IMG Grading Unveiled

[Chrispmartha]

Just now, Derwent Parker said:

What a load of C##P

Well its a good job IMG are involved and not you

As your answer to make the top interesting is to stop all the excitement and interest below the SL

Hope they dont agree with you

You say "Part of the reason IMG are now involved is to create stability and create a blueprint where teams can thrive." you forgot to add "as long as it doesn't thrive better below the top 12" because the SL  dont want any uncertainty at the end of the season.

Im not bothering anymore as you can’t be civil.

 

have a good day.

[Derwent Parker]

8 minutes ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

Building an end-of-season event focused on failure and jeopardy is an absolutely ridiculous idea. The climax of the year should be wholly focused on excellence, and creating a narrative around the stories of achievement and success.

Look at how NRL goes to town with its finals series. Imagine them running a “wooden spoon” playoff comp at the same time. They’d be nuts. 

Again like the RFL etc you are only thinking about SL - Any team that had got promoted in M8s would not be classed as failure and jeopardy.

Again everything should not just be about YOU

[Derwent Parker]

2 minutes ago, Chrispmartha said:

Im not bothering anymore as you can’t be civil.

 

have a good day.

I think - if you think that is not civil - I would stay indoors mate.

[LeeF]

11 minutes ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

Building an end-of-season event focused on failure and jeopardy is an absolutely ridiculous idea. The climax of the year should be wholly focused on excellence, and creating a narrative around the stories of achievement and success.

Look at how NRL goes to town with its finals series. Imagine them running a “wooden spoon” playoff comp at the same time. They’d be nuts. 

The M8s were so well supported that nobody turned up with pathetically low crowds seen

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

2 minutes ago, Derwent Parker said:

Again like the RFL etc you are only thinking about SL - Any team that had got promoted in M8s would not be classed as failure and jeopardy.

Again everything should not just be about YOU

Amazingly, I prioritise the presentation of Super League above all else, because it is the elite level of our game and the most visible part. It’s where the money comes from. 

You can think of that as some sort of conspiracy if you want, but normal people would just see it as common sense. Celebrate the fight for promotion from the Championship by all means, but why make it a “failure tournament” for some SL sides instead? Proper weird 

[Derwent Parker]

3 minutes ago, LeeF said:

The M8s were so well supported that nobody turned up with pathetically low crowds seen

Well the people like yourself and other SL fans who hated this idea probably hid in a darkened room and prayed - but I would imagine [but I have no facts to prove it] that the Champ fans would turn up?

[LeeF]

1 minute ago, Derwent Parker said:

Well the people like yourself and other SL fans who hated this idea probably hid in a darkened room and prayed - but I would imagine [but I have no facts to prove it] that the Champ fans would turn up?

So many assumptions in so few words all of which are incorrect 

[Angelic Cynic]

32 minutes ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

Building an end-of-season event focused on failure and jeopardy is an absolutely ridiculous idea. The climax of the year should be wholly focused on excellence, and creating a narrative around the stories of achievement and success.

Look at how NRL goes to town with its finals series. Imagine them running a “wooden spoon” playoff comp at the same time. They’d be nuts. 

IMG have hardly gone to town on the new World Club Champions - St Helens.Does it have to be the end of the season?

The Challenge Cup - only won by those clubs in the elite league - is NOT played at the end of the season.

The 8's were only brought in because the elite League only demanded one elite League club could be relegated.

As for the end of season ' Million Pounds Game ' - unless there are sufficient points gained,prior to the fixture,it is a worthless contest.

The guy who put together the 8's gets a gig in the NRL - we get IMG.

Just because the governing body and elite League club owners are incompetent.

Have you tried showing the latest information in the public domain to any other sports followers amongst your fellow entrepreneurs?

Certainly no other sport like rugby league....

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

17 minutes ago, Angelic Cynic said:

IMG have hardly gone to town on the new World Club Champions - St Helens.Does it have to be the end of the season?

The Challenge Cup - only won by those clubs in the elite league - is NOT played at the end of the season.

The 8's were only brought in because the elite League only demanded one elite League club could be relegated.

As for the end of season ' Million Pounds Game ' - unless there are sufficient points gained,prior to the fixture,it is a worthless contest.

The guy who put together the 8's gets a gig in the NRL - we get IMG.

Just because the governing body and elite League club owners are incompetent.

Have you tried showing the latest information in the public domain to any other sports followers amongst your fellow entrepreneurs?

Certainly no other sport like rugby league....

The Middle 8’s were a car crash. None of that word salad disproves it. 

