IMG

[Rambo]

What do people think will be the likely effects of the IMG proposals on our club?

Reading between the lines the Championship is going to be pretty heavily weighted with relatively well supported West Yorkshire clubs in the not too distant future.

Teams like Wakey and or Cas are likely to come into the division alongside the likes of Fev, Bradford, Fax, Keighley, etc. Meaning that “if” we do get back upto the Championship we will have a derby crowd more or less every other week. 

Should this happen can we realistically improve enough to compete with these clubs?

Edited April 17, 2023 by Rambo

[Blind side johnny]

Far too many ifs and buts at present to contemplate.

More immediate questions to pose, surely?

What will happen if we don't get promoted?

What will happen if energy bills go up?

What will happen if crowds continue to decline?

What will happen if there is no future TV deal?

I believe that MS's approach is to only worry about things that he can change - if they are out of his hands then it is wasted energy.

[creditwhereitsdews]

Anyone know why we abstained from the vote today?

[graham fisher]

4 hours ago, creditwhereitsdews said:

Anyone know why we abstained from the vote today?

From what I’ve seen on another site,we voted against.

[Anita Bath]

Good on Dewsbury if they did…….nothing in this for lower tier clubs.

[Wakefield Ram]

I worked for a very large bank and we had consultants tell us that we should just focus on the premier wealthiest customers and stop offering accounts to "normal" customers.

Short-term that's fine, but longer term,most of the wealthy customers didn't start out rich. 

RL is only as strong as its weakest link. IMG are a marketing organisation only interested in making money for themselves. If it damages the game below SL, they don't care. If it fails completely, they just walk away.

Trickle down economics doesn't work.

[bywellram12]

Opinion...Organisations only employ consultants  because they don't know what they are doing. In this case, i'm not sure that the consultants do either.

[Blind side johnny]

7 hours ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I worked for a very large bank and we had consultants tell us that we should just focus on the premier wealthiest customers and stop offering accounts to "normal" customers.

Short-term that's fine, but longer term,most of the wealthy customers didn't start out rich. 

RL is only as strong as its weakest link. IMG are a marketing organisation only interested in making money for themselves. If it damages the game below SL, they don't care. If it fails completely, they just walk away.

Trickle down economics doesn't work.

Not strictly true. Their agreement with the RFL is based upon results. If it doesn't work commercially, they don't get paid.

This doesn't mean that I agree with the outcomes but facts do matter.

[Wakefield Ram]

On 20/04/2023 at 16:12, Blind side johnny said:

Not strictly true. Their agreement with the RFL is based upon results. If it doesn't work commercially, they don't get paid.

This doesn't mean that I agree with the outcomes but facts do matter.

Do you think they will have negotiated any sort of contract where they would risk they won't get paid? They will have set the bar low enough to ensure any "results" mean they get paid and any good results will mean get rewarded exceptionally. Seen plenty of executives who've been handsomely rewarded for ordinary results. That's why they have agreed the approach.

They said they would "re-imagine" the game. All we've got is licensing re-hashed.

 

[Blind side johnny]

1 hour ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Do you think they will have negotiated any sort of contract where they would risk they won't get paid? They will have set the bar low enough to ensure any "results" mean they get paid and any good results will mean get rewarded exceptionally. Seen plenty of executives who've been handsomely rewarded for ordinary results. That's why they have agreed the approach.

They said they would "re-imagine" the game. All we've got is licensing re-hashed.

 

The deal was announced as a 12 year partnership with IMG benefitting from their share in any increase in commercial income generated over this period. These are the only facts revealed. You may wish to speculate, I can only work with actual information.

[NickD]

Wonder what would happen if they tried to introduce all this bo****ks into football.   
best sport in the world is run by the biggest set of idiots.  

[Wakefield Ram]

22 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

The deal was announced as a 12 year partnership with IMG benefitting from their share in any increase in commercial income generated over this period. These are the only facts revealed. You may wish to speculate, I can only work with actual information.

True, I'm just going on my experience of working with people like this. Both sides will have exit clauses so 12 years about as worthless as a players or coaches contract. It would be good to see how they define "increase in commercial income". 

[Anita Bath]

Dont think it was said that was the only way IMG would benefit. Sure they want a share of any success but glorified accounts wont be doing the upfront work for nowt.

