Super League expecting to field investment offers in February

[Rupert Prince]

9 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Why would a PE influx increase TV money ?

read the article.

[GUBRATS]

2 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

read the article.

Additional expertise ?

That's it ?

[Rupert Prince]

6 minutes ago, aj1908 said:

I don't think super league clubs are selling shares on themselves to give more money to anybody but themselves.

They can say what they want about how they spend the money before.it happens.

After it goes through the super league clubs will.spend it how.they want 

I can't.see.this money not.being wasted.

Rugby league clubs.the world.over will spend whatever money they can find 

You are.speculating.

[GUBRATS]

3 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

They back themselves as better negotiators that’s  how the sell it. They give cash up front and then promise to increase the value of the 75% stake you have remaining. That way the clubs future income won’t drop as they claim they can increase the value. The question is do you trust them and how much you tie their return into the increase they can create. 

Better negotiators ?

That's it ?

[GUBRATS]

Just now, Rupert Prince said:

You are.speculating.

As would be PE investors 

[bobbruce]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

Better negotiators ?

That's it ?

Yeah that’s it 

 

plus the £200m they hand over. 

[Rupert Prince]

2 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Additional expertise ?

That's it ?

Why else would an outside organisation want to invest in RL. Its interest would be to make the game profitable.

[Rupert Prince]

3 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

Yeah that’s it 

 

plus the £200m they hand over. 

Or what ever the money turns out to be. But as partners with RL, they would want to see the game grow so they would want to work to improve the game and improve returns from tv revenues amongst other things.

[Smudger06]

8 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

Why else would an outside organisation want to invest in RL. Its interest would be to make the game profitable.

Why else indeed? 

[GUBRATS]

21 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

Why else would an outside organisation want to invest in RL. Its interest would be to make the game profitable.

No it's interest is to make profit 

[GUBRATS]

So yes we ALL know what they would want , but not how to achieve it ?

Just saying by being better negotiators isn't anything , what do they offer to achieve that better TV deal ? , What can they deliver that SL already cannot ?

[Smudger06]

10 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

No the clubs now own a 12th. The RFL hold a special rights preference share which confers certain rights and creates certain obligations but the 12 ordinary shares are divided between the clubs 

There's 13 share certificates issued with a nominal value of £1 each. Pray tell how each club owns 1/12th of the Company. 

[cookey]

Essentially,supporters dont trust those who run SL or the individual Club owners to do what is best for rugby league. Money from SKY Sports was completely wasted,numerous promises from both Castleford and Wakefield about ground development,club owners wanting their loans back etc,etc.

There has to be absolute transparency,or in 5 yrs time we will find that SL is say,25%/year worse off and magically,all the money has disappeared.

What are the fees for negotiating this 'deal',how many solicitors will be involved,what slice will the Chief Exec and other Directors claim they are due?

[Smudger06]

Can't see the RFL giving up any of its rights, so if SLE wanted to sell 25% to PE you could see:

3 Shares = PE (£100m buy in?) 

9 Shares = SL Teams Association 

1 Share = RFL 

[GUBRATS]

19 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

And a product that has had millions invested in it.

It's not strange to expect that if we invest millions in to the game it will be worth more

In truth the only way this could work is what you have suggested in the past 

The money to fund SLs own TV production co to provide the content , to then sell on to various broadcasters as we now see with the football Premiership ( it was just SKY , then BT and SKY , now Amazon added to the mix ) 

You have suggested with the inclusion of 2 French and 2 NA teams a weekend long timetable of RL live matches available to one or more outlets 

Other than that I don't actually see where this investment could produce the returns required 

 

[Smudger06]

8 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

I did. There are 12 ordinary shares and 1 special rights preference share. 

Wrong. 

[GUBRATS]

4 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

It's a big part of it I would hope. 

By far the biggest , everything else would be as a result of that happening 

[Toby Chopra]

52 minutes ago, cookey said:

Essentially,supporters dont trust those who run SL or the individual Club owners to do what is best for rugby league. Money from SKY Sports was completely wasted,numerous promises from both Castleford and Wakefield about ground development,club owners wanting their loans back etc,etc.

There has to be absolute transparency,or in 5 yrs time we will find that SL is say,25%/year worse off and magically,all the money has disappeared.

What are the fees for negotiating this 'deal',how many solicitors will be involved,what slice will the Chief Exec and other Directors claim they are due?

