Widnes Huddersfield and Salford offer far less than a few championship clubs

Correct ,especially Huddersfield, which largely exists due to a kindly benefactor.

listening to last night's rl podcast and if Dewsburys chairman is correct the greedy sl chairman are a dishonest bunch of thieves.

I think the SL need to agree who is in and who is out and make it strategic - have a 10 year franchise that sets out what is expected. That doesn't mean it has to be the existing 12 - for me London needs to be in it, Toulouse too, not sure about Toronto. I cannot see what the likes of Featherstone, Batley, Dewsbury, Hunslet would ever add to an elite competition. Could see Bradford adding value if managed correctly

My 14 would be:
Leeds
Wigan
Saints
Warrington
Castleford
Catalans
Toulouse
London
Bradford
Hull
Hull KR
Leigh
Widnes
A team in Cumbria - possibly Barrow based in Barrow.

You get a good geographical spread but have local derbies - all must have reserve grade e.g. feeder club and proper youth development and facilities that are appropriate for an elite sport. Monies distributed accordingley

You could play home/away once, top 6 play off and GF

Think the Championship clubs get 8% of the TV money, League 1 clubs 1%. If clawing that money away from them is the best solution the SL clubs can come up with, they're f***ed anyway. In fact you could make the argument that the biggest drain on then game are the bigger clubs who sold their grounds to pay off debts and who then moved in as tenants of the local football clubs leaving them very limited ways of making money on non-match days. Yes, you can take the odd game to Australia, issue another limited edition kit etc but ATEOTD clubs like Huddersfield, Hull, Wigan should be bringing far more to the table than the feeble idea of snatching handfuls of loose change off the lower tier clubs.

I would suggest teams like Wigan and Hull do add a lot to the competition - as Leeds have found out upgrading a new ground needs both the space/opportunity and the finance.

Central Park/Boulevard both had limited development opportunities same goes for Wakefield/Castleford/Widnes all legacy grounds of the "good old days" that every one seems to remember so fondly.

Would the money given to the Championship clubs be better invested in a serious marketing campaign for the Elite competition would it be better invested in trying to get a better headline sponsor?

Something needs to be done - the game is dying I cannot see how maintaining the current status quo is going to improve the state of the game - but I am interested in understanding how others think it will.

any more info, what was said

leneghan gave a presentation with a few ideas, no more than that. they all agreed to think about it and meet again but had a gentleman's agreement to keep quiet. next week leneghan has hijacked elstons press conference to announce what he intends to do.

there is no reason why semi closed shop franchised super league would not work pretty well, look at how well fev are doing as Leeds feeder club, fev doing well on and off the field, pretty sure Leeds are seeing them alright. fev still have long term ambition but they see having a close tie in with a super league club like Leeds as a benefit to there long term plans.

Interesting point - How would you suggest Fev & Fax bring more then KR?

Average attendance - Nope
Commercial revenue - Nope
Success in the last 10 years ( play offs and finals) - Nope
The opportunity for regular 10,000 plus crowds - hmmm probably not.
Highest engagement on social media across all sports - KR at number 1 in the country - So Nope.
Big events ticket sales ( let's say summer bash as equivalent based on 2017 figures) - Nope
Away following - Nope

Other then that though, I can see the argument

I agree with some of this: Hull and Wiigan do add value to the comp BUT they have put themselves in a position of financial weakness. Should the game really be led by such hamstrung clubs?

Wilderspool and Knowsley Road had limited development potential too - Wire and Saints took the long-term view.

As for spending the additional on a marketing campaign, don't you think it much more likely it'll be blown on a couple of inflated player salaries - or on outstanding demands from the Inland Rev?

Not the point. Is it realistic that they're in a position to make the best decisions for the game as a whole when short term cash flow is always gnawing away at their businesses?

How do you know they have short term cashflow issues? I think that is a massive assumption. I would suggest Leeds probably have greater cashflow issues than most given the inability to even sell out a stadium holding 2/3rds of its full capacity.