Quote: Leyther_Matt "But is that necessarily the case? The Premier League copes ok with only one Yorkshire outpost side, one in the North East, a whole bunch within 30 miles of each other in the North West, three Midlands clubs and the rest in London?'"
Absolutely it's the case. Of course soccer does just fine with its' distribution of teams -- they're all over the country, not just in one relatively out of the way part of it plus a couple of outposts elsewhere. They have several in the south and Midlands too, where the national media can't ignore them they way can ignore RL since it's predominantly in the north.
Quote: Leyther_Matt "The RFL are currently running at a profit, and I don't think that profit can be credited to the current expansion policy in any way, shape or form.'"
True, they botched things totally when they were handed £87 million to create a big time, city-based Super League, but instead gave Sky the same old small-time one with London and Paris tacked on hoping they'd accept that. They screwed up again with the 2000 World Cup, and when one of the richest men in the country took on the flagship London club and they didn't know how to make that the strategic advantage it should have been. No wonder they scuttled back north tail-between-legs and held all Internationals in small stadiums in the heartlands.
Quote: Leyther_Matt "Travel 20 minutes of the 'heartlands' and it's like RL doesn't exist, so it's no point plonking a club four hours away in what is supposed to be our elite league when there is nowt in between.'"
That's exactly why the panel deciding on which sports events should be reseverd for broadcast TV said that RL "lacks national resonance" and therefore the Challenge Cup should be de-listed. Only serious expansion can change that.
