Mergers

Quote: wrencat1873 "Do you really think that players, apart from very, very rare exceptions, can go from playing for Wath brow one week to playing for a SL side the next, it's just a ridiculous idea.

Your plan would leave us with 6 or 7 SL clubs and then a drop to amateur rugby ??
Which TV company would want to invest in that ?

Football, the biggest and wealthiest sport in the UK, seems able to embrace clubs from Man United to Burnley without any difficulties and whilst their investment is on a substantially different level, they seem able to embrace the diversity within the sport and "sells" the fixtures.
Some RL fans seem to want 6 or 7 SL clubs and feck the rest.
I'm sorry but that will kill the sport far more quickly than having Wakefield, Salford and Widnes in the top flight.

Again, football has a pyramid that allows players to work their way up and allow the players that develop later (or more slowly) to find their way to the top.

I believe that you are old enough to remember RL before the Lindsay revolution and nobody at that point gave a stuff about attendances or, how many plastic seats were at each ground, this only came about when "franchising" was the order of the day.
A number of clubs have managed to improve their facilities and attendances, Hull FC, Warrington, Saints etc but, ultimately this has done nothing and will do nothing to help increase investment within the sport and even if/when we have a SL with all clubs achieving the mystical 10,000 fans at each game, something actually made more difficult by ever changing fixture dates to accommodate Sky, investment wont increase because of that.
The clubs want bums on seats, Sky want screen filler and the armchair viewer just wants a decent game to watch end of story.
But, knock yourself out with the American dream and destroy half of the remaining SL clubs and all of the other semi pro clubs and then enjoy Leeds v Wigan and Wire v Saints
Let's deal with your points:
The game needs to increase participation that can be done in two main ways: An elite competition that inspires kids to want to play the game e.g. Premier League soccer or through grass roots clubs that give kids an outlet to try the game under appropriate supervision/coaching. Both of these areas of the game need investment. One brings the money in and the other provides the players to ultimately bring the money in.

What I am saying is very few players go to SL from Wath Brow via the Championship - the lack of numbers means there are a miniscule amount of late developers who actually make it at elite level and exceptions should never be the basis for your strategy.

My view is we need a 14 team SL each supporting a championship/feeder club - the 14 teams need to be strategically selected and have a 10 year franchise - no promotion/relegation but strict guidelines around the interaction with the feeder clubs and the amateur/grass roots clubs in their area.

I fail to see how taking funds from the SL clubs and giving it to Dewsbury/Keighley/Hunslet/Swinton/Oldham etc is going to enhance either participation or profile. Their core fans aren't interested in going along to watch them - what's the point?

All everyone wants is high quality entertainment - that will not happen by squandering money so the championship clubs can pay over-the-hill players more money because that is all that will happen with any additional funding.