London have have caught a bit of luck with Hill being banned.

Next week will be a real test at home against them but if Warrington get complacent.....

The 3 x 8 structure was a joke when it was launched and thank the lord its been consigned to the scrapheap.
The battle for the wooden spoon (or avoiding the trap door to the Championship), looks like being the tightest in the SL era and one of the tightest ever.
7 games left and 4 clubs "level" on 14 points.

As for selling hospitality packages, it must be a hell of a lot easier when you know how many games you have and who they are against and with the battle for a play off spot warming up nicely, there wont be too many "dead rubbers" before the end of the final season.

Huddersfield and London currently look the two clubs in most peril, although a couple of decent results could change the look of the league quite quickly.

Depending on how much consistency any of the clubs can get.....and looking at the season to date, it won't be a lot, 20 Points might keep you up........but IMHO, London will need 22 to survive.
As for Catalans....they look bereft of ideas at present. I wouldn't be stunned to seem them remain winless from now on

Catalans do look bad at the moment and are on a 4 match losing run. But if they don’t win again this season that would take it up to 13 games in a row winless...which seems a bit of stretch really, when teams go through a bad patch they usually go 5/6/7 games without a win before landing one. Think they’ll find one or two from somewhere before seasons end.

I agree London’s point difference looks like meaning they’ll need an extra win than those around them.

7 to go before they equal the misery FC faced last season.

Too right,wouldn`t want to go through that again in a hurry. Proves it can be done though.

The argument that clubs can't sell hospitality for M8 games was a convenient excuse from clubs that just wanted the eights scrapped and to blame someone other than themselves for their poor commercial performance.

There are lots of reasons why clubs weren't selling tickets / hospitality for M8 games - the lack of 'notice' on who and when they're playing was way, way down the list.

You may be right that, it was just one of many reasons but, there is absolutely no doubt, particularly at the bottom of the table, that, knowing when you are playing and who you are playing against, makes it far more straight forward to promote games and sell "tickets".
The biggest issue though was perpetual uncertainty and the spectre of relegation, especially when wanting / trying to sign players.

Not quite the same for any of the bigger clubs that found themselves down there but, a huge problem for the smaller clubs.
Any player who believes they are of SL standard, is unlikely to want to sign for a club that may be relegated or, they will want a "premium" contract for doing so.

Then add clauses.

There are undoubtedly good reasons for getting rid of the eights (and for getting rid of relegation all together in my view), but that doesn't excuse clubs using the structure as a lightning rod for their commercial failings.

I've called out Carter in the past as he is someone who made this argument, yet between the fixtures becoming public and his first home game, there were 16 days. If you can't sell an event in 16 days. the short notice is the least of your problems.

Are you saying that Carter had suggested that this was his ONLY argument against the format.
The absolute uncertainty for half of the top flight, plus 4/5 clubs in The Championship is the reason that the poxy system was scrapped and NOT the "short sell" on games towards the end of the season.
Why you need to be the big man for paraphrasing Carter and "calling him out" I've no idea but, as long as it makes you feel important, crack on.

Aren’t contracts null and void if a club is relegated so therefore not a problem for any player to leave if they were to be relegated.

No problem for players leaving but, the window for getting a gig in SL will be somewhat smaller if you wait fo relegation to be decided, especially during the 3 x 8 period, when every club will have their player roster completed and this still doesnt get over the likelihood of players signing in the first place, if their intended new employers were in the "relegation" league.