What will IMG tell the clubs at tomorrow's RL Council meeting.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

23 hours ago, The Ghost of 99 said:

British Rugby League has a set of specific problems and strengths that require a bespoke strategy that works with them. You could say that some of the issues are similar to soccer in the USA in the early 1990s but such comparisons would be very superficial and show a huge lack of understanding of that sport in that country.

Proposing that we blindly import a model designed for a completely different sport in a completely different context is the definition of madcap in a Rugby League sense.

I don't think Martyn us proposing that, per se? More that we should be open to collaborative models of ownership in order to grow the game. Doesn't have to be the same as MLS, but what MLS does show is there's an interesting case study of how partnership ownership models (at the whole league level) can deliver faster, sustainable growth through the better alignment of incentives.

Sports leagues are interesting in that regard. The uncertainty principle is the biggest driver in new customer acquisition and retention. A tightly fought victory is more enjoyable than an easy one, indeed a close loss is a more intense entertainment experience than an a wide margin of victory and gives better customer satisfaction (the research base is solid on that albeit most of it is done in the US). The more uncertain outcomes, the more the value of the league can grow. So unlike most markets it is in each competitor's commercial interest that their 'opposition' is equally strong.

I think there's a lot of merit in a model in this direction. Probably too much sunk cost by existing investors to be able to get them to agree to it though unfortunately, I'm not sure all owners are bright enough to take the leap. The MLS was a start-up, so didn't have that problem. 

 

[RP London]

17 hours ago, Martyn Sadler said:

Correct!

I haven't made any comparisons with soccer in the USA, but with the MSL business model.

If you think I'm suggesting that we "blindly import" a model from a different sport, then I'm afraid you are very wide of the mark.

The MSL model clearly works far more effectively than the model (or models) we have used in the last 26 years and therefore our object should be to extract from it what would work in a different context and adapt it accordingly.

My prediction is that before 12 years are up, at the behest of IMG, we will have a model that looks remarkably like the one I'm proposing.

I would expect they will be looking at all models, MLS has been good but so has the NFL, NBA, MLB etc all of which had slight variations on that type of model. IMG are not daft, look how they have worked with EuroBasket, they have done this type of thing before and they have made it work by tweaking models and adapting them. You can already see part of their thinking which has happened in EuroBasket being brought in with the categorisations meaning  different things to your future. 

I think in the end it will look more like EuroBasket rather than MLS to be honest as its starting from a similar base (using clubs already in existence and a league already in existence) where as the MLS was (pretty much) a brand new start, yes stuff existed before but this was a new league and with a whole new structure, and new teams being formed to fit it. But I do see where you are coming from and it will be partly profit sharing, just cant get there yet as they need to show there is a profit to be shared (and an increasing one if people play nicely together rather than trying to always out do each other for their own betterment).

What I like so far is the tweaks that are being made seem to be for a long term aim rather than short term which always seems to be have been the case. This categorisation seems to be to pick the clubs up rather than to knock them down (which is what the last one felt like). I like the idea that they want to have 12 clubs at cat A so that when a 13th and 14th get it they can expand the league etc and its incentivised to get there rather than previously when it seemed more about punishing. 

whether that works or not who knows.. frankly who knows what the next few years will look like anyway and how business in general will behave.. but I do feel a bit more that we're giving it our best shot in the next 12 years or so.

Edited December 15, 2022 by RP London