Do people realise that this is a leaked letter to other Super League club chairmen?

It is not Hudgell having a dummy spit by way of a press release.

The thing is in a sense the fans are. All fans of Superleague clubs demand success and if a club isn't spending near the cap and is losing all their fixtures the fans will blame a lack of investment. This in turn is reflected in sponsorship as the larger sponsers won't back a team that loses, who would want to be associated with a losing team? The strive for a more competitive superleague by the fans, media and sponsors does means Superleague clubs are forced to spend without their means to keep up with demand.

They should bring in a fiancial fair play system. Clubs should have to prove that their business model is sustainable in order to be granted a license. In situations where a club has few or no assets and relies solely on a single benefactor, they should insist on at least a rolling 12 months of guaranteed support.

As Hudgell points out, this has been coming. I did fear it would be Saints, but things seem to have stabilised a little and with the new ground up and built, the clubs finances should improve.

It is an area the RFL need to focus on. How on earth are London still trading with the gates they get? How long are Hull KR going to be around? How long would the rest survive if their benefactors pulled out or died?

It's another area in which I have absolutely no confidence in the RFL. They couldn't sort a sponsorship deal, they couldn't generate a meaningful TV deal despite excellent viewing figures, they were responsible for allowing the Crusaders situation to happen and they've failed to raise the profile of the sport in general. It's very hard to see what positives the RFL currently bring, it just seems we're ticking over as a sport rather than growing and improving.

And Hudgell wouldn't possibly have "leaked" it himself in order to have people discussing him and the merits of his letters, would he? Oh no...

This. Outside of worldwide merchandising brands (the amount on Yankees merchandise you see about for example) it's hard, nigh on impossible, to make money in sport and be successful. Anyone investing in sport for anything other than philanthropic or altruistic reasons is an idiot to think they can make money from it.

(On another note, nice that his story has been picked up by one of the biggest League bashing publications there is. Well done Neil!)

This; it's the oldest trick in the PR book.

I don't think that's necessarily true. In a sport with player salaries capped at £1.8m (Or whatever) per season, there is room for significant profits to be generated. If a club averages 15,000 it should be able to generate at least £4m in revenue. Throw in merchandise sales, rental of facilities for other purposes, sponsorship deals, Sky TV revenue etc and if run responsibly there is no reason that they can't be profitable.

Super League clubs need to be more commercially aware and start to maximise their potential revenue streams.

So the letter is in the hands of somebody at each of the other 13 Super League clubs. But you know that it was the author who leaked it.

I agree with you, fans of most sporting clubs want success, at any cost. However, the Chairmen of these clubs have a business to run and whilst it is imperative that they keep the fans "on side", there has to be some realism from all concerned.
The basic element is that if your expenditure exceeds your income then you are in trouble and regardless of what the fans want/expect, the responsibility for running a club lies with the Chairman and his BoD.
In the franchise era, whre there is no relegation, it is quite ridiculous for clubs to spend more than their income.
Ok there are planned investments whch are paid for over long periods but all clubs run to a budget.
The one point I agree with from Mr Hudgell, is that the governing body do have a massive responsibility to run the sport in a forward thinking, but sustainable manner and at the moment this is clearly not the caes.
Maybe they are just as culpable of "chasing the dream" instead of living in the real world ?

I guess you know the answer, but to confirm David Hughes covers London's losses and has committed to do so for the duration of this franchise. After that, who knows. I guess he is entitled to spend his money as he sees fit, and I am sure he has a vision of a strong and viable London club come 2015.

It isn't a press release.
It was sent to the other Chairpersons.

If this guy cares so much why hasn't he been to a meeting for two years to press his case?

I can see his point. Most clubs run at a loss, it is not a sustainable way to do business.

The RFL have managed to get more money from SKY and the BBC but seem to have passed very little extra onto the clubs. The prize money has decreased for the cup and the RFL pocket the money for play offs. The Magic weekend has been an embarrisment to the game and a massive failure but the RFL pocket money from the local tourist board and give nothing to the clubs so they are happy to keep it up.

The RFL then hire a small army of people at Red hall (no one quite knows what they do), have expansion officers all over the country and announces large profits. The issue is with the accountability of the RFL, they do not seem to answer to anyone, they are a financial black hole, who do not have to pay the price for their poor mistakes.

I really do think that at some point there will be another break away when the Superleague clubs have had enough. I just hope that when it does happen that the damage to our sport will not be too severe.