By opting to relocate later this month to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, Premiership Rugby side London Wasps is already committed to opening a new market in geographical terms, but it is also “aiming to spread the net farther in social terms too,” according to John Westerby of the LONDON TIMES. Three weeks before its first game in Coventry, the Aviva Premiership fixture against London Irish on Dec. 21, the club is hopeful of a crowd of more than 20,000. It has “given away 3,500 tickets to local clubs and schools and it hopes to attract most of the club’s 2,800 season ticket-holders.” More significantly, though, it has sold more than 10,000 tickets, of which “almost half have been purchased by spectators from lower income brackets.” Wasps CEO Nick Eastwood said, “That’s really exciting because we’re trying to look much broader than the traditional rugby demographic. You can’t build a rugby club, with crowds of 12,000 to 15,000 or upwards, out of 45 to 55-year-old ABC1 males. It’s got to be people from all walks of life.” The drive to attract a broader audience is “underpinned by attempts to put down roots” around their new home. Eastwood: “The most successful clubs are those strongly entwined with the regional identity. Look at Gloucester, they’d describe themselves as a blue-collar club and they’re very much a part of the city” (LONDON TIMES, 12/2).
