Championship Meeting

[Griff]

Big day for the Championship with an important meeting this afternoon.

[Eddie]

Any idea what it’s about? 

[Man of Kent]

https://x.com/TheGameCaller/status/1709543535706304559?s=20

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Man of Kent

[Gomersall]

10 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

https://x.com/TheGameCaller/status/1709543535706304559?s=20

 

There is no RL pyramid.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

Surely this is a meeting with IMG as well? If not, why? And if it is, I thought we already knew the plans? 

[RigbyLuger]

7 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

There is no RL pyramid.

It's copying a phrase from football without actually understanding it, isn't it?

[Man of Kent]

10 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

There is no RL pyramid.

I would assume he means it’s a meeting about how the pro & semi-pro clubs will be divvied up. 

[Whippet13]

This is about proposals to merge Championship and League 1, if agreed would it be conferences, a single league, number of games etc.

[idrewthehaggis]

35 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

There is no RL pyramid.

And that's no journalist......

[Gomersall]

27 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

I would assume he means it’s a meeting about how the pro & semi-pro clubs will be divvied up. 

But still about as much of a pyramid as a sphere is.

[Griff]

15 minutes ago, Whippet13 said:

This is about proposals to merge Championship and League 1, if agreed would it be conferences, a single league, number of games etc.

You just know that they'll make a mess of it.

[RigbyLuger]

Season tickets are already on sale at many clubs for a certain number of games. They may tinker for 2025, but don't see how they can for 2024 this late.

[Griff]

2 minutes ago, RigbyLuger said:

Season tickets are already on sale at many clubs for a certain number of games. They may tinker for 2025, but don't see how they can for 2024 this late.

Well, this is Rugby League.  Weird decisions abound.

[DI Keith Fowler]

1 hour ago, Man of Kent said:

https://x.com/TheGameCaller/status/1709543535706304559?s=20

 

A bit of wild, baseless speculation but. This coming at the end of the period of exclusivity for negotiations with Sky and rumours they favour a 14 team SL, could we kill two birds with one stone by changing the divisions about a bit?

[Griff]

22 minutes ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

A bit of wild, baseless speculation but. This coming at the end of the period of exclusivity for negotiations with Sky and rumours they favour a 14 team SL, could we kill two birds with one stone by changing the divisions about a bit?

If Sky want a 14 team SL, they'll pay more money for it.

 

[Gomersall]

14 minutes ago, Griff said:

If Sky want a 14 team SL, they'll pay more money for it.

 

I thought Sky paid for a set number of matches? 12, 14, 16 or however many in the league wouldn’t matter to them.

[Griff]

1 minute ago, Gomersall said:

I thought Sky paid for a set number of matches? 12, 14, 16 or however many in the league wouldn’t matter to them.

As they haven't paid for two more teams, I'd suggest that you're right.

And bearing in mind how often the teams at the bottom of the ladder appear, I'm thinking that 14 teams is not what they want at all.  Maybe 10.   Or 8.

[Colin James]

55 minutes ago, RigbyLuger said:

Season tickets are already on sale at many clubs for a certain number of games. They may tinker for 2025, but don't see how they can for 2024 this late.

Are you new round here?

[sam4731]

I can't see how they won't merge for next year. A 9 team league 1 would be crazy.

[Man of Kent]

1 hour ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

A bit of wild, baseless speculation but. This coming at the end of the period of exclusivity for negotiations with Sky and rumours they favour a 14 team SL, could we kill two birds with one stone by changing the divisions about a bit?

Well, it's been more than 30 days...

[Eddie]

While I get why people slate Mick Gledhill, in this instance surely everyone knows what he means by pyramid, even if RL doesn’t have one per se, well not one that teams automatically move up and down between all levels each year anyway. 

[DI Keith Fowler]

29 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

I thought Sky paid for a set number of matches? 12, 14, 16 or however many in the league wouldn’t matter to them.

I don't think that's strictly true though. If we cut the league down to six teams but tried to sell the same number of games to Sky do we think the value would stay the same?

Playing devils advocate, they might be saying that they want to show the same number of games but shared between 14 teams instead of 12 because it gives them what they want in terms of subscribers. I don't know but I think the idea that the number of clubs is completely unimportant to them is unrealistic. 

[Eddie]

3 minutes ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

I don't think that's strictly true though. If we cut the league down to six teams but tried to sell the same number of games to Sky do we think the value would stay the same?

Playing devils advocate, they might be saying that they want to show the same number of games but shared between 14 teams instead of 12 because it gives them what they want in terms of subscribers. I don't know but I think the idea that the number of clubs is completely unimportant to them is unrealistic. 

I’d have thought 14 teams would increase viewing figures, for the novelty factor alone. I may be in the minority but I’d probably prefer to watch Toulouse v Fev on a Friday night than yet another Wire v Wigan or Hull v Leeds game. 

[Roughyed Rats]

1 hour ago, RigbyLuger said:

Season tickets are already on sale at many clubs for a certain number of games. They may tinker for 2025, but don't see how they can for 2024 this late.

2025 will be too late for L1 clubs. 8 home games is not sustainable; hence the meeting to look at different formats.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, DI Keith Fowler said:

A bit of wild, baseless speculation but. This coming at the end of the period of exclusivity for negotiations with Sky and rumours they favour a 14 team SL, could we kill two birds with one stone by changing the divisions about a bit?

Hi Keith, Did you not read the published letter that was sent to Salford fans re funding:-

This is the bit about central funding

We’ve been told that next years’ distributions will likely, best-case, top out at around £1.31m – almost £200k less than was discussed during the realignment process with the RFL and around £800k less than they were just six years ago. Our given agreement to realign was contingent on the assurance of £1.5m.

This reduction – alongside a further near £100k reduction to 2023’s distributions that we were told about last week – creates an approximate £300k shortfall for us over the next 12 months. This has been known for 8 months, which is particularly aggravating given the lengths to which we’ve gone to in ensuring the Club’s welfare in that time.

I replied

"Well that will Piff on Chips for all those who hope for a 14 team SL, those additional two teams would further reduce the 'Top Out' funding by another £90,000, which in itself doesn't look all that much but added to the 800K that was awarded to each SL club just 6 years ago represents a 42.1% funding reduction from £2.11M, to £1.22M ouch!"

Obviously my views, but Sky have decided the amount that they are paying for the broadcasts, The RL/SL then decide how those monies will be proportioned, so if SL wants to increase to 14 teams then it will be the present incumbents voting for a further drop as explained above than they will already recieve, not a snowball in hells chance of that happening.

     

Edited October 4, 2023 by Harry Stottle