gingerjon

Ethics is just a county in the southeast to you?

Ultimately, the numbers of people who watch sport after the event has concluded are a very small number of people. So it's not just that RL is small, it's that it's a tiny per cent of small.

#3 on your list. They don't care because it's a molehill of an issue.

Would you have watched the ads on those games - as in the ones in the breaks? (That's a genuine Q by the way)

No, that's fair. I am, by reason of geography, mostly a TV viewing follower now. Hoping to get to see Brighton next weekend though. My habit has never really changed in the sense that I watch most of the games that are on the TV regardless of what's being played for. This season that has been altered a bit because I will prioritise London's games even though both the season outcome is inevitable and the individual game result is pretty much inevitable. Although I did miss last night's games.

Shardlake on Disney+. The lad playing John Barak is a scene stealer but it is all good.

Today, all EFL Championship games are kicking off at 12.30. Anyone going to be watching? Maybe do an experiment and see if Sky update on other scores during the game? They are showing three games live on main channels so it would be a direct comparison. My TV will sadly be given over to the Arsenal supporting son at that time.

Fair. It is often used as a further argument in favour of relegation - that the game's intensity raises the quality (etc). Anyway, to go back to the starting point, I didn't see any of the last night's games but I am still, broadly, enjoying this season.

That's a bit different to what I was meaning. I was talking about on the day attendance and quality of the game. You are right in the sense of neutrals keeping an eye on it. Our fundamental difference is that I don't believe every game should have jeopardy nor should a league be structured so that it does. For example, here, in many ways, is an ideal top set up. Top 5 play off and relegation. And yet for a lot of teams, there will be nothing objectively to play for in the final weeks:

The evidence of every season with relegation is that the drama, thrill and fun of long relegation seasons does not improve attendances for the teams involved in them. You might, possibly, at the very end of the season, with a do-or-die game, get more in. But that's far from always the case. The game would have more jeopardy, potentially. The game would not be remotely guaranteed to have a higher crowd or be better quality.

Bet365 seem to only be giving London a 30 point head start which seems ... low.

The narrative that being elevated to Super League thirty years ago mean you now sit at the top of the tree regardless doesn't just fit. The first season included Workington, Oldham, Sheffield, Halifax and Bradford, alongside the now vanished PSG. That's half the division swapped. There was P&R as well. Keighley finished just outside the promotion spot in each of the two seasons following the introduction of Super League. But it's a harder pill to swallow to own that chances to go up were missed than that they suffered a great betrayal and could never recover.

Gotta love those Premier League rights.

So how does that differ in any meaningful sense from the current state of the Challenge Cup?

They're moving to a league format at the start rather than groups but it's essentially still a filtering stage.