2 up from the champ in 2023?

[idrewthehaggis]

46 minutes ago, sweaty craiq said:

So no French teams in SL and have some form of Champs league fixtures - can France get 14 pro clubs?

Nah. I am not implying the French create their own SL nor currently include anymore full professional SL standard clubs.

Although I'd love the likes of Avignon. Lyon or even Carcassonne joining the senior (European) tier in the future.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

2 hours ago, Jughead said:

I’ve still yet to see any opinion as to why fourteen is the magic number beyond “it gets rid of loop fixtures”.

27-28 weekly rounds, with twelve or fourteen teams is too much with play-offs and Challenge Cup requirements. 

The clubs can't afford less than 27 games in a season. We can clamour for less fixtures all we like, but I doubt they'll accept less pay for it.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

5 hours ago, Eddie said:

I’d prefer one down and three up, or it gives the bottom feeders the chance to make even less effort next season. 

Top goes up automatically for 1st spot.

2nd plays bottom of SL over 2 legs for 2nd spot.

3rd-6th straight knockout with final team playing loser of 2nd v bottom in MPG.

 

[DI Keith Fowler]

2 minutes ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

Top goes up automatically for 1st spot.

2nd plays bottom of SL over 2 legs for 2nd spot.

3rd-6th straight knockout with final team playing loser of 2nd v bottom in MPG.

 

As in an aggregate score? I'm not sure that works in RL.

[Fevrover]

36 minutes ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

As in an aggregate score? I'm not sure that works in RL.

Why? Aggregate scores have been used plenty of times before in RL,albeit a few years ago.

[Jughead]

1 hour ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

The clubs can't afford less than 27 games in a season. We can clamour for less fixtures all we like, but I doubt they'll accept less pay for it.

There will be a time, if we’re not there already, where fans will vote with their feet as the final third of the regular season is littered with clubs tactically resting players, teams struggling to make twenty-one man squads through a backlog of fatigue and poor quality games with a lack of genuine appeal and interest from fans within the game let alone any we might want to appeal to in future. The removal of a second home game against two or three of a possible eleven opponents and addition of playing any two of the current Championship doesn’t add any quality, nor does it take much away when the same issues will continue along the same cycle. 

[The Future is League]

7 hours ago, Ooh Ah Timmy Street said:

According to Craig Harrison from the full 80 minutes released yesterday …. He always seems to be ‘in the know’ and is talking about no relegation from SL in 2023 , and two up from the champ for 2024 . 

That rumour has been doing the rounds all season

[The Future is League]

5 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

It wasn't convincing at all but neither does it sound like the IMG grand masterplan will simply be shoving two more teams in Super League. 

Grounds and academies will also be part of the criteria in my opinion, and ALL CLUBS in Super League will be given the opportunity to have them. As regards grounds Cas are going to have to pull their finger out IF grounds are part of Super League criteria

[The Future is League]

7 hours ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

When you see the sums being spent by Leigh and Featherstone this year you do wonder if there is a massive incentive to get promoted this year and secure a year to build with safety. 

Also London moving in with Wimbledon soccer club, so no problems with the ground IF they get promoted next season

[The Future is League]

4 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

A bloke with no actual inside knowledge makes a speculative podcast and we get a whole new thread of speculation about what structures folk would prefer. Don't you love RL forums?

You've heard the expression, unnamed sources haven't you 

[LeeF]

21 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Grounds and academies will also be part of the criteria in my opinion, and ALL CLUBS in Super League will be given the opportunity to have them. As regards grounds Cas are going to have to pull their finger out IF grounds are part of Super League criteria

It’s ok Cas have just bought some new coloured crayons for the next “artist’s impression” that they are looking to produce 

[Phil W]

55 minutes ago, Jughead said:

There will be a time, if we’re not there already, where fans will vote with their feet as the final third of the regular season is littered with clubs tactically resting players, teams struggling to make twenty-one man squads through a backlog of fatigue and poor quality games with a lack of genuine appeal and interest from fans within the game let alone any we might want to appeal to in future. The removal of a second home game against two or three of a possible eleven opponents and addition of playing any two of the current Championship doesn’t add any quality, nor does it take much away when the same issues will continue along the same cycle. 

Agree with this. The Championship was fairly dull towards the end of the season, you could easily lose two teams and just play home and away.

Plus the lose of a couple of home games means more to play for and could increase away attendances.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

5 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

A bloke with no actual inside knowledge makes a speculative podcast and we get a whole new thread of speculation about what structures folk would prefer. Don't you love RL forums?

Look on the brightside, 4 months garbage like this to come before the 2023 season starts.......

