worthwhile sponsoring an RL team.

What exactly do smaller more locally based southern companies get out of sponsoring a team that plays 200 miles away for all but one game a year?

My view is IL is a bit obsessed with London and he'd get just as much out of investing as much effort in securing sponsorship from more local companies here in the North West.

It is not a corporate desert. Right near where I live there is a huge Airbus factory for example. There are plenty of other targets in the finance sector, chemicals, engineering and just about every sector you can think of

Just why on earth do you need to toddle off down south to find large companies to sponsor Wigan? There are plenty right on the doorstep.

[Owd Codger]

What I have never understood about this game is why any other club, apart from Les Cats, would agree to do it.

This fixture is not about promoting the game of RL but ostensibly about promoting the Wigan club.

Les Cats might have more fans in London than would normally travel to Wigan from France so I can see some logic in them agreeing.

But Saints or Leeds? Warrington? Why would they want to be party to a venture designed to secure Wigan better sponsors?

Why would they want to inconvenience their fans to promote Wigan?

As to which fixture. Well if it was one of the big home games then I think season ticket holders would rightly be very pissed off. As would non-ST holders who go to the bigger games or can only affords to get to a few per season.

I also don't see what is in it for southern based companies. Larger national companies already know about RL and will have view on whether or not it is worthwhile sponsoring an RL team.

What exactly do smaller more locally based southern companies get out of sponsoring a team that plays 200 miles away for all but one game a year?

My view is IL is a bit obsessed with London and he'd get just as much out of investing as much effort in securing sponsorship from more local companies here in the North West.

It is not a corporate desert. Right near where I live there is a huge Airbus factory for example. There are plenty of other targets in the finance sector, chemicals, engineering and just about every sector you can think of

Just why on earth do you need to toddle off down south to find large companies to sponsor Wigan? There are plenty right on the doorstep.

Good point, Dave O, but with IL, its more a case of promoting the brand name of Wigan Warriors around London and the South of England.

The question is 'would he still have done it last season and be thinking of doing it again this season if London Broncos were still in the Super League, especially if doing well?