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.

unfortunately i agree

Im not so sure, it’s ok whilst the government is basically paying a lot of peoples wages but that will stop in June, if gatherings of people or businesses aren’t allowed to resume you can add the number of deaths due to a real depression in the economy to the CV deaths.

This Virus is not going to go away a Vaccine may never actually be found and we can’t lockdown indefinitely.

I agree on the lockdown but I think there's a difference between businesses opening and public gatherings. You are not going to see 50,000 people jammed into Old Trafford for a game of football until everyone is vaccinated - I can't see that being allowed. Concerts, plays, festivals and large sporting events just won't happen, it's already been strongly hinted at. Business will get going again, you are absolutely right, they have to, there are many already operating shift systems and taking measures to distance people and protect employees. As we expand testing we will also be able to get people back to work faster. I was tested with my son at the weekend and the results (thankfully negative) came back in the promised 48 hours and I am now free to make visits and he can go back to stacking supermarket shelves at the weekend.

The guys in Oxford are pretty confident that their vaccine will work (they are some of the smartest people you will come across and they were totally ready for this type of pandemic having done extensive work on SARS 1 and MERS) and so are the other groups working on them. Not guaranteed, nothing is, but there is a very good chance of success. There will be more than one vaccine also.

tp mass produce 60 million vaccines just for the uk will take a good 6 months and thats when we actually have a vaccine
testing is good PR for the government but unless its a positive test its pretty useless as you could get tested monday and catch it tuesday, they need to find out if the virus leaves behind antibodies so you can't catch it again, if so then you can then issue virus free cards but there will be a black market for forged ones just so people can go back to work
most live events simply wont happen with crowds this year but maybe one option if a shortened season was to take place is to do it undercover at cardiff every weekend with everything televised
the german bundersleague [ football were hoping to restart their season soon but as now 10 players have tested positive everything is on hold again so no one can rush

I agree about mass gatherings like 50,000+ crowds, don't think we will see them this year, however that doesn't stop sport from starting up again with crowds increasing as time goes on.

Once Furlough money stops smaller sports clubs will have to try and monetise the sport again, I can't see that being any other way than playing behind closed doors

I'm glad testing is now being seen as a priority my wife is a Nurse who had suspected CV - was supposed to have a test for it to get cancelled and then told she couldn't have one! so she had to have 7 days off work and me 14 days in isolation - she wasn't ill she just had a cough.

You mention SARS and MERS both if which we I think we don't have a vaccine for!

Quote ="christopher" You mention SARS and MERS both if which we I think we don't have a vaccine for!'" There were several vaccines developed for SARS Cov-1 but as there hasn't been a case since 2004 they were withdrawn from clinical trial - but they worked. MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) began a vaccine trial last year in Saudi Arabia, it was developed by the Jenner Institute in Oxford, the same people who have just put the SARS Cov-2 vaccine into clinical trial. The difference is the number of cases, it's a massive effort to develop and manufacture a vaccine and usually takes 5-10 years to do it. MERS has claimed around 900 lives to date and as the name suggests is limited to a particular geographical area and is generally infectious by close proximity to camels - hence the trial taking place in Saudi Arabia. The expertise that the Jenner has on covid diseases is immense and they were very ready for this. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-02-07-oxf ... e-research Sarah Gilbert is very impressive.

Quote ="christopher" You mention SARS and MERS both if which we I think we don't have a vaccine for!'" There were several vaccines developed for SARS Cov-1 but as there hasn't been a case since 2004 they were withdrawn from clinical trial - but they worked. MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) began a vaccine trial last year in Saudi Arabia, it was developed by the Jenner Institute in Oxford, the same people who have just put the SARS Cov-2 vaccine into clinical trial. The difference is the number of cases, it's a massive effort to develop and manufacture a vaccine and usually takes 5-10 years to do it. MERS has claimed around 900 lives to date and as the name suggests is limited to a particular geographical area and is generally infectious by close proximity to camels - hence the trial taking place in Saudi Arabia. The expertise that the Jenner has on covid diseases is immense and they were very ready for this. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-02-07-oxf ... e-research Sarah Gilbert is very impressive.

Antibody response is low and suspected to be short lived, but you are correct, serology tests are vital. The first antibody tests were as bad as 30% sensitive, which is completely useless. Roche will launch a serological diagnostic test this month and Abbott have launched a serology test (these the two big boys in diagnostic testing). The Abbott test I'm not convinced about, the Roche test will probably be good.

Roche are claiming 99.8% sensitivity. So looks promising

Yes, they are claiming 100% sensitivity - rate of detection of true positives - and 98.8 specificity - rate of correct identification of true negatives (sorry- don't mean to be nit picky). However, looks like they only submitted data for 29 covid positive samples for the FDA EUA. Surprisingly getting hold of positive samples has been a really big issue. I believe that the NHS was not collecting and storing blood samples from positive patients.

It had better work because their CEO has been publicly bad mouthing the other tests on the market (he's not wrong though).

I can't say too much but there are other options. I also have doubts that Roche would be allowed to use it for general population "screening".

Fine to ‘not pick’ it’s important stuff and imperative to get it right!

I agree that large public gatherings are unlikely to be allowed until a vaccine is readily available or effective medication has been proven to prevent death. Testing is important but the current approved test kits only tell you you have the virus at the time of the test. You could be infected the following day/week etc. The worry is that recent medical reports from Germany suggest perhaps one in five are asymptomatic.

Social distancing is likely to be with us for some time and life will have to adjust accordingly.

Full RL will be almost impossible under current measures. However for clubs to try and produce some urgently needed income maybe the RL authorities could run a summer 9s competition with rule changes eg no scrums only tackling around the legs etc. This would have a better chance of being allowed as there would be no scrums and no wrestle. This could prove to be a big hit with Sky as it would appeal to Union fans used to their summer 7s competitions. There could be 4 games per session say twice a week or more if Championship clubs were included.

Times getting on now ,will there be some sort of season?

Think so but it will be behind closed doors. Be interesting to see what the club does regarding season tickets. Cant see them offering refunds and if discount is offered off next season it could make next year financially difficult.

I’m not convinced there will be unless this god damn disease goes away significantly by mid Sumer. If there is it will be greatly reduced.