Surely there can be no relegation this year, the sooner that is agreed the better

Michael Carter's views worth a listen https://forty20rl.podbean.com/feed.xml

Michael Carter's views worth a listen https://forty20rl.podbean.com/feed.xml

Too many risks

Agreed. Madness to do otherwise

Would this work?

Season starts from scratch, no P&R.

Catalans relocate to UK and Toronto stay in Manchester.

Return to games played behind closed doors, 2 games on sky rest PPV, possible discount or free games for ST holders.

2 venues per round, Headingley and one of either Saints or Warrington grounds, 3 games per stadium, obviously go back to normal when crowds are possible.

Straight ‘home’ and ‘away’ fixtures, 2 fixtures per week. Team finishes top goes straight to GF 2&3 playoff to get to GF.

Season finishing in Nov/Dec.

Possibly keep CC but have final in October.

Unfortunately it looks like Aussies won’t tour so Ashes series scrapped along with Magic Weekend.

If Sky do air 2 free games and the rest on PPV, why woud they give any discount to season ticket holders? they haven't received anything from them and will have all the costs to go with it. Doesnt make sense for Sky unless they feel altruistic to the sport but don't forget that they have lost revenus too

i get what you're saying but maybe the discount is from the clubs not sky - i.e voucher code or something, I'd be happy paying for the extra PPV Leeds games but I'm sure many would want some kind of kick back.

The discount would obviously only be for the home team games that wouldn't usually be on Sky. Having the games all at 2 stadiums would reduce sky's costs and remember as soon as sky start showing live games again the subscription payments which have been halted would start again.

It's not perfect but just a suggestion, playing games behind closed doors without any chance of creating revenue is pointless.

Sjy will also want to be showing as much Live sport as they can as soon as they can

Re PPV, Carter's views on the podcast I linked a couple of posts back give a bit of context. As an example, he reckons Wakey v Hudds would maybe find 5K buyers at £5 a shot. That, he feels, would be realistic. Knock off the VAT and it raises £20k. To cover it, using fewer camera angles than sky provides hence a lower quality product, would cost c£25k. Obviously Leeds's figures would be more workable but if Carter's figures are correct - and he sounded like he'd given it some thought - I don't see any such scheme being approved by enough clubs to make it happen,

I listened to the podcast, the issue is what’s the alternative, he didn’t suggest anything iirc

Yes, that didn't escape me either. Personally, I think there'll be inertia from the clubs for as long as they can furlough staff. When that crutch is snatched away the bigger clubs will play regardless of what others do, even if the season is played out by only half a dozen sides.

He wasn't exactly clear on figures to be fair. It sounded like the clubs are focusing on making sure they fulfill the sky contract and then they'll look at their other options.

I wonder if we are heading towards write this season off, and start again next year. I would have no interest in behind closed doors fixtures.
Roll peoples season ticket on to next season. Maybe we have to get back to grsss routes and make the game semi - amateur again?
Might not be a bad thing. May be a better spectacle!
Better reffing, and not having to endure everything from 18 different angles.....
Just a thought. We are never going to compete with the Ozzies, scrap the international game. Grass roots

12.01am

Will have a better idea....

The solution to this is either sell more than 5k PPV, or at a higher price than £5, or not every game is shown on PPV with the home team deciding whether or not they stream each fixture.

My educated guess is that the season is finished and will be write off. I think sport may start again in September but I'm not 100% sure that will happen. Big money sports (which I'm afraid RL is not) have a better chance of getting going, but I strongly believe all mass public events will be completely forbidden until everyone is vaccinated. And don't get excited about a vaccine this year. Even if the clinical trial is stellar the safety testing and ramp up in production required would have the timing at mid 2021 - and that's if a vaccine that works is found amongst the candidates entering trial now. For example, we are 4 months in and there is still no adequate serology based assay available (- next 2-3 weeks maybe -) let alone a vaccine.
This virus is strongly predicted to re-infect very soon after initial infection (although that's not known for certain) and the major worry will be new infections and a second wave of repeat infections in the autumn and winter. Add to that the seasonal flu and we're back to the NHS being swamped. With that in mind I just can't see stadiums filled with people watching sport over the autumn and winter.

Miserable isn't it.