Report: 2025 World Cup on verge of collapse

[crashmon]

ON the sponsers,you will get sponsers who want to do business in Qatar.  They probably won't be the same sponsers if say France or Aus or SA hosted the tournment, but you would get sponsers

 

[David Shepherd]

14 minutes ago, crashmon said:

South Africa have the infrastructire but not the money or interest. Its very Union or football, RL does not even get a mention at all

It's also a failing state that's got no money, with out of control crime and frequent electricity blackouts.

[GUBRATS]

3 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

There are other solutions than Qatar and everything you say is irrelevant does have an effect.

So which other country , or combination of countries would you expect to underwrite a WC irrespective of ticket sales ? 

[gingerjon]

Just now, GUBRATS said:

Whatever they've found out of the washing machine filter , enough to keep the whole International sport going for a decade 

That's a fancy way of saying, "Not a clue."

[Gerrumonside ref]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Are Sky Sports, Ch9 etc going to be more negatively affected in their attitude towards RL by loads of empty seats for an RLWC in Qatar or Australia? 

Clearly the latter is more resonant with them. 

They won’t be happy with either but every game in Australia will look and sound better than any game in Qatar.

[RP London]

Just now, GUBRATS said:

Just on the attendances point , there are also considerable UK , Australian/NZ expat communities in the gulf states that might just enjoy going to a less ' busy ' local ( to them ) tournament that the football WC 

It really does tick a lot of boxes 

absolutely.. I know quite a few people that I have played RL with, at uni and since, who live out in the Middle East who would no doubt go if it was on.. its not all doom and gloom on crowds.. I think you wouldnt get too bad a support set from the UK and more from Aus than if it were in France possibly? I think the idea that ALL games would be empty is off, some of the smaller matches for sure but the bigger ones I think would get some good support.. 

Lets put it this way, I dont think its at all an insurmountable problem.. Some of the things this would do (TV coverage, underwritten tournament) would be much harder to fix in other areas than the "half empty stadium" potential problem is to fix in Qatar.. 

[crashmon]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You might remember the BBC's attitude to Qatar during the football World Cup. That was a tournament they had no choice but to cover.

Now, here comes a rugby league World Cup in Qatar ... are they going to give us the same, lovely, wide-ranging FTA coverage we had in 2022?

And, if not, where's the boost to our game from holding it in Qatar?

I doubt it will be on the BBC (apart from England games potentially), would not be surprised on some games being on C4 as well as streaming for most of the games

[RP London]

3 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

It's also a failing state that's got no money, with out of control crime and frequent electricity blackouts.

This is starting to sound more and more appealing.. would be like a home world cup!

[David Shepherd]

10 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

If we're staging a global tournament and our only in-person spectators are slaves who've been whipped to attend then ... I'm going to suggest that's not a great look.

I doubt anyone will see, they probably don't zoom in on the whip marks.

[GUBRATS]

4 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Are you really going to pretend that billions are going to be watching this tournament in Qatar?

Two ways of reading that question , in Quatar a WC would be physically watched by a hundred 1,000 + overall , a WC held in Quatar could quite easily be broadcast on billions of TVs worldwide 

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You might remember the BBC's attitude to Qatar during the football World Cup. That was a tournament they had no choice but to cover.

Now, here comes a rugby league World Cup in Qatar ... are they going to give us the same, lovely, wide-ranging FTA coverage we had in 2022?

And, if not, where's the boost to our game from holding it in Qatar?

I have a feeling that was because it was football more than anything, more people across the whole organisation interested in some way or another.

For us they'd probably just cover the games, which is fine.

[GUBRATS]

6 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

That's a fancy way of saying, "Not a clue."

I was comparing it to your finances , Quatar would need the equivalent to what is already in your machine filter 

[gingerjon]

41 minutes ago, RP London said:

are the several reasons the several 000's on the end of the cheque?

To come back to this ... this really is turning into the same kind of nonsense as we got when the game was being touted to private equity.

The Qataris are many things but they are not money wasters. They may spend a lot of money in rugby league terms but that's going to be *just enough* to give each member of the IRL a good time on a 'stays in Vegas' approach and enough to pay for the costs of a World Cup.

And that may very well be the best deal.

But there won't be gazillions in sweeteners or foundation builders because there don't need to be gazillions in sweeteners. They aren't having to outbid anyone and they aren't dealing with a sport with options.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

I doubt anyone will see, they probably don't zoom in on the whip marks.

You need to improve the HD on your telly.

[Tommygilf]

7 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

They won’t be happy with either but every game in Australia will look and sound better than any game in Qatar.

But will still look bad, and won't have an excuse to do so. Glad we've finally got there.

[GUBRATS]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

To come back to this ... this really is turning into the same kind of nonsense as we got when the game was being touted to private equity.