I'll have to challenge your assertion that money from Sky was "completley wasted". Compared to what? On what measure?

It was quite conceivable that British rugby league - a sport that before Sky had just 1 fully pro team - could have shrivelled up and died in the 90s, in the face of pro union, the soccer boom and other broadcasting and economic changes. 

Instead it took some radical decisions and is still going - with a fully pro top tier - 25 years later. 

Many mistakes along the way, of course, and the future is uncertain. But we've really got to get away that there was some sort of miracle possible if we'd done something different. The miracle is that we're still going at all. 

[Smudger06]

14 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

They dont need to. The RFL can only hold the special rights preference share (and nobody else can hold it)and there can be up to 49 ordinary shares. 

The ordinary shares can only be owned by entities operating a RL Club which is participating in the SL Competition, no entity is entitled to hold more than one share, so my speculation was hypothetical as new articles would have to be voted in by the club's and green lighted (accepted / authorised) by the RFL, all of which would need to happen for this PE stake to be an option. 

[Smudger06]

21 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

I did. There are 12 ordinary shares and 1 special rights preference share. 

Pari Passu in all respects. 

[cookey]

21 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

I'll have to challenge your assertion that money from Sky was "completley wasted". Compared to what? On what measure?

It was quite conceivable that British rugby league - a sport that before Sky had just 1 fully pro team - could have shrivelled up and died in the 90s, in the face of pro union, the soccer boom and other broadcasting and economic changes. 

Instead it took some radical decisions and is still going - with a fully pro top tier - 25 years later. 

Many mistakes along the way, of course, and the future is uncertain. But we've really got to get away that there was some sort of miracle possible if we'd done something different. The miracle is that we're still going at all. 

The money was spent on the same players and coaches who were playing the game before the Sky money became available.Not a single penny was spent on ground improvements,which is why we still have hovells at Castleford,Wakefield and Bradford.

[lingard]

7 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

If the money was used to buy equipment, renovate or build clubhouses and pitches then there would be more permanent infrastructure in place for the grassroots. It would gives clubs more of a presence in their communities and thus more exposure. You can't shrink the permanent infrastructure of the grassroots unless clubs sell off their assets which is their own business and would be incredibly stupid. The grassroots would shrink if participation numbers dropped again which is less likely to happen if the clubs had a bigger presence as I say. 

Broadening the appeal of the game is the bit in the quote which I found very vague. I'd like some more info there because there doesn't seem to be an obvious quick fix to that problem and that certainly comes into increasing the participation at grassroots level. 

I do agree that reducing clubs revenues is daft and there would have to be a very clear and confident business plan in place to take the risk I think. If there was some way that almost certain proof could be presented that investing in the grassroots and wider appeal of the game could get more people through the turnstiles then it might be worth the plunge cos I think that is the ultimate goal here. If this is all about getting more people involved and thus creating new fans that will go to games then that will plug the hole that will be left by the lost revenue but it is a very big risk. 

On the subject of broadening the appeal of the game, what kind of thing do people think could be done?

the clubs have already had tens of millions over the years with very little to show for it.  Rent a ground or ones made of sicks after twenty odd years of Sky money.  What makes any of you think facilities  would be improved?  makes my sides split.

There is absolutely no chance of developing the game,  do you really think RU and their media chums would let RL grow?  Open your eyes, the elite control everything in this country.

 

 

[The 4 of Us]

19 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Rothschild has been appointed broker. Structure changes afoot for 2022. 

From the sister paper. It doesn’t take a huge leap for this to get much bigger. And a TV deal to match. https://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/domestic-club-rugby-union/33328/a-british-league-will-happen-in-two-years/

[Smudger06]

 

6 minutes ago, scotchy1 said:

That is irrelevant. 

Legal terminology in a Companies Articles of Association? 

Really? 

Highlights the depth of your knowledge.

[Eddie]

3 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

From the sister paper. It doesn’t take a huge leap for this to get much bigger. And a TV deal to match. https://www.therugbypaper.co.uk/domestic-club-rugby-union/33328/a-british-league-will-happen-in-two-years/

Will a British League be that much bigger than the current English one though? The Welsh and Scottish clubs don’t get very impressive crowds, most of them are just constructs anyway, rather than clubs, and are hard to support in the traditional sense.