London Broncos Moving Update

[Man of Kent]

45 minutes ago, Damien said:

Are Ealing RU still talking about moving to Luton should they ever go up?

No idea but perhaps Ealing is one of the clubs who has approached Wimbledon.

[Stuff Smith]

3 hours ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

As has been posted on this forum many a time, without David Hughes there would be no London Broncos but with David Hughes there will soon be no London Broncos...

Whoever said rugby league wasn't educational?  I now know what a "potemkin village" is thanks to this post.

[nadera78]

7 hours ago, Damien said:

Are Ealing RU still talking about moving to Luton should they ever go up?

There's someone on here who usually mentions Ealing moving to QPR (although that's news to me as a lifelong super hoop) but I've not heard that one before. Kenilworth Road is, to be kind, a bit of a dump and I'm not sure how many RU clubs and fans would appreciate visiting it. That said, it's better than Belle Vue.

I've never heard Trailfinders mention anything specific re a ground share, just that they had a plan in place. So who knows what that means.

[nadera78]

9 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

The Wimbledon chief exec has spoken of interest from a few other football & rugby clubs while protecting their identity.
 

I’m guessing Prem/Champ clubs for reserves/ladies. Also, Sutton United may need somewhere to play if they get promoted to the EFL due to their plastic pitch.

I can't think of a single football or rugby club in that part of the world that needs a 9,000 seat stadium to play out of. And certainly not one that would pay £200,000+ p/a for the privilege.

[gingerjon]

10 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

They don’t need them per se but the rent would be used to towards loan repayments. A relatively small contribution though, and by no means essential.

They may need somewhere to play while that’s being done. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Sutton wanted to play at Plough Lane in the meantime given how close they are.

Just checked again - at most they think they'll need a temporary ground for three home matches.

[Tommygilf]

10 hours ago, Damien said:

Are Ealing RU still talking about moving to Luton should they ever go up?

Don't know about Luton specifically, but I believe Premiership Rugby have been even more clear that Trailfinders isn't a top level sports venue than Super League seem to have been. Both clubs seem to be, at least on a basic level, accepting of that premise.

The spanner for both teams is the relocation of London Irish to Brentford Community Stadium. Admittedly that impacts Ealing's prospects far more directly than the Broncos (who could potentially in Super League play a few "Big Games" at Brentford during the Summer when RU and Football aren't playing). Without accepting a multi tiered ground solution, then relocation is inevitable for both sides, and relocation out of West London seems inevitable as a result.

[Man of Kent]

13 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Don't know about Luton specifically, but I believe Premiership Rugby have been even more clear that Trailfinders isn't a top level sports venue than Super League seem to have been. Both clubs seem to be, at least on a basic level, accepting of that premise.

The spanner for both teams is the relocation of London Irish to Brentford Community Stadium. Admittedly that impacts Ealing's prospects far more directly than the Broncos (who could potentially in Super League play a few "Big Games" at Brentford during the Summer when RU and Football aren't playing). Without accepting a multi tiered ground solution, then relocation is inevitable for both sides, and relocation out of West London seems inevitable as a result.

Wimbledon is at least southwest London and makes more sense for Ealing than Luton (or Oxford where London Welsh played in the RU Premiership).

I’d prefer Broncos to play at Plough Lane but Ealing would likely be more lucrative. 

[Archie Gordon]

Bringing Ealing RU into this gives some useful perspective. If someone said that Ealing were considering moving to Plough Lane, I would think they were mad. They have been developing their modern ground but they have a very small fanbase. I would advise them to continue improving the ground incrementally up to c. 5k capacity and, in the unlikely event they make the RU Premiership, remain at ETSG but take 2 or 3 big games to a bigger ground. From the outside, this seems to be what they are planning. In any case, Plough Lane is too far away from Ealing.

I often read that the RU Premiership bosses don't want Ealing but, like SL, they'll have minimum standards for stadiums and if these standards are met, this is all that will count. 

[nadera78]

6 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Bringing Ealing RU into this gives some useful perspective. If someone said that Ealing were considering moving to Plough Lane, I would think they were mad. They have been developing their modern ground but they have a very small fanbase. I would advise them to continue improving the ground incrementally up to c. 5k capacity and, in the unlikely event they make the RU Premiership, remain at ETSG but take 2 or 3 big games to a bigger ground. From the outside, this seems to be what they are planning. In any case, Plough Lane is too far away from Ealing.

I often read that the RU Premiership bosses don't want Ealing but, like SL, they'll have minimum standards for stadiums and if these standards are met, this is all that will count. 

This is it. Ealing have fewer fans than the Broncos and, given the presence of Irish, Quins and Saracens, even less chance of growing that fanbase. They'd be best off extending the new stand behind the posts to the full width of the pitch and building a replica at the far end. That would take capacity up to around 5,000 - more than sufficient for them in the top flight and not soul-destroying when playing in the Championship in front of 800 people. 

Whisper it quietly, but such a solution would also suit the Broncos who, in all my years following them, I don't think have ever averaged that number.

[Tommygilf]

46 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Wimbledon is at least southwest London and makes more sense for Ealing than Luton (or Oxford where London Welsh played in the RU Premiership).

I’d prefer Broncos to play at Plough Lane but Ealing would likely be more lucrative. 

It becomes a case of "if this isn't really where we want to be in an ideal world, it had better/be top level for everything else and every other criteria". I don't think for either club that the sentiment emerging from AFC Wimbledon is particularly conducive to that. With that in mind it doesn't make "more sense" just because of its location, as fundamentally that is a weakness almost as much as for Luton etc, it has to be everything else that is attractive and I don't think I can say that honestly is the case from what I've seen.

