NRL demands for investment

[Cheadle Leyther]

D

Just now, sam4731 said:

Hull KR also benefit from being in Hull and therefore having a huge Derby game.

Ditto Leigh and Wigan

[Eddie]

27 minutes ago, Cheadle Leyther said:

D

Ditto Leigh and Wigan

Might as well get Widnes in then so they can have a derby with Wire. 

[İzmir Rugby League]

How much would Super League be worth? 

What amount would convince the clubs to sell? 

[Eddie]

3 minutes ago, İzmir Rugby League said:

How much would Super League be worth? 

What amount would convince the clubs to sell? 

They had a sponsorship deal that involved no payment but some free pizzas, so probably not very much. 

[gingerjon]

9 minutes ago, Eddie said:

They had a sponsorship deal that involved no payment but some free pizzas, so probably not very much. 

Worth a couple of grand every week of the season but RL’s determination to undermine itself in the name of jokes put pay to that.

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

37 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Might as well get Widnes in then so they can have a derby with Wire. 

Dewsbury so them and batley can do battle over pies and peas.

[sweaty craiq]

2 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Don't say that outside your house in the presence of a person (specifically a constable) familiar with section 136 of the MH Act!

I once bought an original from a boot sale

[The Future is League]

I look forward to the comments of club owners, especially those who don't want French clubs in Super League if its genuine

IF Super League reject this offer, if its kosher there won't be any more offers from the NRL If its kosher being he key words.

[Treizistance]

6 hours ago, Cheadle Leyther said:

Apparently they want a 10 team Superleague containing both French clubs plus Leeds, Saints, Wire, Hull, Hull KR and Wigan, leaving only 2 more spaces available.

Looks good to me. Hopefully chance for Cardiff, Dublin, further French expansion over time. Far too many teams along the M62 and we have come to a crossroads for the sport where difficult decisions need to be taken.

[Coggo]

"I think Wales has got an enormous amount of potential."

https://youtu.be/6Ak9fhhp-mA

[Pie tries]

Our only three development areas:

3. Newcastle - should be a heartland

2. London - obviously 

1. Cardiff - league will save their Welsh souls!!

We obviously need Catalan, and I think  Toulouse.

Time has come for closed shop of two divisions of 12 (or 14), including all above clubs. Smaller clubs into regional leagues…

[Copa]

We see PVL firsthand here in Australia. He’s an absolute machine and Abdo performs miracles too.

PVL isn’t just a crash or crash through man. He genuinely tries to get everyone onside and trust it will be ok. He leads really well.

There’s no way they want the same old same old for SL. He won’t tolerate white anting by the old guard who give lip service to positive change. PVL will demand positive change and drive through those changes. PVL will never die wondering “what if?”.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the $ offered was quite substantial and i suspect he already has an idea how much TV rights could be if SL and NRL are offered as a package deal to some international streamers/broadcasters. He’d also have a wagering angle.

He’s quite the personality and has dominated the murky NSW horse racing scene for a long time too.

It will be very interesting to see how he’d manage disgruntled characters within SL.

Edited April 9 by Copa

[M j M]

12 hours ago, Cheadle Leyther said:

Apparently they want a 10 team Superleague containing both French clubs plus Leeds, Saints, Wire, Hull, Hull KR and Wigan, leaving only 2 more spaces available.

It'll be the same as 1995, a small number of teams go ahead and the rest of the sport is allowed to wither.

Killing off pro Rugby League in the Wakefield district will destroy one of the sport's largest remaining ultra-loyal, player-generating heartlands, with a population more than Wigan and St Helens combined. It would be wilfully stupid. But then I strongly suspect these guys don't really know what they're doing.

[Coggo]

1 hour ago, M j M said:

It'll be the same as 1995, a small number of teams go ahead and the rest of the sport is allowed to wither.

Killing off pro Rugby League in the Wakefield district will destroy one of the sport's largest remaining ultra-loyal, player-generating heartlands, with a population more than Wigan and St Helens combined. It would be wilfully stupid. But then I strongly suspect these guys don't really know what they're doing.

‘Allowed to wither’, you say.

https://batleybulldogs.co.uk/strategic-review-meeting/

[Simon Hall]

1 hour ago, Coggo said:

‘Allowed to wither’, you say.

https://batleybulldogs.co.uk/strategic-review-meeting/

Pie & Peas plus a donation to the floodlights. 
 

Surprised they didn’t have a meat raffle. 

[Archie Gordon]

2 hours ago, M j M said:

It'll be the same as 1995, a small number of teams go ahead and the rest of the sport is allowed to wither.

Killing off pro Rugby League in the Wakefield district will destroy one of the sport's largest remaining ultra-loyal, player-generating heartlands, with a population more than Wigan and St Helens combined. It would be wilfully stupid. But then I strongly suspect these guys don't really know what they're doing.

