If Leeds Finish Bottom (or London for that matter)

[Mr Plow]

At the end of the day Super League isn’t football and can’t afford its big clubs to be relegated. 

As for London, they open the sport up to new markets and give the sport more media coverage. It’s good to have an English team that’s outside the heartlands in SL

[The Vet]

If Leeds end bottom and the rules on relegation change to suit them will give another example of corruption at the top. Everyone knew the system at the start of the year, finish bottom=relegated.

[Mumby Magic]

The rules are bottom club down, winner of Grand Final up. What's so feta and chipping hard to understand. Any change will add to the long list that makes our game appear amateurish.

[redjonn]

2 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

You have to be joking? There won't be a Whinos fan in the world who'll want to go down never mind anyone at the club....they'd lose the sky money for a start and probably default on the high interest loans for the stadium 

are you sure they have high interest loans... they lease the new stands from City Council, whom lease from Legal&General Retirement whom's parent company helped provide investment.

I have no idea .... just wondering if what you say is an assumption of high interest payments.

[redjonn]

9 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

Why would Super League, the very body Gary Heatherington was very much against this time last year, try and keep Leeds up if they were relegated? 

pragmatic self-interest.

although its somewhat amusing that Leeds CEO was against the change from middle 8's to current system.  For which a lot of non SL clubs seemed to support his approach.

 

[doc]

If Leeds did get relegated, would they be denied all,or part of,  their parachute payment and have funding for their academy stopped? Just asking.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

They'll end up like Bradford?

[Tommygilf]

Whilst as a Leeds fan, and a fan of the sport and sport in general, I wouldn't be happy if we were artificially kept up. 

Equally, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Elstone I think has been clear when it comes to negotiating the next TV deal he wants as many asset clubs in SL as possible. Leeds of course are one of those - commercially it makes sense to have Leeds in the top flight.

This isn't big bad SL either, Championship did arguably worse by forcing Bradford to stay in their league despite financial collapse, setting them a year behind.

[dkw]

1 hour ago, Steve Slater said:

Why not just give the Championship a higher profile? Last week's Summer Bash emphasised what a fantastic competition it has been over the last few years, which deserves more TV coverage. After all, if the North American invasion continues and becomes a success, even more long-standing Super League clubs will end up there! 

Fully agree with this, if Leeds went down it should be used as a vehicle to promote the championship rather than denigrate it. Point out that a strong international theme led to toulouse/Toronto being promoted to take Leeds place, and that a league with Leeds, widnes, Bradford etc is also a strong one. 

[The Vet]

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

Fully agree with this, if Leeds went down it should be used as a vehicle to promote the championship rather than denigrate it. Point out that a strong international theme led to toulouse/Toronto being promoted to take Leeds place, and that a league with Leeds, widnes, Bradford etc is also a strong one. 

Please stop talking pure sense! You do realise the RFL have little interest in promoting the game.

[M j M]

26 minutes ago, redjonn said:

are you sure they have high interest loans... they lease the new stands from City Council, whom lease from Legal&General Retirement whom's parent company helped provide investment.

I have no idea .... just wondering if what you say is an assumption of high interest payments. 

They're not "high interest" but they're not free. The arrangement meant the borrowing was measured against LCC's credit rating rather than against a technically insolvent cricket club and an RL club which, albeit liquid and very profitable, operates in a rather unstable sporting environment. If Leeds, directly or via the new joint venture set up to operate the shared stand owe half or probably more than half the £45m cost, repaying even the capital bit (dressed up as a lease) over 30 years or whatever it is is a big chunk of cashflow. Fortunately Headingley generates lots of cash, and will generate more now, but it won't be easy when the RL side is demanding more spending than Hetherington was ever willing to budget for in years past.

[redjonn]

16 minutes ago, M j M said:

They're not "high interest" but they're not free. The arrangement meant the borrowing was measured against LCC's credit rating rather than against a technically insolvent cricket club and an RL club which, albeit liquid and very profitable, operates in a rather unstable sporting environment. If Leeds, directly or via the new joint venture set up to operate the shared stand owe half or probably more than half the £45m cost, repaying even the capital bit (dressed up as a lease) over 30 years or whatever it is is a big chunk of cashflow. Fortunately Headingley generates lots of cash, and will generate more now, but it won't be easy when the RL side is demanding more spending than Hetherington was ever willing to budget for in years past.

thanks for the explanation...

[Nate90]

I would like to see a fourteen team Super League but I imagine it's unlikely the existing twelve clubs would vote for it. 

I think with the exception of the loop fixtures/fixture overkill it has been a brilliant season so far, surely the competition would be more interesting with more variation in the fixtures?

I know the Super League clubs want their pie and to eat it but they wouldnt lose any money if Toronto came up.

Who would the fourteenth club be?

[GUBRATS]

4 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

People say that we should give the championship a higher profile like its something we have a choice over or haven't been trying to do it for years anyway. The Championship needs a long term plan and investment if it is to grow. That will never happen because the clubs in it don't want to be there

Much like Leeds I would imagine 

[Lobbygobbler]

I dont see why SL clubs would want the Whino’s to stay up. They may be well supported at home but that is not reflected in their away support. They dont take any more away than Wakey or Cas, Hull etc. They’ve also been bobbling around near the bottom for a few years. Would be much better for RL if London stayed up. Leeds going down would be great for the championship and I’m sure they would increase to 2up

[rhinos78]

5 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

You realise that's a whine?