 

Of course I could be wrong….and would love to see confirmation that they are taking nowt upfront. 

[STEVE P]

On 22/04/2023 at 10:07, NickD said:

Wonder what would happen if they tried to introduce all this bo****ks into football.   
best sport in the world is run by the biggest set of idiots.  

It won't happen Nick. The attraction of Rugby League to those who want to change the game to suit their own purposes is that it comes cheap. Football would come a lot more expensive. 

Call me a miserable old git if you want to, but I expect that this agreement will lead to the further dismantling of a once proud game, completing the job started by Sky.

I dislike marketing people intensely. Their efforts are at the root of so many of the problems which society faces today. 

[NickD]

20 minutes ago, STEVE P said:

It won't happen Nick. The attraction of Rugby League to those who want to change the game to suit their own purposes is that it comes cheap. Football would come a lot more expensive. 

Call me a miserable old git if you want to, but I expect that this agreement will lead to the further dismantling of a once proud game, completing the job started by Sky.

I dislike marketing people intensely. Their efforts are at the root of so many of the problems which society faces today. 

Couldn’t agree more.   Well said. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by NickD

[Blind side johnny]

On 22/04/2023 at 10:07, NickD said:

Wonder what would happen if they tried to introduce all this bo****ks into football.   
best sport in the world is run by the biggest set of idiots.  

Many in the EFL say that it has already happened.

 

[Ackroman]

Bear with me on this but I think IMG have us all focussing on the tactics not their strategic aims. 

In the current climate whereby RU is in extreme levels of debt and have a product that needs serious tinkering to make it watchable and safe (ish) and that RU is competing with a product that is better to watch and desperate for investment, then a summer competition involving the elite rugby clubs of England/UK is on the cards. A hybrid game that reimagines Rugby.

Step 1 - create the franchises with Grade B clubs included who cannot seriously become grade A. So IMG go looking for potential Grade A clubs.

So if, and this may be a big if, IMG can sell this to Leeds, Wigan, Hull/Hull KR, Saints and Warrington, to consider Grade A Leicester, Northampton, Saracens, Exeter and Gloucester you can wave SL and the premiership goodbye. You lose the Grade B clubs with a chop and you get a bidding war between Sky, BT etc for massive TV coverage, sponsors falling over themselves to get in on the act and players falling over themselves to get in on the act too. Global players, not just UK based second raters.

And if this does happen, grass roots RU and RL will become the hybrid game and we will end up with one code of Rugby globally. Maybe the lower tiers will play in winter but I can see this happening because you and I don't really matter to IMG.

[Blind side johnny]

2 hours ago, Ackroman said:

Bear with me on this but I think IMG have us all focussing on the tactics not their strategic aims. 

In the current climate whereby RU is in extreme levels of debt and have a product that needs serious tinkering to make it watchable and safe (ish) and that RU is competing with a product that is better to watch and desperate for investment, then a summer competition involving the elite rugby clubs of England/UK is on the cards. A hybrid game that reimagines Rugby.

Step 1 - create the franchises with Grade B clubs included who cannot seriously become grade A. So IMG go looking for potential Grade A clubs.

So if, and this may be a big if, IMG can sell this to Leeds, Wigan, Hull/Hull KR, Saints and Warrington, to consider Grade A Leicester, Northampton, Saracens, Exeter and Gloucester you can wave SL and the premiership goodbye. You lose the Grade B clubs with a chop and you get a bidding war between Sky, BT etc for massive TV coverage, sponsors falling over themselves to get in on the act and players falling over themselves to get in on the act too. Global players, not just UK based second raters.

And if this does happen, grass roots RU and RL will become the hybrid game and we will end up with one code of Rugby globally. Maybe the lower tiers will play in winter but I can see this happening because you and I don't really matter to IMG.

[KC Ram]

If this came to pass then “rugby “ in the uk would have to say bye bye to any international competition. I can’t see teams in the NRL (who have a massive tv deal and fan base) or RU teams in NZ and SA falling for this hybrid idea just to save RU/RL in the Uk.

On top of this the current fans will probably desert in droves so where are the supporters for this “new” rugby going to come from, or if as you say fans don’t matter to IMG, will tv want to show a sport played in empty stadia and with a limited home audience?