[Mumby Magic]

3 hours ago, Chrispmartha said:

Because on field results count towards the grades.

Think you've misread my original post then.

[RP London]

1 hour ago, Derwent Parker said:

Again like the RFL etc you are only thinking about SL - Any team that had got promoted in M8s would not be classed as failure and jeopardy.

Again everything should not just be about YOU

As an eagles fan that watches a lot of super league I liked the idea that a team in the champ that was better than the super league team could get promoted etc.. as I think the gap can be quite small.. 

But as a concept to develop the game and to help the commercial worth of the game the 8s was appalling..  and was scrapped because it made no sense.. if it was working it would have been kept 100%

Edited March 11, 2023 by RP London

[Gav Wilson]

17 minutes ago, RP London said:

As an eagles fan that watches a lot of super league I liked the idea that a team in the champ that was better than the super league team could get promoted etc.. as I think the gap can be quite small.. 

But as a concept to develop the game and to help the commercial worth of the game the 8s was appalling..  and was scrapped because it made no sense.. if it was working it would have been kept 100%

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

[redjonn]

2 hours ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

The Middle 8’s were a car crash. None of that word salad disproves it. 

Maybe but for me what was worse was being in bottom half of table but in the play offs. In comparison middle 8 was a better concept and in enabling possible promotion created potential for investment into championship.

That investment didn't come but it was an attempt to create the possibility.

I didn't agree with number of clubs in the middle 8s but to repeat what was worse was the 8 clubs into play offs.

[The Blues Ox]

3 hours ago, LeeF said:

The M8s were so well supported that nobody turned up with pathetically low crowds seen

The Challenge Cup, the mainstay competition of Rugby League has been notorious over the past few years for low attendances. Do you think it may have something to do with season tickets not been eligable and the same goes for the middle 8's?

2 hours ago, Hull Kingston Bronco said:

The Middle 8’s were a car crash. None of that word salad disproves it. 

Again, people will stop and stare at a car crash. It created a bit of excitment and jeopardy which was good in my opinion just because the product near the top of the table has been a bit naff for a number of years now. These new gradings are not going to change that in my opinion. If RL wants to make some big changes in that regard then changes to the salary cap and where teams take their young players from would be the changes that I would look to make.

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

I'm 49 years old, ,I have seen many things in rugby league, the old first and second division, licencing, middle 8's etc. It always seems as though we are at least WILLING to try new concepts to help the games growth, I don't think any of us can bemoan that . 

Part of the problem is ,for me, not implementing things long term. Too many things have been implemented in a short space of time as a short term fix.

 IMG'S proposals raise the bar for every club and gives everybody a clear insight as to what they need to achieve.

If we really want rugby league to continue it's legacy after we are all dead and buried then we have have to act now. Expansion is the way forward and for once I actually believe that this could be acheived with IMG'S proposals, albeit it may take time. 

[LeeF]

39 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

The Challenge Cup, the mainstay competition of Rugby League has been notorious over the past few years for low attendances. Do you think it may have something to do with season tickets not been eligable and the same goes for the middle 8's?

Again, people will stop and stare at a car crash. It created a bit of excitment and jeopardy which was good in my opinion just because the product near the top of the table has been a bit naff for a number of years now. These new gradings are not going to change that in my opinion. If RL wants to make some big changes in that regard then changes to the salary cap and where teams take their young players from would be the changes that I would look to make.

Multiple reasons. The lack of a consistent date in the calendar; lack of potential upsets; covid; RFL & clubs treating it as a secondary nuisance competition are some of them along with the season ticket reason

[Liverpool Rover]

My team went down and then up again the following year in the middle eights. It never changed my mind about it being a ridiculous system that was rightfully scrapped.

[Big Picture]

On 10/03/2023 at 15:26, Pulga said:

I'm not sure I believe that.

The TV figures I see for both Sky and C4 have been quite favourable. 

It seems that on a per viewer basis rugby league in England is happy to take a tiny, tiny fraction of the money the NRL does.

In fact the figures for C4 are a cause for concern because they're down on this time last year, and down significantly.

For their first match of the season the average was down from 531,000 a year ago to 306,000 and the peak down from 750,000 to 495,000.  For their second match of the season the average was down from 515,000 a year ago to 286,000 and the peak down from 624,000 to 396,000.

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, JDINTHEHIZZOUSE said:

I'm 49 years old, ,I have seen many things in rugby league, the old first and second division, licencing, middle 8's etc. It always seems as though we are at least WILLING to try new concepts to help the games growth, I don't think any of us can bemoan that . 

