West Yorkshire has clubs at an elite level in every sport you can think of. From football clubs in the Premier League and Championship to Rugby teams in the Super League as well as Yorkshire County Cricket Club being based in Leeds.
Our reporters went out to find out how these clubs were dealing with the challenges they face from the impact of COVID-19 to commercial and merchandise success and even the relationship between social media and performance.
COVID-19’s impact on clubs in the region
Dan Sewell and Niall Togher were challenged with finding out whether COVID had a big impact on the attendance at clubs.
What they found out was how different clubs responded to the pandemic ands how different clubs managed to keep people attending their games.
They looked at data trends for clubs around the region, differing in size and stature.
For example they looked at how attendances were affected at Leeds United and Huddersfield Town. On the other end of the spectrum they looked at how non-league clubs were affected.
Niall was also able to find that York City were an exception to the rule.
A new stadium and promotion from the National League North to the Vanarama National League saw an increase in attendances over the course of three seasons.
Below is the full story.
A relationship between fans and social media
Our reporter Dan Hawkhead researched the link between on-field success and social media interactions.
Dan found that all teams are predicted to see a growth in their social media over the next year and found that there is a link between how well a team is playing and the number of interactions on social media there is.
Dan was also able to look at the growth of teams on separate platforms, finding that some clubs had very consistent numbers across both Instagram and Twitter and how others fluctuated massively.
Dan was also able to speak to professor Renan Peterson-Wagner from Leeds Beckett about the link between performances and social media interactions, “if their team wins, it’s more likely that people will engage more,
“People transfer behaviours onto social platforms.”
Dan’s questions gave him a piece of professional insight into how relationships are affected by results and what that means for media interaction.
Click below to get the full story!
Commercial and Merchandising ‘vital’ for clubs
Oliver Mould went and found out about the importance of commercial and merchandising revenues for clubs across West Yorkshire.
Speaking to Leeds Rhinos business development manager, Ben Turnbull, Oliver found out about the major aspects of commercial success, “TV rights and broadcasting are very important.”
Oliver started by finding out what each club priced their hospitality seats at, finding that Yorkshire County Cricket Club (CCC) was the most expensive and Leeds Knights was the cheapest.
Oliver then asked Turnbull about the merchandise aspect of a club: “It’s vital. Fans demand it.”
Disability teams on the rise as Rugby sets an example for other sports
Will Lobley was asked to write about the number of disabled teams across Yorkshire and found out something very interesting.
It’s the Rugby clubs who are big promoters of disabled teams. Recently the Rugby League disabled World Cup finished with England being victorious. This could see a further increase in the number of participants and teams being set up.
Will spoke to Andrew Donnelly from the RFL about the growth of disabled rugby teams: “It’s a fact that numbers are rising.”
Rugby is setting an example to other sports like football that is lagging behind with the number of inclusive teams being set up. There is however, an exception to the rule with Bradford City who have 13 disabled teams, the most out of any club in Yorkshire.
This how different people formed their own multimedia on the day. This is a video including various clips from other people’s work to demonstrate the differences in the articles produced today.
