Quote: DemonUK "If they sort out the funding of 24 clubs then option 3 would work and bring meaningful games week in week out. I doubt they can find a solution though in time foe the vote in July'"
The level of funding would have to be pooled and be directly linked to where you finish at the end of the season.
There is about £20,000,000 available from the RFL/TV money to fund this set up....
Divide this by 6, with 3 portions for the top table, 2 for the mid table and 1 for the bottom set and you have the following scenario:
Top tier £1.2 million each
Mid Tier $825,000 each
Bottom Tier $410,000
The financial step up between tiers is not "massive"....and as the clubs in the bottom 16 start to develop their players, then they will climb. The potential hammerings when the top 8 face those at the bottom will become less prevelant as the teams playing from positions 9-24 will have a lot to play for.....and after a while, those in the mid 8 will knock off the top 8 more often.
A few rules need to be put in place. If a player signs for a club aged 16 or over, then regardless of if he is off contract or not, a set fee has to be paid to that club should he move to a higher ranked club.
Scenario: Dixon is at London who are in the mid section. He is off contract at the end of 2015 and agrees terms with Wire to join them in 2016. To stop the bigger clubs cherry picking stars like this, there needs to be at least some form of renumeration for the club that trained him.....not a massive amount money, but £50,000.
Stadiums and their requirements need to be to a certain standard, but more so on health and safety grounds.....the empty boxes at Salford and Saints point to fans wanting a safe place to watch the game from, not a prawn sarnie. For now, grounds like Bell View, The Jungle, Odsal etc are fine.....they will develop when the demand dictates they must....putting the cart before the horse is not the way forward IMHO.
The above is only "thinking out loud: by the way......I am sure it has more holes than swiss cheese
Change is coming.....let's hope that the RFL and the clubs make the right choice for the future of the game