All Stars will increase League's national reach

typical - i present evidence to back up "unsubstantiated" claims each and every time and you either disappear or somehow try and bend the argument. You are a joke.

and by the way, Dogs, just looked on Bulldogs site and it is very clearly stated "less than $19 for a family per game" which equates to an average of about $4.75 per person. See http://www.bulldogs.com.au/default.aspx?s=membership-brochure-bulldogs. Now I know that is the lowest price but I would suggest the bulk of fans are members and many of those are on family tickets. Even the Broncos Premium White family pass is equivalent to $13.50 per person per game. The Knights for eg earn about $3m per year from ticket revenue - that equates to $15.6 per ticket based on average attendance of 16,000 for 12 games. Don't think I'm far off.

ok Pratto so can you give any credible evidence for total gate for an NRL season (you obviously now understand the meaning of the term so perhaps you will now put forward something that makes a little sense)? I have based my average ticket price on what I pay for my Roosters season ticket while your substantiation is limited to the classic "You then pull figures out of the air (ticket prices) to support an unsupportable argument." Please explain how; 1. basing the price on what I actually pay is somehow pulled out of the air 2. How my argument is unsupportable. As usual, you don't like the message so you shoot the messenger!

Kev, you only seem to accept sources that back up your point of view and ignore or denigrate those that don't. You then pull figures out of the air (ticket prices) to support an unsupportable argument. When caught out, you resort once more to abuse. Don't worry though. I'll be hanging around for your next falsehoods. See you then.

My roosters season tickets cost us an average $460 for 10 games for 4 of us... some clubs and tickets will be more expensive, others cheaper. Freebies make up about 10% of all seats I believe. Please let me know if you can find any info on ticket revenue per club.

$12 into the ground? Cheapest ticket is $15, and that's behind the goal posts. Most grounds have $35 for a decent seat, with some like Suncorp and the Titans ground being even more expensive.

shame muppet, you clearly still dont undestand what "total gate" means hence your extremely dumb response.... so I will make it easier for you.... Total gate means "The total paid attendance or admission receipts at a public event: a good gate at the football game." (see http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gate" I showed you that my calcs are based on attendance of 15m over 5 seasons for the NRL, yet somehow you are still confused FFS. Get it now?

and which assumptions were those prato? I only made one assumption, that being ave ticket price paid for an NRL game and you have not offered anything to suggest this is incorrect. Is $200m not more than $180m or don't you understand? i can explain it again for you if you like. I am being generous with 15m attending the NRL over the past 5 years - prob. a million or so less but who cares, total gate (revenue) is still less than $200m. As for the highest rating live sport - show me a source other than the Tele and I will accept it. It's still a long way behind the RWC final in 03 and again makes a mockery of ELL's ridiculous comment, which of course was deemed acceptable by you Pratto.

Thank you for completely ignoring the fact that I pointed out that two of your assertions were incorrect. Good debating skills there, son.

OK el Pratto let me explain the definition of "total gate".... as ticket revenue which equals seats sold x $ paid = "gate" - very different from attendance. Rugby World Cup 2003 Total gate = $200m* 5 seasons of NRL = approx 15m tickets at $12 each** = $180m gate *http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2004/feddep/FinalEconomicImpactOfRWC2003.pdf ** my guestimate - hence I wrote "I think" With regards the TV figures, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-watched_television_broadcasts. I would not sue the Tele for toilet paper.Aplogies if my source is wrong or outdated, my point still stands nitpicker.

Hi Big Kev. Me again. You know, the guy who points out your falsehoods. Well, here we go again. "In addition almost 2m people attended the tournament – and they actually paid for their tickets, from memory over $40 per seat average. I think that results in a bigger total gate than about 5 seasons of the NRL!! " In 2009 the NRL was attended by 3,084,481. Certainly more than the 400,000 that you have approximated. "the 2003 RWC final was the 2nd highest rating match on Aus TV of all time over 4m (+ about 30m overseas). That is about 1.5m more than any RL match has ever drawn in Aus" In 2009 the NRL grand final was watched by 3.6 million people in Australia. That is certainly more than the 2.5 million that you have stated. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/more-people-watched-nrl-grand-final-on-television-than-watched-afl-grand-final/story-e6frexnr-1225783107883 Once again, you deliberately chosen to lie in order to make a point.

me too!

Not starting a code war, we all agree RL is bigger than RU in NSW and Queensland. But do me a favour - Rugby hosted the most successful international sports event ever in Australia bar the 2000 Olympics and the 2003 RWC final was the 2nd highest rating match on Aus TV of all time over 4m (+ about 30m overseas). That is about 1.5m more than any RL match has ever drawn in Aus and probably 32m more than any RL match has ever drawn globally! In addition almost 2m people attended the tournament - and they actually paid for their tickets, from memory over $40 per seat average. I think that results in a bigger total gate than about 5 seasons of the NRL!! Add to that the hugely successful Lions tour and average attendances of over 50,000 for the Wallabies throughout that period and a considerably higher average attendance for Super12/14 than the NRL. I dont think it's been so bad!

You will need to watch the union to bore you to sleep after the excitement of the League.

I guess the passion will come from players that are good enough for rep footy but on the fringe. Like Preston and Prince. The get to show case their skills outside club footy.

Heard of the Dreamtime at the G.

G'day Mick - we might get it - we get the Tests, some Storm games live (early season) the GF some finals and SOO. This is a special event in a slow period footy wise so who knows!

I wouldn't hold your breath re. Channel Nine. giving rugby league a fair go in the AFL states.

I agree that this game is a great advertisement for Rugby League. Here in Tassie we have just recommenced Senior Grade Rugby League with 4 Teams participating. We hope to grow that to 8 next season. The game is growing here because of the influence of the Melbourne Storm and with the support of the ARL. Lets hope Channel Nine and WIN do the right thing and show the All Stars game live in Tasmania.

"Realist rugby is booming around the world." -- Nick Maybe so, but it's going backwards in Australia. "Realist you need to take note when people use quote marks. You also can’t have read all the posts here. I didn’t make those comments." -- Foxy Loxy My response was directed at SA. I forgot to attribute the quotes to him. Sorry.