I'm with you here.
The RFL have steered the ship as well as they could, trying to balance the need for SL and its TV revenues whilst also ensuring that they govern fairly and don't ignore the clubs further down the food chain. The problem is that now the sport is 100% about money and whilst the SKY money helps, the top clubs need to find a further £2,200,000 a year to break even and the clubs that are doing this are finding themselves held back by the clubs that aren't......I am all for a restructure so long as there is still revenue trickling down to the lower division clubs. The only way to ensure this is to negotiate with this break away group......because if they leave and pull up the drawbridge, then the sport will crumble outside of the top flight.

As has been shown in this thread, the idea of "merged" super clubs at the top level with the original clubs still playing at a second level has been rejected with the usual "not in my lifetime.....40 years a fan" claptrap....either we want to remain a vable professional sport or we don't. If we do, then we need to adjust and adapt!

The ' Super Rugby ' option requires as has been suggested , a massive up front investment , probably 3/4 times what SKY currently offer per season
It also requires 2 separate seasons

So it isn't going to happen

There are very few businessmen whose competencies can be spread across massively different industries. An oil trader (taking a non-random example) owning a rugby league club might meet the definition of "successful businessman" but does he know about the business of getting fans through the gates? No.

This is demonstrated in the performance of clubs whose "businessmen" owners have injected themselves into the running of the clubs - Wigan most notably.

The best people to run RL clubs are professional RL or sports administrators, and they don't grow on trees. The most succesful model is the investor sitting behind and letting the administrator come in and run the business (e.g. Leeds) or the investor actually being a sports administrator (e.g. Hull). But some investors just can't help but think they know best and I'm struggling to think of an SL example where it has worked out particularly well in terms of revenue or attendance growth. And then they displace the blame onto the RFL because...

Isn’t that what Elstone is?

It is, but in many ways much more direct impact can be made at the club level rather than at head office. If only more of them were properly run by proper sports administrators rather than by local businessmen done good but in entirely different industries.

Spot on mate. If only more people could grasp this concept, especially those involved with the game's leadership.