[SSR]

I know we have covered this before but with a reduced home game schedule this year
I thought I would bring it up again.
My situation is not typical but I am finding it increasingly difficult to get to Friday night
games due to family commitments.
Looks like Fri nights is Alex Sanderson's preferred options according to recent interview.
I understand the attractions if you are a single adult, but getting home late at night
seems like a no-no if you have family responsibilities.
The post Christmas match times have not been announced ( have they ? ) but if this
trend continues I will have paid for 2 season tickets and barely seen Sale at home.
I don't think I will be renewing my season tickets if this is the case.
I cannot see how we will ever get the family increase in attendance by favouring
Friday nights at the AJB.

[ale shark]

Barely 4 months ago we were less than 15mins away from being champions of England.

The club must know how many tickets they sold for that game and I suspect it was more than 4,775. They need to ask themselves why they’re not going to the AJB.

I’m not going to bore you with my personal circumstances but there’s no way you’re going to attract families with children from outside Manchester on a Friday night in winter.

4,775 is the natural consequence of not attracting families for a prolonged period. Eventually your support will fade away and there’s no one left coming up to fill the void. Depressing.

[Lord Elpus]

Do they still count ST holders as attending even if not there? If so then <5k is really bad.

[FarnhamShark]

I did wonder about the 4775 figure. It felt a lot fuller than that to me and people around me. However, I agree about the problems around Friday nights.

[Oh Danny Boy]

How much say does the club have in setting the day they play? Like every other sport, it seems to be TV money first and physical supporters second

[SimonG]

How much say does the club have in setting the day they play? Like every other sport, it seems to be TV money first and physical supporters second

I believe clubs can decide their preferred day to play but this can be changed for individual games by TV.

It used to be the case that certain teams weren't allowed to play at home on Friday nights (on TV or not) for policing reasons but not sure if this is still the case.

[PappjeShark]

Over on Twitter I’ve seen a comment that all the Friday games bar Falcons have been dictated by tv.

[SSR]

It seems ridiculous that with so few matches that you get one Friday, one Sunday and
3 Saturday. The friday night team ( us ) are getting shafted.

[ageinghoody]

In my case it was having family commitments on a Saturday afternoon which played the largest part in the discontinuance of my Season Ticket once Friday games ceased to be the norm.

My circumstances have become more flexible over the last few years but I still need to plan ahead, and so the recent years swapping about between Friday, Saturday and the occasional Sunday hasn't been helpful.

I suspect that part of the reasoning is that there are others like me who need to know which is our regular match day before committing.

It may not be our first choice (although it would in my case) but at least there's a measure of certainty that hasn't been there for a while.

[Halifaxshark]

I did not renew my season tickets for this exact reason. Finishing work at 5/6 on a Friday and getting from Halifax to the AJB was almost impossible with traffic. I take my kids and it can be well after 10pm before you’re back at the Trafford centre after the game.

It would make more sense if the league/TV or whoever split the 9 home games and gave each team 3 Friday games, 3 Saturday games and 3 Sunday games.

[Oh Danny Boy]

I did not renew my season tickets for this exact reason. Finishing work at 5/6 on a Friday and getting from Halifax to the AJB was almost impossible with traffic. I take my kids and it can be well after 10pm before you’re back at the Trafford centre after the game.

It would make more sense if the league/TV or whoever split the 9 home games and gave each team 3 Friday games, 3 Saturday games and 3 Sunday games.

100%

[ageinghoody]

I did not renew my season tickets for this exact reason. Finishing work at 5/6 on a Friday and getting from Halifax to the AJB was almost impossible with traffic. I take my kids and it can be well after 10pm before you’re back at the Trafford centre after the game.

It would make more sense if the league/TV or whoever split the 9 home games and gave each team 3 Friday games, 3 Saturday games and 3 Sunday games.

That might work provided the schedule was published well in advance.

[The Back Row]

I seem to recall that the club sell Friday night hospitality much easier than Saturday/Sunday.

The paying fan is insignificant to a sale of a table in corporate.

Playing at 3pm on a Saturday where anyone who plays or watches club rugby cannot attend, is probably better for parents but obviously means those active in the game cant watch. Or the ludicrous 1pm Sunday where every kid in the area is unable to get there because they are playing rugby and their parents are watching.

