Quote: bramleyrhino "The original purpose of Magic Weekend was to make money. It only came about because the RFL received an incentive from the Welsh Tourism Board to hold it. "Expanding the game" was never a primary purpose of Magic.
And at a time when the game sorely needs more money, scrapping a profitable event that offers some profile seems utterly ridiculous.
Given the current state of the sport, we really need to put more emphasis on the commercial side of the sport and focus clubs on commercial growth, not short-term survival.
Personally, I would go with 12 teams in a franchise model, with a much more robust set of criteria than the previous model. The old franchising model encourgaed the wrong behaviour, and didn't force clubs to focus on the long-term.
Once we have enough clubs that are financially stable, then talk about opening up the trap door once again.
Why 12 teams? Well, two reasons. I think people need to remember why we dropped from 14 to 12 teams in 2015. We reduced the number of teams because we didn't have the talent to create 14 competitive clubs, and the quality of the league fell as a result. Since that time, player participation has fallen and it has become harder for clubs to attract overseas talent. So why would we suddenly decide to spread an even thinner talent pool further? It makes no sense.
Secondly, this is supposed to be Super League, emphasis on the "Super". This isn't and shouldn't be an "everybody gets to have a turn" school fete. It really wouldn't harm this sport to insist that the top league needs to be made up of "the best of the best", not "the best of the best, plus anyone else who think they deserve a go". If we want to drive up standards, it's in our interests to set the bar high.'"
I agree with a lot of this, however I do think we have enough quality available for 14 teams. Toronto, Toulouse, Leigh, Fax, Fev and London have all shown over the middle 8's inclusion that they can build teams that can at least challenge. For me I think if we want to increase participation we need more opportunities for players to reach the elite level, having 14 teams means the pathway increases for players in championship to go SL and from league 1 to championship and cycle created. What going to 14 let's say with toulouse and toronto included means you have the opportunity to target player pools rarely seen. With an inclusion of a reserve league the opportunity to increase player participation is already increasing. There are plenty of other ways to improve the skill level including rule changes, intepreatations and coaching as well as teams not playing with busted players as they have nobody to step in.
IMO these two teams are wasted in the championship where 6 of the teams have no realistic chance or aim for SL, we should harness the growth of ambitious clubs and increase our profile and player pool. Short term standard would not neccasarily increase, but I think looking at things in 3 year cycles is pointless and gives us no long term strategy.
I also think funding across the board needs to increase ( i know this is dependant on sky ) but also clubs commercial aspect should be scrutinised. We as a sport are always cost cutting and looking at saving money )( see the lose magic example) we need to accumulate money and then have commercial acumen at club and game level to reinvest. I don't get why we are so bad at it across the game and if theres anything you can say Toronto do well is connecting with an audience.
