So, when the fixtures are released, assuming same format as last season, am I right in saying we will play Hull FC at Magic Weekend?

Then play the loop fixtures against Saints, Salford, Castleford, Catalans, Wakefield, and Hull KR? Exactly same as last year?

Great planning from the backroom staff to get the easier loops

14 teams, no stupid loop fixtures.
how bloody hard is it for the idiots who run the game????

That’s correct.

St. Helens v Salford Red Devils
Wigan Warriors v Warrington Wolves
Castleford Tigers v Catalan Dragons
Leeds Rhinos v Hull FC
Wakefield Trinity v Hull KR
Huddersfield v newly promoted team.

Because they haven’t even accepted Toronto yet let alone 14 teams

This, we have 2 Super League ready clubs in the Championship in Toronto and Toulouse

The reason we don’t already have a 14 team Franchise league is greed. There are enough suitable teams and a need for a certain number of fixtures, but the club chairmen won’t expand the league because they would get less TV money.

The game is going nowhere as long as the club chairmen are in charge...

Can't be right. I thought Elstone, McManus and Lenagan were the heralds of a bright, new dawn...

Apparently, they're (SL and Elstone) seeking assurances from the RFL that Toronto meet their minimum requirements, and what those requirements look like. Why the feck don't they know what the minimum standards are for their own competition??

Although, they have confirmed that Toronto won't be getting any sky money if they come up, and that they'll be looking to reduce the number of fixtures in the future, but not in 2020

100% correct, the twelve teams receive around £2 million each club, basically the same as the salary cap, £24 million paid by Sky, if it goes to 14 clubs their money, i.e, their payment reduces downwards, the greedy chairmen don’t want to reduce their share, simple as that. This year with having 5 teams in the relegation fight it may have started to get her support for a 14 team league, but cannot see it now that relegation has been settled. These people are only looking after themselves, they are not worthy custodians of the game.

Well you say that but where are the other clubs going to get their operating cash from if not Sky? We’ve all been complaining about declining standards as it is - there is a direct correlation between the quality of the competition and the salaries clubs can afford.

The game generally is not in cracking financial shape.

The fact that precious few clubs can consistently make a profit tells you all you need to know about those chairmen.

Radically I’d be in favour of a breakaway, but only if it was RFL (go on dare to believe that they might one day be competent...) run and managed, and the clubs didn’t “own” the game.

We’re a Tin Pot sport because we have Tin Pot people running it at all levels.

Jim, fully understand what you are saying but the chairmen are so short sighted, the game needs proper marketing and development, but this lot have no idea. We can’t even develop the game in our own country but we’re open to bringing in teams from Canada and France. While we may enjoy a summer jaunt to the south of France development of the game in this country needs to happen. We need as a first point decent grounds, scrap relegation until the game gets on its feet. Expand to 14 teams. Teams must have an average crowd of xxxx number of people, clubs with small crowds of xxxx or less they should never be full time. Clubs with small crowds will never vote to expand the number of teams in SL because they need the £2 million pay out. These teams should not be in SL to start. Bring in the Championship clubs who have the fan base as opposed to keeping the teams with average crowds of less than 4,000. For SL to survive and develop major surgery is needed quickly and tough decisions are needed for the long term future of the game

I agree on 14 teams - always hated the loop/repeat fixtures.

You’re right there are probably clubs in the Championship who could bring higher gates than some SL clubs. A) that would require licensing to change which would cause uproar (although on balance there’s plenty of positives about licensing done right IMO). B) the game isn’t just about crowd sizes. Far more people watch on telly than attend games - obviously there’s a link but TV income is so important. Maybe we should be looking at ways to increase that?

Whereas there certainly are a few egomaniacs running the game which isn’t great, IMO it’s too easy to talk about better marketing as our saviour. People have been saying that literally for as long as I can remember and yet nothing changes. I suspect (with respect) that there are indeed marketing people in the game better qualified than most on here, and it’s just not as simple as some think.

Sure there are always marketing things that can and should be done, and Warrington probably lead the way.

Where I do agree is the governance of the game. We need a vision for the whole game, international to park field, rather than a vision for each competing club. How you put that cat back in the bag I’m not sure - that’s maybe where PE comes in.

A lot of people seem to confuse marketing with advertising. They are two completely different things. We see a lot of people saying "I was in <insert Magic host city here> and nobody knew about it and there were no posters anywhere". Well, that's mostly a failure of advertising, not marketing. Marketing is the thing that Apple uses to convince people to queue for hours for a new product that they never knew they needed - advertising is the bit that tells them when to start queuing.

What Warrington have done is great but it does need a much bigger strategy behind it. Anyone can be the 'Paddy Power of RL' - the acid test if it is putting cash in the till.

I think the game as a whole does need better marketing but I think that actually starts with the product. The game is not as enjoyable to watch as it was some years ago because we've lost most of the best talent, because coaching changes and rule interpretations have slowed the game down as a spectacle and we play too many games.

I also think that the sport needs to understand who it is actually trying to appeal to and adapt the product to what those audiences want. We can't just expect people to like what the existing fan base likes because we should "TGG" a lot. In the 'on demand' Netflix and Instagram generation, there's more competition for people's time, attention and money and RL has been unforgiveably slow in understanding that. Not everyone wants the full-fat 80 minutes of biff and barge that we seem to be insisting on offering. Sports that are similar to us in nature (RU, American Football) understand that and have catered to that, leaving RL behind.

Super League and Elstone has to lead on that and then the onus is on the clubs to run with it. Just sticking some posters up around town and sending a few tweets isn't going to be anywhere near enough.