I would guarantee that the issue in attracting crowds is how poor the experience of Premiership rugby is at present. Friday as an example:

A good win for Sale, which I as a die hard Sale geek was pleased with. I took my daughter who watched us box kick 75% of our ball. She was bored shitless and kept saying 'Whats the point of that'? Two scores were (From he perspective in the West Stand) a big huddle of men and she could not see a damn thing for BC/AC's tries. There was next to no atmosphere and the game was abysmal to watch.

My son is a rugby fanatic, but has stopped coming to watch Sale because 'They just kick it away'. My daughter was bored shitless. Were building something that will be terrific for the 4,000 who already like rugby, but will attract no one else.

[Clutch]

That’s the other problem with nights. Worse weather at night so more likely to kick everything. Don’t think we do kick that much in better conditions but we tend to default back to that way of playing.
Don’t think there’s much correlation between style of play and attendances. Tends to be down to how successful the team is. That and the facilities presumably which seemingly tend to be dire.

[Shark in Exile]

Add to the comments above I genuinely also believe we are caught with serval Premiership football teams and rugby league to contend with.
Add in the cost living crises and people deciding not to spend money on what amounts to a hobby.

Whatever day we play there will always be a section of supporters who cannot attend due to other commitments, playing sport etc

[FarnhamShark]

To The Back Row - it's not only your son and daughter saying "They just kick it away" and "What's the point of that?". Plenty more of us agree with them!

[DavenportSharky]

I think the World Cup is a huge lost opportunity. Who on Earth would be attracted to watch rugby union if you had followed just the England matches on ITV? Occasionally tense but also dreary. Those of us on this board who look back with pleasure remember Portugal, Fiji and 2 fantastic quarter finals. An advert for the English game on free TV and at peak time too. When it’s played in Oz or NZ or Japan casual watchers will not tune in at 3am or breakfast time. I imagine Borthwick is not on Simon Orange’s Christmas card list.

[JoshSaleSharks]

Hi All,

I just wanted to share the club's perspective/process on this so there is some transparency!

At the start of each season, each club gets to submit one preferred day and time for home games. We have selected Friday nights as a result of the data of the last few seasons and, as also mentioned above, the preference of the Rugby department. However this more than any other season has left us almost exclusively on Friday nights as we have been picked by TV so often (probably as mentioned due to the reduction in teams/fixtures).

As many of you have mentioned, lots of people have different priorities and availabilities which makes finding a time to suit everyone is impossible! It is the plan to request some more Sunday afternoon games in the next round of fixtures which are our second best performing fixture in and hopefully it means across the season there are games that suit as many people as possible.

Thanks,

Josh

[SSR]

Josh,
Thanks for the information.
It seems obvious that if TV want to show only one match on Friday night , then the home team are going to have reduced attendance and a more restricted clientele due to a late night finish.
This surely hits the club revenue or are the club using corporate gains over reduced attendance
in their decision to make Friday the favourite choice? Does the club get more money from
the TV being the home team on a live match?
Not criticising, just trying to balance my decision to get a TV pass as an alternative to a
season ticket.

[The Back Row]

To The Back Row - it's not only your son and daughter saying "They just kick it away" and "What's the point of that?". Plenty more of us agree with them!

Don't get me wrong, as a diehard rugby fan and a former leaping second row... before i graduated to the back row, and then slumped to the front of the scrum... It is the rules and the refereeing I blame for this. I think Sale are there to exploit those laws, and how they are applied and I don't begrudge them going for success down that route. But if you are not ALREADY a rugby fan, it makes it hard to like and impossible to love.

Also I REALLY question this idea that the weather is always worse on a Friday night than a Saturday afternoon.

[dinogyro]

Josh,
Thanks for the information.
It seems obvious that if TV want to show only one match on Friday night , then the home team are going to have reduced attendance and a more restricted clientele due to a late night finish.
This surely hits the club revenue or are the club using corporate gains over reduced attendance
in their decision to make Friday the favourite choice? Does the club get more money from
the TV being the home team on a live match?
Not criticising, just trying to balance my decision to get a TV pass as an alternative to a
season ticket.

Hospitality starts at £150 + VAT (£180). Ticket in West Stand £48. So I guess it must balance out for the club or they wouldn't request it?