Is the " New Era" dawning?

[Tommygilf]

Regarding South Wales, Coventry, Hunslet... with budgets of 300,000 if lucky Vs Championship 1 side sending 1.85 million. Has financial impact to small expansion & traditional clubs been considered when trying to compete with that type of budget? The difference in funds will have a flow an effect on to the field, Super league strength squads vs Championship 1 strength opposition every week ... how does that help small clubs struggling to survive?

I have previously thought how could Championship 1 sides compete with Super League sides in the Challenge cup? I guess now 1 or 2 richer clubs can financially foot it with the big boys. But barring that infrequent one off possibility. What is the point of having 1.85 million spent on players in championship 1? were the average attendance is about 500 people per match...

It makes sense to be able to spend 1.85 million for the top Championship sides because as well as meeting Super League sides in the Challenge cup, top 4 championship clubs need to be on level footing with Super League opposition when they meet in the Super 8's. But Championship 1 should have much lower cap as it is a semi pro league! Most of these teams scrape together 200.000 - 300,000 budgets as it is...

(edited to make points more concise)

The whole point of P/R means that a team with investment in L1 should be able to progress freely.

Its not as if all the clubs in L1 (or even the Championship) are now going to try spend 1.85 million.

[Kris]

2017 will be the last year for the super 8's - no one has enough money and the competition in the championship isn't good enough to get a SL squad battle hardened and ready for promotion into SL

 

2018 there will be 14 clubs, Toronto and the French clubs protected which leaves 11 English clubs - at the moment we have 11 so its no loss

 

P&R under a prescriptive regime - likely to be whether the team wanting up has the facilities, average crowds academy etc as well as cash and the players to survive - hence the opening of the salary cap to give teams the opportunity to get to that stage

 

If I was SL or the RFL I would do it now, take London and Leigh in anyway, play with 16 clubs and take the one sided scores for a season or two with a 24 match season plus Magic plus top 6 playoffs with the bottom two not protected teams (if they are protected they don't count) going into battle with the top two from the championship to develop those teams who want to try for promotion from the championship

 

SL is still a long way from championship level and that would just be a money spinner from finishing in the top two I don't think there are any teams at present outside Leigh and with a great deal of luck London good enough to challenge now or for the next few years if there isn't some new money coming into the championship

 

Bite the bullet, kick start new player pools and professional regional academies - SL isn't the promised land its made out to be and teams like Batley do belong there in a vibrant and good level of competition - I keep saying this there is no shame in being there with the success they have than one year up and a hammering every week then back down with the same level of debt to service stopping them going back up if ever again and probably disappearing all together

 

Its short sighted and playing to fear not just getting Toulouse and Toronto in SL now and protecting them a la Catalans - it is the future of our game whether some people decide to ignore it or not, we cant expand into a saturated UK market but we can elsewhere and have the same level of interest grow in the UK which is odd but true - and new money into the whole game as well

 

We find a way to expand outside the restricted market we are in or bin it because SL will end up a 6 horse race at best and dead at worst - onwards and upwards, stop looking back because the destination is in front of you

[GaryO]

Quite a bit of food for thought in that Kris,

Let me throw a conundrum into your theory, considering every club in SL is bequeathed £1.8 million from a central pot of money by which they spend on players contracts and by default it is not their money really, why not bring in a draft system for all clubs to dip into.

For example, if has we are informed by the RL that there is a live scrutiny of player contracts, then every player has a known value, each club would have to submit a list of a given number of players (p!us or minus an allotted amount) that would be made available to all the other clubs on a pick system through a rota basis up to the amount of the funding they are given i.e. £1.8M, effectively it costs all the clubs nothing.

It would share the available talent about moreover than we have with the present system, albeit some clubs would still have a better squad on the 50% SC ruling, and perhaps we would have a more competitive competition.

Just an idea, which I can see fans of no more than 6 clubs crying foul, whilst it could very well suit the other 10 clubs in your planned Super League.

[The Parksider]

2018 there will be 14 clubs, Toronto and the French clubs protected which leaves 11 English clubs - at the moment we have 11 so its no loss

 

If I was SL or the RFL I would do it now, take London and Leigh in anyway, play with 16 clubs 

 

We find a way to expand outside the restricted market we are in or bin it because SL will end up a 6 horse race at best and dead at worst 

 

2017 will be the last year for the super 8's

 

The clubs cut to 12 and were considering cutting to 10 so I see no way they are going to give more clubs a share of a small cake and lose slices themselves.

 

Yes Canada and Toulouse are expansion beyond a restricted market, but if anything radical did happen the game will take out clubs from the M62 that is overcrowded in itself. Wakefield are in pole position to be dumped, and as for West lancs, Widnes or Salford could go.

 

Finally 2017 has to be the end of the Super 8's because the format would block Toulouse and Toronto, in the same way Leigh are getting blocked.

[binosh]

You still do t get it. This structure and funding is designed to get to 20 FT clubs which will then become 2x10 in a new SL structure involving licensing and promotion between divisions. 12 current SL clubs plus Leigh London Bradford Fev Fax Toronto Toulouse plus Newcastle or Cardiff to make up the comp. In 5 years time review licences £1.8m funding in SL1 and £1m in SL2, Toronto to be self funding with TV deal

I agree with this, we are currently in transition until Toronto & Toulouse are in the Championship, the minute they are the RFL will implement the 2x10 strategy.

The new salary cap across 3 leagues is the pre-cursor to this.

Based on current standings I predict 2-3 years.