Pontefract Racecourse Events RUGBY LEAGUE EVENING @RCAShowcase Objectives Our Monday evening race meeting has been poorly attended with dwindling sales in recent years. Our main objective was to turn the race meeting around with a new, innovative and engaging theme which would appeal to a broad range of potential race goers throughout West Yorkshire. We broke this overall objective down into smaller, measurable KPIs and goals: • To increase overall attendance – since 2011, we have only surpassed the 3,000 attendance mark on one occasion on this Monday Evening race meeting (3,022 in 2015). • To increase advanced sales – we wanted to see a steady growth of c5% in advance bookings for each raceday in 2016. • To increase hospitality sales and private box occupancy from just 12% on this evening in 2015 to around 50% in 2016. • To extend the appeal of a race day beyond the Racing Audience. • To create local links within the West Yorkshire sporting community. • To engage with local Rugby League Teams and their fans – the highest attended sport in the area. • To bring awareness of the Racecourse to a new audience. • To obtain as much PR coverage as possible whilst working to a minimal budget. • To increase the database. 2 Delivery Success depended on developing strong relationships with the local Rugby League teams, but also strong pre-promotion with a clear and striking message which would allow racegoers to buy in to the concept before the day. • The Racecourse approached 5 of the big Rugby League Teams in West Yorkshire – Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Wildcats, Huddersfield Giants, Leeds Rhinos and Featherstone Rovers. Due to prior commitments, sadly Leeds Rhinos were unable to take part, but the other 4 teams enthusiastically agreed to take part. • Each of the 4 teams sent a first team player to the Racecourse to take part in a photo shoot for marketing purposes. We felt it was important to have prominent, recognisable players so that Rugby League fans would instantly be able to engage with the Raceday. We also asked New Beginnings, a local charity who rehomes ex-racehorses, if they’d like to be part of the story and former Cheltenham festival winner, Mister McGoldrick, came and helped the Rugby players with their modelling skills. • We created flyers promoting the event which were distributed at the Racecourse as well as on matchdays at each of the clubs. • We booked a touring AdVan to appear at 3 games to promote the event to fans. • We offered discounted entry of £5 in to the Grandstand & Paddock Enclosure for all season ticket holders with the teams. This was promoted on the clubs’ marketing materials and via monthly newsletters, as well as to their 100,000 combined followers on Twitter and 95,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook. • The clubs included a link in their newsletters to enable their season ticket holders to sign up to the Pontefract Races newsletter. • Dedicated turnstiles were set up for Season Ticket holders so that we could monitor the number of fans who visited. • We set aside a private area for the teams and their coaches to enjoy the racing. • We promoted a new VIP ‘Meet & Greet’ package to use some of the hospitality boxes which had been unused in recent years. The package included entry, a hot buffet and a chance to meet, chat and have photos with players from each of the teams. • Players from each team presented mementoes to the winning connections in each race and took part in PA interviews. • We set up a photo corner near to the Winners Enclosure where fans could grab a selfie with their favourite player. • To engage the local community and boost early sales and awareness of the event, we also offered a discount to the first 100 people with a ‘WF’ postcode to register with the 3 Racecourse. Results • The attendance at the race meeting increased to 3862, exceeding our KPI by almost 30%. • Hospitality takings increased by 197% thanks to a huge take up on the VIP Meet and Greet package. The box occupancy increased to 89% in 2016, exceeding our KPI by almost 40%. • The turnstiles registered around 500 season ticket holders who took up the discounted ticket entry offer. This figure does not include the 170 fans who booked the Meet and Greet package. • Advanced bookings for the night increased by 185% - smashing our KPI for this meeting. • Other than a photographer for the photoshoot, marketing flyers and the cost of the AdVan, there was no cost to the Racecourse. The total spend was under £5,000. • The Racing Post picked up on the story and ran a piece on the race meetings. • Radio Yorkshire, whose biggest radio show is their Monday Evening Rugby League phone in, broadcast live from the Racecourse during the evening with interviews with players, coaches, members of the Racecourse Exec and racegoers. • Rugby AM, a Rugby League TV programme broadcast on local channels, filmed players and racegoers on the day to air on their popular Saturday morning show. • Through the Clubs’ newsletters and social media channels (as well as those of the individual Players and Club sponsors in attendance on the night) we opened the Racecourse to a new audience of over 250,000 people who already have a huge interest in spectator sports. • We added 1,000 new names and email addresses to our database thanks to the newsletter link from the Clubs. This has enabled us to promote forthcoming race meetings and events to a larger audience and advanced bookings for each subsequent race meeting have been up on 2015. • While our budget for the event was just £5,000, the Press, Radio, TV and Social Media exposure alone (that we gained free of charge!) was worth in the region of £40,000! • The 4 teams have already confirmed that they wish to be included in any plans for 2017 where they will be joined by Leeds Rhinos who heard about the success of the event and do not want to miss out again! • The Director of one of the teams booked a hospitality box to entertain clients at a subsequent meeting having had such a good night at Rugby League Evening. • Whilst moving around 80 Rugby League players around the Racecourse was a challenge in itself, the co-operation and support from each of the teams before and throughout 4 the event was incredible. Supporting Information Wakefield Wildcats posted a blog on their website after the event hailing the night as a ‘brilliant success’ http://www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/news/2016/06/pontefract-races-rugby-league-evening We had a huge number of fantastic comments on the event, including an incredible email sent to the RCA: I’m e-mailing as I thought that you should know what a fabulous evening I had with my family at Pontefract Races on 6 June 2016. This meeting was their first Rugby League Evening and it was a very well thought idea. We mingled in our box with players (celebrities to my daughters) from the local Super League rugby teams. The players were more than happy to sign shirts and have photos taken with their fans. I’m sure that this would not have happened at any other race course - yes they have famous bands/acts but customers have to pay expensive prices, with the Rugby League night Season Ticket Holders were able to attend at a discounted price. This really was a fabulous idea. Amongst the comments received on social media: 5.