Sales have increased their revenue by 212% match by match since the end of the pandemic. Credit: Getty Images/Nathan Stirk
Selling The Sharks' accomplishments this season in qualifying for their first home semi-final in 17 years have been comparable to the club more than doubling its average attendance from 3,800 to 8,500. None of the events happened by accident.
As much as Alex Sanderson's team has had to fight for every point this season, the club has had to fight to get every bum to a place at AJ Bell Stadium in a region dominated by football and rugby. Sid Sutton, chief sales officer, told Telegraph Sport that the club is on the verge of signing a deal that would give them operational control of the AJ Bell stadium, further accelerating their growth.
This important development is held back by Sutton's concern for the overall direction of the English game. A lot of the focus in the ongoing negotiations on the Professional Gaming Agreement between the Rugby Football Union, the Rugby Premier League and the Rugby Players Association has been on the rights of England internationals playing abroad or club compensation.
For Sutton, this is tantamount to rearranging the sun loungers on the Titanic at a time when the number of adult participants in England has plummeted from 259,600 in 2016 to 133,600 in 2021. “The biggest question we don’t discuss enough is how do we plan to develop this game?” Sutton told Telegraph Sport about this. “The only way we are going to grow is through grassroots rugby, engaging with local communities and talking about our lives and our brands. This is still missing in the larger part, from World Rugby to RFU, PRL and us as clubs.
“There is no single blueprint for how we are going to grow this game from the bottom up. If we don't grow the masses, there will be a shortage of players, and therefore there may be a shortage of interested people, and therefore revenues will never increase.
“There are schools that have stopped playing rugby. So how do we change that and get more schools to play rugby, not fewer schools? How can we compete with football fans? How do we get to these areas where rugby has no foothold? This is my biggest concern for the next five years; that there is no cooperation or detailed plan to develop the game at the grassroots level.”
'We can't just tweet – we need boots on the ground'
In the Northwest, this means walking the earth, especially in the schools of the region. While smart hashtags can go viral on social media, only direct human interaction can create a tangible connection with the next generation.
“We cannot develop the club without the support of the community, without the support of business and without the interest of schools in rugby,” says Sutton. “If we don’t actually reach the grassroots, we won’t be able to increase our fan base, and that’s the reason we increased our average audience. What we do on the field is inextricably linked to what we do off the field.
“We can't do this by just posting a few tweets on social media. We must do this in a practical way, by investing in the school curriculum and reaching out to society. I'm sure a lot of clubs are making their own versions of this, but how we can speed this up is the collaboration between the RFU and the PRL.”
The sale has boosted their revenue by 212% match-by-match since the end of the pandemic, but under the terms of the lease at AJ Bell Stadium, the club is ineligible to profit from the stadium's food and drink stalls. This has led the club to explore the possibility of building their own stadium, or even returning to Edgeley Park in Stockport, but the deal will now give Sale long-term confidence as well as the ability to significantly increase their revenues through full control of the stadium. , both on matchdays and throughout the week.
Ben Curry and the rest of the Sale Sharks team made an impression on the field , and the club has plans to match their progress beyond. Photo: CameraSport/Bob Bradford
Lancaster-based Michelin-starred chef Paul Heathcote has already been appointed to oversee catering and has plans to transform matchday for fans next season. “We've been working on this for three years and now we can touch and feel it,” says Sutton. “It could be a transformation for the club. We know this will be our home, which allows us to focus on matchdays.
“We will take on a fully operational lease that will allow us to return revenues to the Sale Sharks, such as food and drinks. . It's now in our best interest to make sure our fans get the most out of matchday, but we can also use this asset outside of matchday.
“Previously, all food and drink kickbacks went back to the stadium owner. Now we take full responsibility for the stadium, we can increase our revenues and focus on improving match day.
“We've always said it should be fun for all generations. Making sure kids and grandparents are taken care of, rugby's wholesome values give us a great platform to welcome everyone. We have big plans, so which is very interesting”.
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