Big Picture

And it underscores the fact that the governing bodies of many of the countries in the tournament are financially dependent on Australia.

Definitely, the NARL was pitifully underfunded for what they wanted to achieve. When the additional investment they were apparently trying to attract didn't come through for them that put an end to the venture.

Nor in other major sports either. In big time major pro leagues any money from "away fans" is trivial compared to the revenues from the home team's fans, TV, sponsorship, merchandise sales, etc. etc.

Yes they should, and they should be in accordance with what the sport's rule book stipulates and all the rule books I've found online stipulate solid, numbered lines which are the same distance apart. Another big advantage of having the lines numbered is that viewers watching on TV can always tell easily where the play is without hearing an announcer mention it.

That's more the sort of thing (along with the tacky sponsors' logos on the field) I'd expect of the minor league CFL, though as you can see the Canadian gridiron markings are fully correct for that sport. One difference in Montréal's case is that they play at a university stadium and unlike their counterparts in the US Canadian university stadiums are usually used by a number of their varsity sports and possibly intramural sports too, they don't have one dedicated to the gridiron team. Canadian universities have a lot less money for athletics too, that would be another factor. The point remains that BMO Field shows clearly that a short turnaround does not preclude having correct field markings which are the only markings visible and I hope you'd agree that a World Cup should never have to make do with less than that.

Short turnaround windows is a BS excuse, that isn't an issue at Toronto's BMO Field. These highlights of a CFL match there 48 hours after an MLS match at the same stadium with only the CFL markings visible prove that: The World Cup organizers could have had correct field markings if they understood their importance, but they're too lazy and/or incompetent and/or deferential to their so-called "betters" to get things done right. If a minor league like the CFL can get their markings put down in a short turnaround window, there's no excuse at all for the World Cup organizers making do with less.

Maybe IMG thinks that these ideas will somehow make RL more marketable than it is now, or marketable in ways it isn't now. In either case they'd be mistaken.

No they weren't cheated, the whole idea was to create a league which would be Super. The original plan only included a few traditional standalone clubs because its drafters understood that the other clubs had nothing Super about them. The fact that the clubs which the proposed mergers would have created wouldn't have been Super either simply underscores that.

In fact my point makes good sense. The current deal was the second time Sky decided that the game wasn't worth what they were paying and reduced their offer, and they also put the game on notice to prove its value if it even wants to get that amount again. The reason they did that is the same as the reason they did in 1999: the current offering doesn't rate well enough to be worth more to them and this time they likely want to see ratings improve for it to be worth their while to continue. Thanks for reinforcing my point there. Sky's managers have posed precisely that question about their 25 million £.

If Wigan wouldn't be a draw for English TV if they entered a French league, then it follows that (1) they also aren't a draw for TV in an English league and (2) they aren't a draw with respect to crowds down in London either. And ditto for the other traditional clubs too. So the question becomes, how on Earth does anyone think that just restructuring the game's current offering will bring more money into the game? Then again the team which came up with this proposal is headed by an Aussie from Sydney who evidently doesn't understand the root causes of the lack of money in British RL.

EuroLeague Basketball does seem to be a success, but then it is unique in being a multinational league. What worked for it isn't really applicable to British RL at it is now. The problem with that is that we've already seen that M62 plus two places in France isn't strong, it's weak. This IMG report is just the sort of thing I expected from an Aussie from Sydney who doesn't really understand the root cause of the game's weakness in the UK.

Just what else did you expect IMG to come up with anyway? It's not as if they have a lot to work with after all.

With 350,000 sold they need to sell another 200,000 to beat the highest ever average crowd of 17,707 set in 1995.

There's a difference though, he's not kicking the ball straight on like the Aussie kickers back then, he's kicking it more soccer-style. He's more likely to hit it right that way. The end isn't on the ground either, that's another difference.

No I mean leaning it forward and kicking it on the end. If they didn't hit the ball exactly right if often went nowhere near the goal.