yipyee

Do they run a Widnes schools cup? Is that extended to Runcorn. Do they have a charitable trust engaging with the community and fans, do they outreach to all areas and communities Do they run special events at the stadium to increase engagement, How's their socials looking ?

No we would have 8. Add in 2 French and you have a league of 10

Hence the problem, in America they have a form of licensing so the product can grow without direct competition where the pool is too small.

There are the college teams in state to, they also draw big crowds. Now what your saying is Fev can't draw crowds from outside of Fev, that sounds like a fev problem! Also I don't see why you think it's bad to draw support from surrounding areas or even further afield. Other SL clubs have support from a wider support Base. I have met Leeds fans who commute from Sheffield, there are Saints fans in Cumbria, London and north Wales, Wigan have support from everywhere! Bradford used to actively recruit fans from surrounding towns as did north Wales crusaders.

Your wrong I am comparing attendance vs town occupancy. That was the post I was replying to.

Your right it's actually a higher level! As in there are around 168 teams in just the top level, the top college teams get higher attendances than the NFL!!

There is only one way to find out

Yes they do there is the college teams who also get huge attendances although like I said I was playing devil's advocate, the US use a licence style system to prevent teams going after the same fans and have a player pool share with the weaker teams getting first dibs and profit share from merchandise. Quite a good system but would not wash in the UK.

To play devil's advocate Green bay has a population of 107k, they fill their 85k stadium and have a very long waiting list for tickets.. They can actually gain support from people other than the locals

The schools do play the game and lots of good players coming through at other SL clubs. Maybe the area cannot support a fully pro team but the kids are still playing and coming through. I think if not total rl then another piplication did a team of SL players from each area and Widnes looked very strong.

A couple of years ago I would have agreed with you however looking at what Leigh have done and KR then it shows it can be done. It will of course take years of being competitive. Both Leigh and KR also make it a great night out and there's plenty to do as well as the rugby which also builds a feel good atmosphere. Good luck to Oldham. The SL needs you

I think Oldham has potential to reach 7-8k Who knows with Toulouse, Catalan had an average of 300 pre SL.. London has hit high crowds in the past but they need to create a permenant home

Hong Kong with a world 9s tournament..

Right now Salford, Huddersfield and Cas are on ropey ground, really they should be relegated one at a time and replaced with a top championship club. Funny that it's ok for Hull KR and Wakey to go down though. And just look at both clubs flying after a rebuild in the championship. Agree with the lack of talent. Can see Toulouse and London being shoe horned in with that argument in mind. Salford to be replaced with Oldham, Cas or huddersfield to be replaced with Bradford.

Hmm Heartlands clubs find themselves in league1 and can't get themselves promoted back to the championship so big nige wants to just combine the leagues and get them all back in the championship. Thought we like promotion on merit..