Happy with the Stinkcos moniker....sing it loud tommorow because I'm more than confident we're turning Leeds over....I'm also confident while there is only a few of us Broncos going to be there there will be a lot of other fans roaring Abdul to kick Leeds to bits or Dicko to run an 80m blinder

Yeah that could all very easily happen, we'r absolute rubbish and disliked. Dont think your breaking any news to anyone

But you will still be the adult who uses whino instead of rhino and actually posts it for people to see. Id be embarrassed if my 12 yearold didnt have more wit about her than that.

The video of our earlier game this season is the cherry on top of what appears to be a pretty primitive  cake

[rhinos78]

24 minutes ago, Lobbygobbler said:

I dont see why SL clubs would want the Whino’s to stay up. They may be well supported at home but that is not reflected in their away support. They dont take any more away than Wakey or Cas, Hull etc. They’ve also been bobbling around near the bottom for a few years. Would be much better for RL if London stayed up. Leeds going down would be great for the championship and I’m sure they would increase to 2up

The bums on seats away support isnt the reason people speculate that other clubs would want Leeds to stay up, its the TV deal thats looming large and is going to be huge for the game. Some think superleague will have a weaker bargaining hand without Leeds as part of the comp. The bigger the deal, the more there is to share out between the clubs. Thats why some have the opinion that the Money men at other clubs, and Elstone himself, would want Leeds in superleague. Without having any insight into the negotiations, its hard to say if theres any traction in that opinion or not. On the surface, you'd think Sky would want the biggest, best supported clubs in the comp, how much that effects what theyr willing to pay, or if it effects much atall is anyones guess.

[M j M]

13 minutes ago, rhinos78 said:

The bums on seats away support isnt the reason people speculate that other clubs would want Leeds to stay up, its the TV deal thats looming large and is going to be huge for the game. Some think superleague will have a weaker bargaining hand without Leeds as part of the comp. The bigger the deal, the more there is to share out between the clubs. Thats why some have the opinion that the Money men at other clubs, and Elstone himself, would want Leeds in superleague. Without having any insight into the negotiations, its hard to say if theres any traction in that opinion or not. On the surface, you'd think Sky would want the biggest, best supported clubs in the comp, how much that effects what theyr willing to pay, or if it effects much atall is anyones guess. 

Exactly this. It's about whether SL is without its best rating team going into contract negotiations.

[Mr Plow]

58 minutes ago, Lobbygobbler said:

I dont see why SL clubs would want the Whino’s to stay up. They may be well supported at home but that is not reflected in their away support. They dont take any more away than Wakey or Cas, Hull etc. They’ve also been bobbling around near the bottom for a few years. Would be much better for RL if London stayed up. Leeds going down would be great for the championship and I’m sure they would increase to 2up

I don’t get the obsession with away fans. Leeds have averaged 15K at home for the past few years which contributes to the overall SL average attendances.

I agree if they did go down it would be great for the championship, Leeds v Bradford could beat the Championship attendance record. 

 

With the new TV deal coming up I think it would be beneficial for Leeds to be in SL, look at the teams you could have; Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, London, Toronto, Catalans, Toulouse, Hull

[DEANO]

5 hours ago, Mr Plow said:

At the end of the day Super League isn’t football and can’t afford its big clubs to be relegated. 

As for London, they open the sport up to new markets and give the sport more media coverage. It’s good to have an English team that’s outside the heartlands in SL

Err what markets and what media coverage have London brought to the game. Attendances are poor with half of those who do go from the northern clubs

[Gooleboy]

27 minutes ago, DEANO said:

Err what markets and what media coverage have London brought to the game. Attendances are poor with half of those who do go from the northern clubs

Does he mean Billingsgate and Petticoat Lane?

[Manx RL]

32 minutes ago, Gooleboy said:

Does he mean Billingsgate and Petticoat Lane?

Colombia Road and Berwick Street.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

5 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Whilst as a Leeds fan, and a fan of the sport and sport in general, I wouldn't be happy if we were artificially kept up. 

Equally, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Elstone I think has been clear when it comes to negotiating the next TV deal he wants as many asset clubs in SL as possible. Leeds of course are one of those - commercially it makes sense to have Leeds in the top flight.

This isn't big bad SL either, Championship did arguably worse by forcing Bradford to stay in their league despite financial collapse, setting them a year behind.

As a London fan I would be very happy if we were artificially kept up.....we need 2/3 years back in SL and someone new to back us then we'd be able to get a bit of success to start hitting 4/5000 gates again....if we go down this year it may not happen again for a long long time....that's a large part of the country (and more importantly me) left 3 hours or more travel away from watching SL

[GUBRATS]

19 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

As a London fan I would be very happy if we were artificially kept up.....we need 2/3 years back in SL and someone new to back us then we'd be able to get a bit of success to start hitting 4/5000 gates again....if we go down this year it may not happen again for a long long time....that's a large part of the country (and more importantly me) left 3 hours or more travel away from watching SL

Not at Ealing they won't 

[GUBRATS]

If Leeds go down , seriously how long before they come back up ?

No long term damage whatsoever 

Artificially keep them up = massive loss of credibility to the whole sport