Quote: keighley1 "10 teams. that's the limit of the games ambitions and two of them don't currently exist but you think Sky will fork out the money for them. There is no war with a rival network over here to goad Murdoch into action. Dream on.
What makes you so sure your 10 franchises won't run into troubles and then there will be 9 or 8. How soon do you think the league will be too small to provide a decent fixture list and cause Sky to be disenchanted and walk away?
Australia has a bigger league with a third of the population and has proposals to be even bigger.
A ten team breakaway. good luck with that.'"
1. I am not advocating a SL was as such, just making a case that if SKY were to table this offer a year before the end of their current TV deal, with hints as to their reluctance to spend heavily in the game, then Wigan, Leeds, Hull FC and a couple of other heavy hitters may sign up...if they do, it becomes a feeding frenzy for the remaining places.
2. I did not say that Franchises would not encounter troubles....what I did say was independently checked business plans and 5 million up front to be drip fed back over the term of the Licence would soften the blow. I also alluded to these Franchises being run as businesses and not hobbies. The Likes of Ken Davy and David Hughes are destroying the game....if Hudds win the GF, they'll still struggle to attract crowds next year and London haven't spent a brass farthing advertising over the last 2 years.
3. Australian RL is essentially NSWRL with 2 expansion clubs bankrolled by SKY, another in debt to SKY after a bail out, a Gold Coast Graveyard team and a Kiwi side representing an entire nation. The model I have suggested is not dissimilar with maybe SKY bankrolling the 2 London teams from the start with a view to selling them off. This time last year the Sydney Wanderers soccer team didn't exist....this year they've just turned down a bid for 15,000,000 from the Penrith Panthers.
4. If there isn't a ten team league within 10 years then the game will already be semi-professional with the best talent going south to Australia. What is clear id the RFL are trying to pander to the financial needs of the top 6 or so clubs, whilst meeting the desires of smaller clubs who think they can cut it at the top level.
The top 8 SL clubs this year will all turn over more than 5 million notes.....Fev's 4,500 fan target (20 quid each..I am being generous) together with SKY money delivers 2,500,000 at best.........they will be up and down faster than a whores drawers and the owner will be out of pocket......the cycle of clubs going to the wall in the pursuit of the holy grail will continue and the game will eventually end up with 4 main protagonists at best and 6 or 7 smaller clubs to make up the numbers.
As someone has said earlier, Super 15 in New Zealand is a prime example of how top level franchises can work without destroying the existing club structures. Wellington Hurricanes Season ticket includes all Wellington Lions games too....those Hurricanes not currently on All Blacks duty run out for the Lions or their home provinces....it's a system that works well and has started to see the provinces make money again after a few years of stupidity.
The key is the management of the top tier.....the RFL are clearly not best placed to make hard decisions and that's why SKY or one of their subsidiaries needs to run this BUSINESS under the rules of the RLIF.
It's a pipe dream......but it is a simple plan to make the game more attractive to fans, sponsors, corporates and investors....got to be better than telling fibs about Foxy Bingo being more profitable than Engage....
