14 team SL a possibility next season

[The Daddy]

According to the journalists on the House of League Podcast. 

The possibility of the 14 team competition is being strongly considered. Whether it will happen for certain is not known at this point. 

One possibility is that it's is voted through on the provision that 2 clubs are on reduced or no central funding (which would be ridiculous). 

Would those 2 clubs be the French clubs? 

Anyone heard anything further on this?

[Eddie]

All rumour at the moment. However if the two ‘lucky’ teams got no central finding that would probably be it for me. 

[sheddingswasus]

Other podcasts last week were suggesting Oldham would take one of the spots with reduced funding. The likelihood is there would be three spots as Salford are likely to be relegated if they don’t go under. French clubs? I am not too sure. There seems to be a ground swell of opinion against them. It isn’t the fact that they don’t bring any fans, more that they don’t appear to be any attraction to draw home fans. Looking around the forums that seems to be the suggestion ( in the Championship that is, I don’t know about SL)

[Damien]

Isn't this just what has been discussed on the Nigel Wood thread for weeks when it was first mentioned 

[The Daddy]

6 minutes ago, Damien said:

Isn't this just what has been discussed on the Nigel Wood thread for weeks when it was first mentioned 

I haven't been following everything on that thread 

[Charlie]

Toulouse should be first one as there by far the best run club outside of sl. The argument of not bringing away fans is pathetic and from very small minded people 

I say this as a Salford fan who they would likely take the place off 

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, Charlie said:

Toulouse should be first one as there by far the best run club outside of sl. The argument of not bringing away fans is pathetic and from very small minded people 

I say this as a Salford fan who they would likely take the place off 

Agreed on the away fans comment, if SL clubs need a couple of hundred travelling fans to survive we’re in a worse place than I thought. 

[Sports Prophet]

Yeah I haven’t been following that thread either and this subject seems off topic to that title. I can’t be bothered to go through it all either to discuss this topic.

I suppose there is a hint on the other thread that Bradford potentially taking a spot and Nigel’s connection to that club is being discussed?

Anyway, this suggestion also goes hand in hand with the increased international quota as well. Should two more teams be added, is there enough British talent immediately available to satisfy those two more teams? 

Adding two new teams with spared central funding is so ridiculous that it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened.

14 team SL makes for a simple 26 H&A season and a top 6 finals looks a little more respectable.

Also makes 32 top flight clubs globally which is a great number for a simple WCC knock out series  

I’ve always thought 14 is a number the SL needs to get to and get to quickly. SL crowds have increased, as has the profile, so choosing a club/S which are best placed to swiftly build with that momentum would be important.

[sheddingswasus]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

Toulouse should be first one as there by far the best run club outside of sl. The argument of not bringing away fans is pathetic and from very small minded people 

I say this as a Salford fan who they would likely take the place off 

You have got this the wrong way around. The issue is Toulouse are not an attraction to gain home fans. The same applies currently in SL where Catalans generally is all clubs lowest crowd. 

[sheddingswasus]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

Agreed on the away fans comment, if SL clubs need a couple of hundred travelling fans to survive we’re in a worse place than I thought. 

Toulouse and Catalans are not attractive to gain home fans. This is the crux of the issue. 

[Liverpool Rover]

For the grading to mean anything it should be the next 2 clubs in line which from what I could see are Toulouse and London. If Salford are demoted then the next club is York.

[Click]

3 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

Toulouse and Catalans are not attractive to gain home fans. This is the crux of the issue. 

What absolutely rubbish.

Until this season Catalans have been attractive to watch, as shown by SKY picking their games more than other teams.

[Liverpool Rover]

5 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

Toulouse and Catalans are not attractive to gain home fans. This is the crux of the issue. 

What were the reasons given as why that is?

[Click]

7 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

You have got this the wrong way around. The issue is Toulouse are not an attraction to gain home fans. The same applies currently in SL where Catalans generally is all clubs lowest crowd. 

1 + 1 = 3.

[sheddingswasus]

1 minute ago, Click said:

What absolutely rubbish.

Until this season Catalans have been attractive to watch, as shown by SKY picking their games more than other teams.

You must be so out of touch. Look at the crowds against Catalan they are always the lowest. 

[Click]

Just now, sheddingswasus said:

You must be so out of touch. Look at the crowds against Catalan they are always the lowest. 

Because they aren't based in the next town down the road, bringing 100 + away fans to help pad out already low numbers.

Like I said, you seem to think 1 + 1 = 3..

 

[Damien]

8 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

You must be so out of touch. Look at the crowds against Catalan they are always the lowest. 

That's not true though.

[Sports Prophet]

10 minutes ago, Liverpool Rover said:

For the grading to mean anything it should be the next 2 clubs in line which from what I could see are Toulouse and London. If Salford are demoted then the next club is York.

That is supposedly the whole purpose of grading the clubs right. Those rankings are from last year though. Surely updated rankings this year would see London slide way down.

Shows how poor an idea points grading is though. How do you promote points grading and then promote teams with less points? This system boxes administrators in a corner.

The licensing model was tremendously better. A, B and C licences. All A’s in SL. If that doesn’t fill the 14 spots, then choose any one of the best placed B licence clubs to meet the strategy of SL.

[Charlie]

21 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

You have got this the wrong way around. The issue is Toulouse are not an attraction to gain home fans. The same applies currently in SL where Catalans generally is all clubs lowest crowd. 

Well clubs need to get of there ass and promote games. Wakefield did a good job of this 

[The Daddy]

10 minutes ago, Charlie said:

Well clubs need to get of there ass and promote games. Wakefield did a good job of this 

Exactly. If clubs can't promote international teams then there's a bigger issue

[Sports Prophet]

41 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

You have got this the wrong way around. The issue is Toulouse are not an attraction to gain home fans. The same applies currently in SL where Catalans generally is all clubs lowest crowd. 

I know what you are saying here. I don’t know if it is true or not, @Damien suggests it isn’t. I don’t know either way.

If you are right, I can’t imagine it being by much. Would Warrington fans turn out in drastically bigger numbers for a Friday night home match v KR or FC than they would for Dragons?

Then to the away fan argument, would either of those clubs bring thousands of extra fans than the Dragons for a Friday night match?

I can’t imagine the numbers being too drastically different.

For me one of the most obvious opportunities which the SL is not taking advantage of is playing all matches in a single time slot. It would immediately maximise live RL coverage for four days of the week. Give more people, more opportunities to watch more matches live, either at the ground or televised.

More people watching more matches equals more ratings, equals more, equals more profile and coverage, corporate interest and partnerships, equals more funding, equals more development programmes, equals more players, equals more teams, equals more matches, equals more matches for people to watch, equals more people watching more matches. It’s the flywheel which SL ignores because clubs are too short sighted.

Edited July 10, 2025 by Sports Prophet

[Eddie]

40 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

Toulouse and Catalans are not attractive to gain home fans. This is the crux of the issue. 

Do you think more people want to see their team play Huddersfield than Catalan then? 

[Coggo]

What do the French clubs add to bottom line? 

[Just Browny]

1 minute ago, Coggo said:

What do the French clubs add to bottom line? 

What does any club add to the bottom line? Is Ken Davy selling Sky dishes? Does Sam Burgess help run a merchandise stand at test matches?

[Eddie]

8 minutes ago, Coggo said:

What do the French clubs add to bottom line? 

They’re a competitive (usually) team fulfilling SL fixtures, who offer a great Saturday evening tv slot and away fans love going to Perpignan, what more do you want? I can’t think of any championship club who’d improve SL by replacing Catalan.