I watched an NBA game last year. The commentator said Utah (from Salt Lake City) who were playing at home, had played in Boston the night before and then we’re going back to the East coast for two games b2b two days later, then a three day gap before two home games in theee days

Professional athletes are well accustomed to this routine....specially as they have their own jets to get them there in the ultimate comfort. Butchers and Tyre fitters from Batley on the other hand...........sorry, but this gives Toronto a massive advantage in their home games.

Is it Toronto's problem that the Batley team isn't made up of professional athletes? If the future of the sport in the UK is going to involve long-haul travel, then its down to everyone to get used to that.

Not for the first time, we're in danger of letting the tail wag the dog.

Indeed the tail being the one the dog being the sport. Let's give them 12 start and a couple of extra players on the pitch in the spirit of expansion at all costs,

I sense that Toronto will be the the team that the other Championship teams will be the one that they most want to beat. If the concept is geared around achieving SL status, then there may well be a bit of a bump back to reality when it may not happen (quickly anyway). Other clubs have found out that money on its own doesn't buy success in this game.

...and per the other references to professional sportsmen and travelling across time zones, remember that a significant number of Championship players are part-time. They usually have very accommodating employers, but not ones that will stretch to multiple days off work to acclimatise to a match abroad.

Any which way, and accepted that Toronto have an issue regarding their ground, the approach gives them an advantage which would have been a disadvantage if they had to adhere to a "normal" home/away schedule.

Quite aware that its the on field results that get you the success, money is a key ingredient but doesn't guarantee success. Also just to remind everyone the plan to SL was 5 years, we are going to be starting year 2 in 2018.

Do we wnat to make it to SL for 2019...yes, will it be a failure and que the drama and death bell if we don't, no.

different beast next season and really looking forward to the whole experience. We do need a lot more bodies on the roster if we are to compete however as we have only added one overall with Craig Hall's departure. i expect announcements post WC to grab the headlines and a hell of an opener vs Leigh!

Free trip to Canada, complementary top notch meal at Argyles restaurant and our portion of central funding to all the championship teams should more than makeup for any financial hardship the trip may cause. The clubs can use the additional central funding they will receive to cover the lost wages, its your clubs call not ours what they do with the money.

Is there any word on broadcasters for Toronto's matches next season like there were in 2017?

It will be premier sports again for the UK and were waiting to hear on the Canadian broadcaster still. The general belief is that we will be picked up by one if the national broadcasters SportsNet vs being on game TV again. They show SL games on their premium SNWorld channel already but TWP would be on the regular package channels for greater exposure. All speculation on the Canadian side mind you, nothing confirmed

I wonder if any will be picked up on free sport

Do Sky not have the rights to the champ??

I think they do but the stand alone deal with PS will be honored for next year for TWP games home and away. Do they show any games from the Champ anyways? Next season is looking rather interesting so i would think they would capitalize on that, have been told the SL is second only to the EPL in viewership in the UK correct?

It used to be the case, but I'm not sure now.

According to BARB (ratings org in the UK) 173,000 tuned into the 2017 SL Grand Final on Sky Arena and another 185,000 tuned in on Sky Main Event delivering close to 360,000 for the game...which is good.

Problem is if you search the week prior, then the 2 Semi-finals got 112k and 89k....and the MPG got 50k......which was lower than the reported figures for 2nd tier football, ODI Cricket and the Malaysian GP at 7.30am on a Sunday morning.....all on SKY and Aviva Premiership Rugby and Scottish football on BT Sport...The really depressing thing is that on the Friday September 29th BT got more viewers for their Union than Leeds v Hull in the SL Semifinal clash.....and that's something that was unthinkable a few years back when BT was getting 40k at best.

I believe that this is entirely the fault of SKY TV and their scheduling of RL as a "filler" option as well as the RFL for selling the entire game to SKY TV and permitting them to treat us so badly!

I disagree that it's Sky's fault. This is a situation that has developed due to the poor spectacle on the field turning viewers away, and due to the failure by the clubs to market themselves to the sort of audiences that advertisers want to pay the likes of Sky to reach.

Sky heavily promotes F1 because wealth management firms, prestige car manufacturers and high-end jewelley makers want to pay good money to reach the people watching it. The only businesses who want to pay to reach the people watching RL are online bookies and payday lenders - we're no more important to Sky than Premier League Darts in that regard.