I have the same fear. It really depends what plans they have for the second tier. I would be in favour of a SL1 and SL2 with P&R if they could get extra TV cash and cover both.

Going all in on a 10-team SL with risk attached to London and Toulouse (currently 3k fans between them) would be madness IMO. 

[M j M]

I don't think Batley have ever hidden what their ambitions as club are and what they want to be.

Their post was inartful. But the underlying disdain some people have for Rugby League clubs like that, who do everything right in the way they're run and in their communities, tells us quite a bit.

[FearTheVee]

3 hours ago, M j M said:

It'll be the same as 1995, a small number of teams go ahead and the rest of the sport is allowed to wither.

Killing off pro Rugby League in the Wakefield district will destroy one of the sport's largest remaining ultra-loyal, player-generating heartlands, with a population more than Wigan and St Helens combined. It would be wilfully stupid. But then I strongly suspect these guys don't really know what they're doing.

I'm 50/50 on this

Something fundamental needs to change or the sport is dead. The current losses are not sustainable, we have clubs on the verge of going bust and there is nothing to suggest anything material will change in the next TV deal.

But the prospect of losing heartlands clubs, or even areas as you say, from the game breaks my heart.

Trying to imgine how I'd feel if Saints were on the outer of this plan and I simply can't - would be devastating. The NRL is a closed shop but at the end of the day the heartlands of RL in Oz are very well represented.

[FearTheVee]

1 minute ago, M j M said:

I don't think Batley have ever hidden what their ambitions as club are and what they want to be.

Their post was inartful. But the underlying disdain some people have for Rugby League clubs like that, who do everything right in the way they're run and in their communities, tells us quite a bit.

Agreed

[gingerjon]

13 minutes ago, M j M said:

I don't think Batley have ever hidden what their ambitions as club are and what they want to be.

Their post was inartful. But the underlying disdain some people have for Rugby League clubs like that, who do everything right in the way they're run and in their communities, tells us quite a bit.

No disdain at all.

That’s projection.

[gingerjon]

13 minutes ago, FearTheVee said:

I'm 50/50 on this

Something fundamental needs to change or the sport is dead. The current losses are not sustainable, we have clubs on the verge of going bust and there is nothing to suggest anything material will change in the next TV deal.

But the prospect of losing heartlands clubs, or even areas as you say, from the game breaks my heart.

Trying to imgine how I'd feel if Saints were on the outer of this plan and I simply can't - would be devastating. The NRL is a closed shop but at the end of the day the heartlands of RL in Oz are very well represented.

The way forward was IMG and the framework.

Wrecking that leads to the chaos we are now seeing.

I see very few positives from the NRL believing they understand the UK and European market but even fewer from handing everything back to Wood and his cliques.

There are no definitely beneficial ways forward and my absolute belief is that it is the club owners themselves who are, collectively, to blame for that.

[Derwent]

47 minutes ago, Simon Hall said:

Pie & Peas plus a donation to the floodlights. 
 

Surprised they didn’t have a meat raffle. 

Aren’t Batchelor’s Peas one of SL’s sponsors ?

[Toby Chopra]

3 hours ago, M j M said:

It'll be the same as 1995, a small number of teams go ahead and the rest of the sport is allowed to wither.

Killing off pro Rugby League in the Wakefield district will destroy one of the sport's largest remaining ultra-loyal, player-generating heartlands, with a population more than Wigan and St Helens combined. It would be wilfully stupid. But then I strongly suspect these guys don't really know what they're doing.

It's perfectly reasonable to scrutinise the rumours (and that's all they are at the moment), and I too would share some concerns with a 10-team top league. 

But I'll always push back at a narrative that starts with saying the creation of Superleague was some sort of harmful event and if only we hadn't done that the game would be thriving. That in my view is 100% wrong. If we hadn't created a fully-pro top league and stayed a part-time sport scrambling around in dilapidated facilities then British rugby league would already be a distant memory. The idea that we could have survived the profound sporting, broadcasting, economic and social changes of the last 30 years without going full-time at the top is not credible in my view. 

Is everything rosy in the sport? No, of course not. But that's a collective challenge. And the disaster scenario you paint doesn't hold water in my book. Superleague did not kill off rugby below it in the last 30 years, and it won't do in the future. In the near term a successful top league is the only avenue we have to boost revenues into the sport, so although we must scrutinise any deal incredibly closely, whether it's IMG, NRL or something else, this is the only play we have. 

[M j M]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

No disdain at all.

That’s projection.

Maybe not from you. But looking through the posts and it's easy to see plenty of the usual self-loathing of clubs and towns that form the bedrock of our sport. 

[M j M]

1 minute ago, Toby Chopra said:

But I'll always push back at a narrative that starts with saying the creation of Superleague was some sort of harmful event and if only we hadn't done that the game would be thriving. 

I don't think anybody is saying that.