The Qataris are many things but they are not money wasters. They may spend a lot of money in rugby league terms but that's going to be *just enough* to give each member of the IRL a good time on a 'stays in Vegas' approach and enough to pay for the costs of a World Cup.

And that may very well be the best deal.

But there won't be gazillions in sweeteners or foundation builders because there don't need to be gazillions in sweeteners. They aren't having to outbid anyone and they aren't dealing with a sport with options.

Looks like we're back to the LSV then ? 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, GUBRATS said:

Looks like we're back to the LSV then ? 

How much are Leigh prepared to pay to host?

[Tommygilf]

Just now, gingerjon said:

How much are Leigh prepared to pay to host?

More than NZ, less than Qatar

[JohnM]

Breaking news. This just in. No, really, it's real Breaking News.

United Utilities and Yorkshire Water have apologised for removing fluoride from supplies and replacing it with LSD. 

[Eddie]

England should offer to host it again, with more varied grounds around the country and lower ticket prices. Games don’t have to be sell outs, but I’m sure attendances could easily be higher than they were last year. 

[Jughead]

8 minutes ago, Eddie said:

England should offer to host it again, with more varied grounds around the country and lower ticket prices. Games don’t have to be sell outs, but I’m sure attendances could easily be higher than they were last year. 

Well, yeah, a World Cup with slightly more variety in terms of grounds, ticket prices that aren’t a joke and no lies from the organisers about how ticket sales are going, would be much better. I suspect hosting two World Cup’s in succession is a non-starter. 

[RP London]

34 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

To come back to this ... this really is turning into the same kind of nonsense as we got when the game was being touted to private equity.

The Qataris are many things but they are not money wasters. They may spend a lot of money in rugby league terms but that's going to be *just enough* to give each member of the IRL a good time on a 'stays in Vegas' approach and enough to pay for the costs of a World Cup.

And that may very well be the best deal.

But there won't be gazillions in sweeteners or foundation builders because there don't need to be gazillions in sweeteners. They aren't having to outbid anyone and they aren't dealing with a sport with options.

totally understand that.. but the fact it will be underwritten is a massive thing for the game, and probably with a bit extra, but as you say not much. 

Its not like we are rich and can say "actually no" the fact there will be something extra and it will be underwritten will be a large amount for the IRL to see. 

my tongue in cheek point was that the number of 000s will be a very compelling, if not the compelling, argument. 

 

[Big Picture]

3 hours ago, crashmon said:

THe difference is

1) Qatar have form on holding world championships where they don't have any sort of world presence (Handball anyone)
2) For them its not about the money, its showing Qatar is a positive light to the world.

The point everybody is missing is that the one thing RL world cups struggle with is the cost and being profitible, how do you justify the cost of hosting a world cup where only a very small amount of people play it (even the last world cup was played in the M62 corridor to save costs, with only the SF in London).  With Qatar this problem goes away, as they don't care about the Money its all about the prestige of hostaing a WC

I know I say how small we are internationallly, but lest be hinest we are at least as big as Handball, and Qatar hosted that

No, RL is not as big as handball internationally, nowhere close in fact.

The IHF has 209 member nations and the sport has a World Championship in which 32 countries compete and as many continental-level championships as FIFA.  The handball Euros for example include 24 countries competing.  That's much bigger than RU, let alone RL.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Big Picture

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

No, RL is not as big as handball internationally, nowhere close in fact.

The IHF has 209 member nations and the sport has a World Championship in which 32 countries compete and as many continental-level championships as FIFA.  The handball Euros for example include 24 countries competing.  That's much bigger than RU, let alone RL.

This map very handily shows why some people in Britain and Ireland believe that handball is a minor sport globally

[Big Picture]

3 hours ago, crashmon said:

Qatar hosted the 2015 Handball world cup.  If they have been happy to host world cups of minor sports like Handball, then I would not worry about broadcasting rights etc.  

Qatar have the money they have a tv distribution network, they have excellent marketeers, they have contacts, they basically have everything the IRL don't have, and they would not be worried about the costs of hosting the tournment.  It they did choose to host it this year, I would expect a Qatari team to appear in some form later this year, and then that team going to play some games in Aus vs minor teams (like a presidents cup 11 or something, maybe a game vs Lebanon in Aus etc), even getting invited to some tri nations tear 2 tournment held in Aus \ NZ.

Again for me this could be a big financial boost for IRL, as they would not have to invest any money in hosting it, and would make a profit from it, as any losses would be covered by Qatar.

You would get sponsers, just not sponsers like John smiths, but more sponsers who want to do business in the region. 

The only drawback is betting is not allowed in Qatar, but then I'd expect Qatar to sweeten the NRL in some other way

FYI handball is not a minor sport, it's a huge sport internationally.  Even without much of a presence in the Anglosphere, handball is the world's third biggest team sport after soccer and basketball.  If it ever manages to break through in the Anglosphere it would overtake basketball then.