[Fevrover]

23 minutes ago, LeeF said:

It’s ok Cas have just bought some new coloured crayons for the next “artist’s impression” that they are looking to produce 

It's about time they pulled their finger out been going on far too long.

[Londonbornirishbred]

2 hours ago, The Future is League said:

Also London moving in with Wimbledon soccer club, so no problems with the ground IF they get promoted next season

Too many people putting their faith in Hughes paying for a stadium, academy and reserves will be enough. If I were IMG I'd be asking why is it that the club cannot attract 1,000 paying fans when offering tickets at £6, never mind the shiny new stadium. AFC Wimbledon have seen their average attendance drop to 7k (10%) this year, so the honeymoon is assuredly getting tiresome if not over and if anyone from IMG attended a London Broncos match in 2022, then I suspect London under it's current ownership model will not getting an invite to the top division.
IMG are a sports ENTERTAINMENT company. Rugby League is ENTERTAINING and the issue for me is that the people running the sport don't know how to sell it. 

[idrewthehaggis]

2 hours ago, Fevrover said:

It's about time they pulled their finger out been going on far too long.

Yeah if they did - like the Dutch dykes - won't it all fall down at Cas?

I am feeling if there are any such criteria enacted, the state of a ground's bogs, terracing and swiftness of beers being served would be just one of many standards, all of course with an agreed forward timetable to be achieved.

Edited September 15, 2022 by idrewthehaggis

[Snowys Backside]

Why wait til after 2023 ?

Keep Toulouse in and build and promote 2 this season !  (cant believe I have just said that !!)

That 1 season back in the Championship could easily kill Toulouse off.

[Mumby Magic]

Against the grain on here but I'd stick with 12. Cut out loop fixtures thus giving us time for Internationals. Remember those....

[Griff]

12 hours ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

The clubs can't afford less than 27 games in a season. We can clamour for less fixtures all we like, but I doubt they'll accept less pay for it.

And so we pay lip service to player welfare.

[Mumby Magic]

12 hours ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

The clubs can't afford less than 27 games in a season. We can clamour for less fixtures all we like, but I doubt they'll accept less pay for it.

Think it needs looking into if they can't afford it. It's been an assumption that attendances drop for the loop games. Less is more in my mind. Quality over quantity.

[Griff]

10 hours ago, Phil W said:

Agree with this. The Championship was fairly dull towards the end of the season, you could easily lose two teams and just play home and away.

Plus the lose of a couple of home games means more to play for and could increase away attendances.

Quite. We've had several instances of squads of less than 21 being declared and occasionally less than four subs on the bench.

It's not much of an argument to say that clubs can't afford less than 27 games when most clubs are propped up by a benefactor and clubs in League 1 are battling along on only 20 games. The "can't afford it" argument is trotted out regularly but we don't have sufficient information to make an educated assessment of whether it's true.

[Harry Stottle]

11 hours ago, Jughead said:

poor quality games with a lack of genuine appeal and interest from fans within the game let alone any we might want to appeal to in future.

Have you already brought licencing back into action, with 3 or 4 club's with nothing at stake and nothing to play for for a good number of fixtures, the season would have been over for Wakefield, Toulouse and Warrington weeks and weeks ago without the battle to actually win games to stave off relegation, what genuine interest would that have for fans?

[Jughead]

3 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Have you already brought licencing back into action, with 3 or 4 club's with nothing at stake and nothing to play for for a good number of fixtures, the season would have been over for Wakefield, Toulouse and Warrington weeks and weeks ago without the battle to actually win games to stave off relegation, what genuine interest would that have for fans?

No, I haven’t. 

[Harry Stottle]

11 hours ago, The Future is League said:

Also London moving in with Wimbledon soccer club, so no problems with the ground IF they get promoted next season

Honest Question, why should London be promoted next year other than achieving it on the field of play, Doncaster have played in a very good stadium for a few years so they should also have a good chance of promotion, shouldn't they?

[UTK]

18 hours ago, Eddie said:

I’d prefer one down and three up, or it gives the bottom feeders the chance to make even less effort next season. 

While I get the bottom feeder argument, we've seen over the last half a decade just how big a gap there is between SL/the Championship - and how often there is an almost equal sized gap between the promoted team and 2nd in the championship (London surprising Toronto being the notable exception).

Catapulting a 3rd placed Championship side into the first year of an expanded SL in all likelihood just shifts the bottom feeder problem to the next season as the task for a regular upper-mid table Championship team to upscale themselves to a SL club would be overwhelmingly insurmountable. Whichever side drops from SL in that scenario also walks the Championship with a 50+ average score in 2024, so I don't think one year of consolidation for current bottom feeders does much good for the rest of the structure in the coming seasons.