From the outside looking in, upon Super League promotion an arrangement that sees televised "Big Games", orientated towards Summer, played out of a larger, more TV friendly stadium like Brentford whilst the rest are played at Trailfinders seems an appropriate solution. The Broncos can remain building in West London, focus the majority of their short term marketing on a few specific matches and Super League can say its not being televised out of a community level sports pitch.

[Man of Kent]

2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

From the outside looking in, upon Super League promotion an arrangement that sees televised "Big Games", orientated towards Summer, played out of a larger, more TV friendly stadium like Brentford whilst the rest are played at Trailfinders seems an appropriate solution. The Broncos can remain building in West London, focus the majority of their short term marketing on a few specific matches and Super League can say its not being televised out of a community level sports pitch.

Ah, well. I can't see Wimbledon going for that. Too little revenue, plus the opportunity cost. Toodles.

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Man of Kent said:

Ah, well. I can't see Wimbledon going for that. Too little revenue, plus the opportunity cost. Toodles.

I wouldn't see any of them using Wimbledon for that either

[Dr Tim Whatley]

5 hours ago, nadera78 said:

There's someone on here who usually mentions Ealing moving to QPR (although that's news to me as a lifelong super hoop) but I've not heard that one before. Kenilworth Road is, to be kind, a bit of a dump and I'm not sure how many RU clubs and fans would appreciate visiting it. That said, it's better than Belle Vue.

I've never heard Trailfinders mention anything specific re a ground share, just that they had a plan in place. So who knows what that means.

I'm assuming this would be related to Luton's proposed new stadium, a 17,500 capacity ground. They were supposed to move in at the start of the current football season, but 2024 is the new aim.

'A bit of a dump' is the kindest thing I have ever heard said about Kenilworth Road.

[gingerjon]

52 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

From the outside looking in, upon Super League promotion an arrangement that sees televised "Big Games", orientated towards Summer, played out of a larger, more TV friendly stadium like Brentford whilst the rest are played at Trailfinders seems an appropriate solution.

I know you all like a handball connection and there are some decent European teams who do this. Play their domestic games against piddling teams in a 2,000 capacity venue and then shift to the 11,000 hall down the road when PSG are in town. It seems to work quite well.

I'd certainly be okay with it for the Broncos in some far-off imagined future. Right now, I'd settle us for rewinding the clock about 12 months to when we looked like a coherent club.

[nadera78]

36 minutes ago, Dr Tim Whatley said:

I'm assuming this would be related to Luton's proposed new stadium, a 17,500 capacity ground. They were supposed to move in at the start of the current football season, but 2024 is the new aim.

'A bit of a dump' is the kindest thing I have ever heard said about Kenilworth Road.

I've got a good mate who's a Hatter so I have to be kind. Besides which, it's still superior to Belle Vue.

[Hela Wigmen]

There’s zero need for a bigger stadium for London for any games, in Super League or otherwise. It goes back to “ifs” and fantasy premises that London will somehow start acting and operating as a competent business and find their own fans or some hope that someone, be it Private Equity or someone else, buys them/invests in the sport and takes the lead. 

London are a Championship club with the potential to be a Super League club. 

[Man of Kent]

Back in the real world, the vote is next Wednesday. Does anyone have any burning questions on the groundshare for the Wimbledon chief exec ahead of the vote?

[gingerjon]

51 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Back in the real world, the vote is next Wednesday. Does anyone have any burning questions on the groundshare for the Wimbledon chief exec ahead of the vote?

Once the 'groundshare' is agreed, how big will the board outside Plough Lane announcing London's games be?

[Man of Kent]

Just now, gingerjon said:

Once the 'groundshare' is agreed, how big will the board outside Plough Lane announcing London's games be?

Blimey. It's 2021 not 1921. 

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Blimey. It's 2021 not 1921. 

So there's nothing outside the ground telling passing folk when Wimbledon's next game is?

Okay then ... how many and how big can our shields on the stands be?

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Blimey. It's 2021 not 1921. 

No but in fairness this seems to be a scenario where the Broncos are 3 hourly tennants once a fortnight and that is all AFCW want from them. As anyone renting in a strictly controlled environment will tell you, that doesn't feel like home.

[Man of Kent]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

No but in fairness this seems to be a scenario where the Broncos are 3 hourly tennants once a fortnight and that is all AFCW want from them. As anyone renting in a strictly controlled environment will tell you, that doesn't feel like home.

I'm not aware of any board at all. This isn't a suburban ground like Ealing, it's in a heavily built up area of South London.

The ground is surrounded on all sides by the new flats. The main entrance will have some digital signage, as will the concourses. There is also a humongous wall behind the terrace that - we understand - will be used as a giant projector screen as a digital engagement/fan experience thing. 

 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, Man of Kent said:

I'm not aware of any board at all. This isn't a suburban ground like Ealing, it's in a heavily built up area of South London.

The ground is surrounded on all sides by the new flats. The main entrance will have some digital signage, as will the concourses. There is also a humongous wall behind the terrace that - we understand - will be used as a giant projector screen as a digital engagement/fan experience thing. 

 

Absolutely, but you get the point don't you?

[Man of Kent]

9 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Absolutely, but you get the point don't you?

Yeah, it's a fair point but the bigger question is how will Wimbledon work with LB to make the groundshare a success (as I fear Broncos couldn't run a bath and could fail if it's left all up to them). Big picture stuff, not wooden boards.

[ATLANTISMAN]

Well I will be happy if we are allowed back into watch at Ealing for a few matches, will be really interesting to see what sort of crowds we get after the last 12 months.

P