Comments on: 170 000 unsold Lions tickets!

By: Fanie

Fanie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:23:06 +0000

Hi guys they were totally mad with the prices no wonder the weekday matches were so empty! Check out this new site http://www.sporttalk.co.za/ say your say and give your opinion!

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By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:21:02 +0000

I think that we can all take it that Tony is taking back what he said about the series being a comercial failure costing SA the world cup!

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By: Vincent Paver

Vincent Paver — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:12:01 +0000

I’m not even going to ask you then to properly explain how your quoted comment could be interpreted in any other way than I have, and how I could have put words in your mouth. This debate is just getting too long in the tooth.

Suffice it to say that if you are now saying that your sole point is that South Africa could and should have had 170,000 extra people attending Lions games then I fully and unanimously agree with you on this. This is a point that I have never disputed and something which I feel strongly about. I don’t think there is anybody in South Africa that would disagree about this. It is absolute BS to have even one seat free for the test matches while certainly the non-tests should have been better attended.

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By: Tony McKeever

Tony McKeever — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:58:49 +0000

VINNIE - Allow me to jump in here. Do not put words in my mouth - like commercial failure and try and pass it off as if I said them, so I am with Barry on this.
Unable to plan a commercially successful tour, has to be understood in the context of planning and this referenced the RWC.
The commercial failure or commercial success of the Lions Tour on the other hand, will be determined in a post audit of the tour and we should know more of this in a few weeks.
Regardless of the debate of these semantics, my issue quite simply is that we could have had 170,000 extra people attending the Lions Tour and this could have been and should have been accomplished with the appropriate planning, to enable the stadiums to be full, as in the IPL.
They learned in a week that full stadiums are the commercial clincher for on site stadium advertisers and broadcasters, who are selling viewership figures to their advertisers.
This problem will surface again when SANZAR sits with the broadcasters and tables the attendance figures of the Super 14. Not a good and happy picture to negotiate a new deal.
The way to fix that is with the appropriate planning, but that is the subject of a new post.

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By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:37:31 +0000

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Barry every time you open your mouth it is only to change feet!

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By: Jonno

Jonno — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:31:34 +0000

Im sorry but Barry I think that you lost that one..

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By: Vincent Paver

Vincent Paver — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:30:09 +0000

Barry you are a complete moron then.

Not commercially successul = commercially unsuccessful = commercial failure

Is your surname McKeever by chance? You two are peas in a pod.

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By: Barry

Barry — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:27:48 +0000

Well my English understanding of “unable to plan a commercially successful tour” certainly does not equal “commercial failure”. The latter are your words, not McKeevers and you should not then say he said them if he did not, as people would be inclined to say you are being economical with the truth.

What would you label a person like that?

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By: Vincent Paver

Vincent Paver — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:22:46 +0000

As a matter of fact Yes McKeever did say that the lions tour was a commercial failure. He even said that this was going to deny South Africa the chance to host the world cup. I quote verbatim from Tony’s article:

“denied South Africa of a Rugby World Cup in 2015 or 2019 by revealing to the IRB that SA Rugby are unable to plan a commercially successful tour”

So no I haven’t lost my mind.

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By: Barry

Barry — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:22:30 +0000

Jonno, the facts of 170,000 unsold seats in the above article is indisputable. They were put out by the stadia and SuperSport.

It shocked me that so many should be unsold. That is a problem highlighted by the article. How is this being solved?

Now that McKeever has raised the subject or debate of unsold seats. I would be interested in the unsold seats of the Super 14 and keep an eye out for the 2009 Currie Cup.

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