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19,104 last night was amazing.

Mentioned on RedVee that our home crowd against the bottom team, playing their last ever SL game, was bigger than the capacity of their new stadium. And we have another 2 potential sellouts against Stains in the playoffs!

Big hats off to our Marketing team in filling the North Stand. OK, it was 3 quid a ticket but so what - its an extra 15 grand in the till, and the atmosphere was fantastic. How many new ST holders were among that crowd last night?

It occurs to me that this could happen more than once in a season. Heinz aren't the only big employer in the borough. What about Wigan Metro and the LEA?

I certainly don't think we should have any matches with the North Stand closed!

Anyone else got a thought on this?

What it says to me KW is we need less games in SL but that would allow clubs to market each game better and try to attract higher and higher attendances.

I also have to say the small group of Crusaders fans were brilliant.

Crusaders fans were awesome last night! And it made me proud to be a wiganer for the applause and chants FOR crusaders at the end!

I said to the wife about the players "they should be very proud, played on right until the end"

And about the fans, "THAT is dedication. When they've been doo-dood on by the 2011 management of the club, and threatened with having nothing, they fought on, and actually increased their away following!

But, we're the best support team in SL, yep, that's cos we're ace.

How to improve it? Do what wire do, sell away tickets to home fans 2 weeks before the game is due to be played. I'm sure we can encourage 24'000 Wiganers to come to most games.

In 2008, at the very first fans' forum with Ian Lenagan, he voiced an opinion that an average gate of 20,000 at Wigan was achievable. At the time quite a few people (on this site as well) expressed doubts. Well . . . it certainly looks more than possible now, and hats off to all involved in the marketing and promotion of both Wigan and Rugby League.

It was a joy to be at the game on Friday night, and I can only agree with the comments about the number of fans from Wales.
Lets hope we don't let their enthusiasm die with the demise of Wrexham from the Super League. They deserve better.

What the League really needs is more Wigans. Congratulations to Warrington on their season and their support. Success brings success. I just hope we give them a better game in the Grand Final assuming we follow form and meet them again there!

A 20K average is some way off Steve

It's not just the extra ticket money; they'll shift more food, beverages, beer, programmes and maybe a few shirts etc. from the club shop.

Also, a cheap ticket for this match will hopefully result in some one coming to matches paying the full whack or even getting a season ticket next year.

doc wrote:It's not just the extra ticket money; they'll shift more food, beverages, beer, programmes and maybe a few shirts etc. from the club shop.

Also, a cheap ticket for this match will hopefully result in some one coming to matches paying the full whack or even getting a season ticket next year.

Exactly Doc, the North Stand sold out of many food items not long after half time.

cpwigan wrote:A 20K average is some way off Steve

It is a way off. But that doesn't mean it can't be done. This season we have averaged over 16K. It's not that long since we had averages of only 10K.

My point is that 20K is more credible now than once before. We must never stop having belief that it can be done.

How can you get 20,000+ into a game against Salford, Wakefield, Catalans, Dull, Harlequins, Widnes without cheap tickets or giveaways? These fixtures drop us down to around 13,000 which is the core of Wigan support. Have to find another 7,000 from somewhere on a regular basis.

The current average is realistically the most we can achieve for a variety of factors.

1. We've now achieved GF and CC success in the modern SL era. Doing this first time around attracts more floating fans, even if similar success was maintained fans become complacent and miss matches.

2. Away teams success and support fluctuates greatly, at any one time you'll have a couple of teams at most who will pack the north stand.

3. A typical match at this exciting time will attract a crowd between 12,500-14,500, a handful of bumper games bring in crowds of 18,000-20,000, resulting in an average around the 16,000 mark.

4. To achieve an 18,000 average we'd need to be getting no fewer than 15,000-16,000 for a regular match, and pretty much sellouts for the Saints, Warrington, Big One, Heritage Day games. To average 20k you'd need a near home sell out every game and 2,000+ away fans.

5. Incentives to increase crowds can only be used for a limited number of games, there comes a point where you will start cutting into season ticket sales and see pay on the day supporters pick and choose these discounted games.

Our current average is the result of fantastic marketing efforts from the club and smooth running on and off the field for a two or three year period. Sport is unpredictable, we're due our success but the SL structure will ensure no one team is dominant, we may also see upheaval at the club with Maguire moving on and a potentially major shake-up of the playing staff, not to mention Sam's uncertain future. All will have knock-on effects for peoples enthusiam to get down to the match.

For the playoffs I wouldn't be suprised to see less than 15,000 on.