I haven’t put my finger on how it could be done fairly but I like the idea of the Challenge Cup incorporating inter county rivalry. I think the old Lanc’s and York’s identities still have meaning and there are certain tools which can be used to give the old rivalry a bit of oomph again.
Maybe at an amateur level, the early rounds are played between clubs within their own counties before being whittled down to say four or eight clubs who contest their own Magic style KO round over a weekend of Yorkshire v Lancashire match ups.
And continue/or introduce the Lanc’s and York’s rivalry through to the introduction of the professional clubs, making a big deal of any Lanc’s v York’s draw. Perhaps only Lanc’s v York’s ties are televised on BBC.
Audaciously, you could actually divide the competition purely on a Lanc’s to the west v York’s to the east and have the final contested by Yorkshire and Lancashire champions. If that means excluding some clubs like Catalans and London, or giving definition of why they fit in either east or west camp, then so be it.
I don’t think contesting the CC final a week before the SL final is the answer. I just don’t see why you would have two major events back to back. I think it would dilute and devalue each event too much.