Edinburgh launch season-ticket deals to try to keep cup-run fans on board

EDINBURGH are moving quickly to snare new supporters drawn by the excitement of their Heineken Cup run by putting season tickets on sale this week and creating ‘Fan Zones’ in Edinburgh and Dublin for this weekend’s semi-final against Ulster.

The club will bank over £1 million in prize money and their share of ticket sales for the quarter-final at Murrayfield, but they have the potential to increase that revenue significantly if a large number of new supporters join the bandwagon and sign up for next season.

Irish rugby took off on the back of Ulster’s Heineken Cup win in 1999, largely through a surge of people joining the ‘Ravenhill Mob’ for the following season and Munster and Leinster taking up the challenge of matching their northern Irish rivals’ success.

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Season ticket sales will be one gauge of whether Edinburgh’s cup run can lift the club and pro rugby in Scotland to a new level.

The 2012/13 season ticket package offers a 50 per cent reduction on matchday prices and covers all regular season home games in the RaboDirect PRO12 and Heineken Cup, as well as the pre-season friendly with Northampton on Friday 24 August. It also comes with free car park passes and the right to buy Scotland Test tickets.

Average attendance has risen by more than a third this season, including records for the derby against Glasgow and Heineken Cup with 38,000 fans watching Edinburgh beat four-time champions Toulouse.

Coach Michael Bradley has retained 19 of the existing squad on new deals and signed All Black Ben Atiga, South African prop WP Nel, Georgian World Cup No 8 Dimitri Basilaia, Northampton back Greig Tonks and Welsh internationalists John Yapp and Richie Rees.

Edinburgh Rugby managing director Craig Docherty said: “This season we have worked extremely hard on creating a club of which the east of Scotland can be proud.

“The introduction of trackside standing and the re-opening of arguably the best clubhouse bar in European rugby [Murrayfield’s President’s Suite] has been a huge success and gives fans a fantastic view and a social environment for friends and families to enjoy pre and post match.

“We hope the fans who have been part of this season’s rugby rollercoaster will back us next year because, with hard work, an increased investment in the team and the fans’ record-breaking support, we can continue to challenge the best clubs in Europe.”

This weekend, the club is also setting up Fan Zones. For supporters in Edinburgh, club sponsor G1 Group is helping to promote parties at the Murrayfield Hotel and the Three Sisters, with the former a family-friendly event with big screens inside and out and barbecues and the latter an adult-orientated event also with a DJ and live music.

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In Dublin, the ‘Black and Red Zone’, complete with barbecues, bars and Edinburgh merchandise and giveaways, is being created around the Ballsbridge and Berkeley Court hotels five minutes walk from the Aviva Stadium, from 12 noon. Players not in the matchday 23 will be there.