Part of the problem is ,for me, not implementing things long term. Too many things have been implemented in a short space of time as a short term fix.

 IMG'S proposals raise the bar for every club and gives everybody a clear insight as to what they need to achieve.

If we really want rugby league to continue it's legacy after we are all dead and buried then we have have to act now. Expansion is the way forward and for once I actually believe that this could be acheived with IMG'S proposals, albeit it may take time. 

The sort of knee-jerk decisions to abandon something because it didn't work in a short timeframe are the result of the chronic lack of money in the game.  Quite simply, waiting things out for a longer timeframe was a luxury the game couldn't afford due to the financial pressures it's always been under.

I think you're mistaken that IMG can deliver the expansion and growth which has eluded the game before.  Their critics are essentially correct when they say that IMG's proposals are just a variation on things tried before, and therein lies the problem.

IMG seems to think that clubs based in smallish, economically deprived towns can solve the severe problems which they face if only someone would drive them do so.  That approach ignores the facts that (1) the sort of money needed to solve those problems is nowhere to be found in those towns and (2) due to the unfashionable nature of their locations those clubs simply don't have the appeal to expand their audience reach more broadly.  I note when forum critics of IMG asked what material difference exists between the "big clubs" in SL and the smaller clubs in the Championship they didn't get an answer to that question.

With the new season underway we have data about this in the form of Channel 4's audience numbers so far this season compared to the same period last season, and as you can see below the numbers are not what we might wish for: they're significantly down from last year.  As I've suggested before, the unpalatable truth as that the so-called "Super League" doesn't have the reach required to attract the new audience the game needs if its decline is to be turned around and I suggest that the audience data for the Channel 4 telecasts supports this view.

19 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

In fact the figures for C4 are a cause for concern because they're down on this time last year, and down significantly.

For their first match of the season the average was down from 531,000 a year ago to 306,000 and the peak down from 750,000 to 495,000.  For their second match of the season the average was down from 515,000 a year ago to 286,000 and the peak down from 624,000 to 396,000.

 

[Pulga]

1 hour ago, Big Picture said:

In fact the figures for C4 are a cause for concern because they're down on this time last year, and down significantly.

For their first match of the season the average was down from 531,000 a year ago to 306,000 and the peak down from 750,000 to 495,000.  For their second match of the season the average was down from 515,000 a year ago to 286,000 and the peak down from 624,000 to 396,000.

If you look a the dollar value per viewer of the English deal Super League is being completely ripped off. 

[rlno1]

4 hours ago, LeeF said:

Multiple reasons. The lack of a consistent date in the calendar; lack of potential upsets; covid; RFL & clubs treating it as a secondary nuisance competition are some of them along with the season ticket reason

Doesn't the same problem happen in the FA Cup. 

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, Pulga said:

If you look a the dollar value per viewer of the English deal Super League is being completely ripped off. 

No they aren't.

The money is from Sky, not C4, and Sky's SL telecasts reach a much smaller audience.  Low ratings are the reason why SL lost the Saturday night timeslot it had originally, and why Sky has reduced their offer at the times when they've done so.

C4 couldn't afford even the reduced money Sky pays now because C4 depends on ad revenue and RL isn't TV-friendly enough for them to recoup even as much as that from ad revenue alone, they'd need a lot more ad minutes to sell but without making their audience miss any of the action for that.  The plain truth as that the regional M62 league with most times one and occasionally two add-ons further afield doesn't rate well enough to be offered more than it's getting now and unless Sky decides that it's proven its value might get either a renewal for even less later this year or no offer at all.

[gingerjon]

4 hours ago, rlno1 said:

Doesn't the same problem happen in the FA Cup. 

Every sports' knock out competitions are in decline.

[Harry Stottle]

8 hours ago, Liverpool Rover said:

My team went down and then up again the following year in the middle eights. It never changed my mind about it being a ridiculous system that was rightfully scrapped.

So did mine but in the other direction and I loved them, just goes to show, not everyone will be pleased with whatever is done, IMG's proposals will be no different.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Harry Stottle

[Harry Stottle]

8 hours ago, Big Picture said:

In fact the figures for C4 are a cause for concern because they're down on this time last year, and down significantly.

For their first match of the season the average was down from 531,000 a year ago to 306,000 and the peak down from 750,000 to 495,000.  For their second match of the season the average was down from 515,000 a year ago to 286,000 and the peak down from 624,000 to 396,000.

Those figures are quite drastic and the thing is THEY ARE FREE !

If that trend repeats itself with subscription channels, the game will be in bother.