Leeds Rhinos news: Hull KR game begins Final Charge as chief says rugby league 'in a good place'
Leeds Rhinos will begin ‘The Final Charge’ when they face Hull KR at AMT Headingley on Thursday.
RL Commercial, the sport’s marketing arm, have rebranded the last five rounds of the regular season as they build up to the Betfred Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford in less than two months’ time. Rhinos’ fourth versus first clash with Hull KR has been pinpointed as a ‘priority fixture’ in the battle for the league leaders’ shield and play-off places.
Though it could change as the league table develops, Rhinos’ trip to Hull FC next weekend and the round 27 game at Wigan Warriors are also marked out as crucial to the campaign’s final outcome. Against a background of the crisis surrounding cash-strapped Salford Red Devils and concern over Super League’s expansion to 14 clubs next year, RL Commercial managing director Rhodri Jones today (Tuesday) confirmed some impressive statistics he says show the sport is in a healthy state.
He told a media briefing: “From an attendance perspective, as of round 22 [last weekend], we are 10 per cent up on where we were this time last year. That’s all credit to the Super League clubs and the work they have been putting into generating crowds. We hit a million people attending after 100 games, which is a record. We’ve had strong attendances across rivals round and Magic Weekend and the Challenge Cup final was the second-highest attendance since 2017. From an attendance perspective, we feel like we are in a good place.”
Ticket sales for the Grand Final, on October 11, are up 25 per cent on last year - which was the best crowd since 2017 - and Jones said he’s “very hopeful” of a 70,000 gate at Old Trafford. Viewing figures on Sky Sports have shown a 32-33 per cent increase. Rhinos and Hull KR have sold 7,000 tickets for next February’s Super League meeting in Las Vegas and two of this autumn’s three Ashes Tests are already guaranteed a full house, including the finale at Headingley.
Total ticket sales for England and Australia have reached around 110,000, with roughly 39,000 of those for the opener at Wembley. Jones said the target is a 65-70,000 crowd at the national stadium.